UNITED STATES—There has been a trend in the parenting department that has gotten a lot of attention lately, shaming. Some of you might be asking, just what is shaming. It’s the notion of publicly embarrassing a child for bad behavior. In the past month alone, I have heard of at least 4-5 situations of parents shaming their children.

This is a slippery slope and I’ll tell you why. In some situations, I think shaming the child can be beneficial. I mean there was this one video of a girl who was using social media to converse with older men. Yeah, the girl was only 13 and when her mother discovered the details, she had no trouble putting her daughter on blast for the entire world to know.

That parent was attempting to warn her daughter as well as other girls this is not acceptable behavior. One has no idea what could happen in such situations, so the fact that more girls continue to use social media as a dating app, having no idea of who they’re actually talking to is beyond scary. I’ve seen other videos where a parent destroyed a pair of expensive shoes and forced his son to wear them to school as a reminder of how important good grades are.

That tactic is a bit much in my opinion. I mean now only is the child forced to wear something against his will, but it raises the opportunity for taunting. What some parents have to consider if they choose to publicly shame their child is that its not just embarrassment the child faces from the parent, but from the world. Kids can be cruel, but adults can be just as worse. Public shaming could lead to a situation where the child might resent the parent; to some degree it could make the child’s behavior even worse than what it already is.

Shaming can be just as controversial as the notion of rather spanking has an impact on a child’s behavior. I know plenty were spanked and turned out fine, but this is a reminder this was post social media and the changing times. Nowadays, I’m not so certain if spanking alters a child’s behavior in the right direction; it might make things worse.

I think I was totally shocked to learn that one parent went as far as shaving her kids hair and forcing them to hold up signs for the rest of the world to see indicating that their bad behavior has resulted in their shaming. Forcing the kids to hold up signs might be one thing, but to actually give them horrific haircuts too, is a bit much. Has anyone ever heard of the phrase, “If you look good you feel good?” I can only imagine the guilt, anger, disappointment and other emotions these two boys were experiencing at the hands of their mother who didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

We are all in agreement that no one can tell someone how to raise or parent their child, but at the same time I think as Americans we have to be vigilant to voice our concerns over things that may not have the intended results that one expected. Parents who are advocates for publicly shaming their children might want to place themselves in the shoes of their kids. How would I feel if someone did this to me, allowing the entire world to see what I’ve done wrong?