It is often said that children’s minds are like wet cement, anything that falls on them leaves an impression.
Shaming a child is one of the worst things that you can do to it and this leaves a lasting impression on the mind of the child.
It can include telling embarrassing stories from the past in order to correct the child’s behaviour, making it feel bad intentionally or making private conversations public.
These instances are classic examples of shaming and can have adverse effects on the child’s mental makeup and behavior.
We bring to you five reasons why you should think twice before shaming your child.
1. Self esteem
Shaming a child in public can lead to the development of feelings of inferiority, embarrassment and ultimately lowers your child’s self-esteem because shaming leads to pointing out things that you do not admire about your child and that will change the idea that they have of themselves, all for the worse.
2. Emotional health
If you don’t accept the behavior of your child and want it to behave differently, shaming would not be the most constructive solution to deal with it. Shaming would only bring out the irritable, frustrated and sad side of the child which will mess with its emotional health.
3. Trust
A relationship is built largely on trust and to ensure that the relationship works well, the trust should be maintained. Only if trust is intact, will the child feel secure towards you and shaming it in public will only lead to destruction of the trust that exists between you as the child will start losing trust in you. As a result, it may even start hiding things from you.
4. Bullying
Children are mostly known for copying things for they learn from what they see. When your child sees you behave in a certain way with somebody, it might take up that before subconsciously and then manifest it in the future. This can lead to the development of bullying tendencies in your child.
5. Stubbornness
Shaming a child might make them feel like their behavior is beyond repair and can lead to the development of feelings of stubbornness in your child which will affect it in the future.
