Parents Should Quit Humiliating Kids As Punishments On Social Media

Every single day you hear how a parent posted a video on Facebook or through other social medias to publicly humiliate their children as a sort of punishment. This bothers me on so many levels. Is it they think they will get all of this media attention and fame? I really think these parents need to realize this is a form of bullying.

Recently one really pushed my button. It was a mom that sold her daughters birthday present, which happened to be a pair of Taylor Swift concert tickets, online because her daughter was acting like a brat. First of all you humiliated her by going public then to make it worse she started name calling. She said her daughter is too spoiled and didn't appreciate the tickets. Well geez I wonder who spoiled her? Now you feel its time to give her a lesson by letting the world know all about it?! Now that you decide to start setting limits you thin she is magically going to start to appreciate things and not throw any fits?! Not to mention the trust issues you created with your child among many other emotions of anger, disappointment, resentment, embarrassment and so on. There are many better ways to handle that mom, like starting with a discussion.

I have 3 kids and luckily our older son now in college never really warranted a severe punishment. We have had some serious talks though and had to punish him based on the situation. Its starts at home by talking with your child not posting it to the freaking internet! Its about understanding why they made their choice and how to move forward. Its about giving support to one another and if needed seek outside counseling. There are several people most likely in your immediate life willing to help like family members, friends, teachers, doctors, neighbors, counselors at school, or if needed professional counselors. Working together through the situation as an united group to help sort through these struggles. Parenting is like trial and error or process of elimination! We constantly learn new ways to handle situations and better to deal with our emotions.

As parents we should set good examples like handling situations in a positive way. How would she like it if her daughter posted personal things about her parenting methods or something she felt should be in confidence? I suspect sh would be very upset and embarrassed and she is an adult and would have a hard time dealing with it. How does she think her teenage daughter with sky high emotions will handle it? We preach to our kids to be kind and think about their words and actions and how they make others feel. We should show compassion and stick up for others.

I hope these parents start to think about the short and  long term consequences these kids are going to deal with. Truly I hope they start to put the needs of their children before their own selfish reason to make a public point.