Parents, Stop Using Social Media To Shame Your Kids
A toddler pooped in the shower. That's not big news.
Most parents have lived through a bathtub incident such as this and the clean up is often nasty and at best, forgotten. But instead of getting out the rubber gloves and moving on, this father made a sign for his toddler that read: "I pooped in the shower and daddy had to clean it up. I hearby sign this as permission to use as in my yearbook senior year. Signed, Mia [last name blacked out by HuffPo]." He hung it around her neck and took a photo, including her face and then posted it on Reddit.
And it has gone viral.
He may have thought he was being funny, he probably loves his daughter very much. I bet if someone else humiliated his daughter on social media he would be very angry. But it was him. And now he has to live with the consequences of bullying his daughter.
When teens do this to each other, it is considered a bullying epidemic. When parents do it, it is discipline.
Is a parents' amusement worth the embarrassment of their kids? asks Candace at Lifeinpleasantville.com. She wonders if parents are using their children to get a reaction and increased page views saying:
The internet requires restraint. It means you have to think every single time you put a word on it or every time you post a picture. You have to ask yourself if this will hurt someone you love. Because I guarantee you, those people behind the keyboards don’t love you. They’ll be long gone years down the road, as you’re left picking up the pieces of a broken heart.
This dad isn't the last parent to use social media to embarrass their child. The dad who shot his daughter's laptop was one of the most memorable, but there have been other parents, including a mom who made her daughter wear a sign on the side of the highway and posted it on Facebook.
This is a trend that I hope dies a quick death.
I just hope that their children don't turn the tables on their parents in their old age -- that would be humiliating ... or just payback.
What do you think of parents using Facebook, Reddit and social media to embarrass their child? Cruel or Funny?
Want more chaos? Last year, a breastfeeding and formula controversy hit Babble, and the momoshpere hard. A year later, feelings are still hurt.
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