Before getting into the purpose of this article, let us know what does shaming means. Shaming is one of the worst things a person might do to another person. Shaming refers to making somebody feel bad about themselves or something they have done. Shaming includes the awful act of disgrace, humiliation, and criticism. Shaming a child or your kid includes criticism and humiliation with direct or indirect comments about their behavior and actions.
No person should be subjected to shaming by anyone, leave alone a kid. Parents at the early age of their kids should never resort to shaming and continue this even when they are teenagers or adults. Shaming can have many harmful effects on a kid’s mental health. If once mental health starts to deteriorate, it also affects physical health.
Sometimes parents may unintentionally shame or happen even when they don’t know they are doing it. Some of these might be when you don’t allow your child to do certain things by themselves, judging and reprimanding them on their every decision, criticizing them for crying, keeping high expectations, and other such activities.
Sometimes parents may do it intentionally and do shaming as an act of tough love. But shaming should not be done in the name of any activity.
Here are some reasons when you should think twice before shaming your kids –
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Emotional health
Shaming affects a lot on your emotional health. First, it affects the mental condition of a child, teenager, or even an adult. Constant shaming can lead your child to be sad all the time, frustrated and irritated as well. A parent should never resort to shaming if they want stable emotional health for their child.
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Trust issues or parent issues
When you shame your child, they start developing trust issues or, as the gen z says, parent issues. A relationship is based on trust from both parents and children. So when you constantly shame your child, your kid may start doubting themselves. Other than that, they stop trusting you and will stop confiding in you as well.
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Your actions matter
This is parenting 101, and your efforts matter a lot. What you do can be copied by kids, and they might use shaming to make someone else feel humiliated. This can also lead to your kid bullying some other kid. And in many countries, bullying is an illegal act and can land your kid in many troubles.
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Stubbornness
You may think that shaming in the name of tough love can discipline your child, but it can make your child more stubborn. Shaming your child may start making your child believe that they are not repairable, thus becoming stubborn.
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Low self-esteem
This is the biggest reason why should not do shaming. Yes, shaming your child leads to very low self-esteem of your child. It damages the confidence your child and the trip to self-doubting themselves start. In addition, shaming a kid in society or even at home can make them feel inferior and might even think that they are good for nothing or can’t even do one thing right. All of these feelings lead to low self-esteem and damaged confidence.
These were some of the numerous and infinite reasons why you shouldn’t resort to shaming. Shaming is not a way to punish your child or make them realize their fault. You can use other tactics like having a normal conversation or grounding them, setting rules and boundaries, and showing them how they can do the right things rather than just criticizing.