Hypocrisy at its best.

So here's the thing. I'm not much into public shaming. I wrote about it once before, and I'm back to write about it again.

I can not understand how so many parents are getting away with this, especially in a time where every parenting choice you make is under microscope. Do you spank or not spank, do you eat green or buy processed boxed foods, do you cloth or disposable diaper. Parents are an easy target for back-handed comments, and direct insults on how things are done in one's own house.

Yet, here are these parents, publicly shaming their children for things such as lying, stealing, bad grades, and the most recent to pop up in the Yahoo News feed, bullying. BULLYING, friends. Being publicly shamed for BULLYING. Is that hypocrisy at its best or what? You bully your child to teach them about bullying. Right, seems legit.

What are these parents thinking? "Oh I'll show them what they did was wrong. I will make them feel embarrassed about what they've done by making them hold a sign." or "She made fun of another child's clothes, so I'm going to make her dress in thrift shop clothes from the 70s! That'll teach her!"

I cannot stand by idly and continue to read stories like this. It is not okay, and it is not acceptable. Especially this bullying crap. How is making YOUR CHILD feel like shit going to teach them a lesson. If you want to embarrass your kids, hug them in public or something. Show up and cheer really Really REALLY loudly at their soccer games. Embarrass them to death with pure love. Because deep down, no matter how humiliated they are, they love it. (I know, because my dad used to do that to me. Drop me off at school and holler real loud out the window "I love you honey! Have a great day!"). But please, for the love of all things, don't make them stand on the corner holding a sign professing what they've done wrong.

Because honestly, that doesn't make the kid look all that bad. It makes YOU as their PARENT look like a crap person. Where were you when your child wasn't studying? What have you done in front of them to make it look like it is ok to make someone else feel small and insignificant? Were you possibly making them wear hideously ugly clothes to school?

Children are going to act the way we teach them to act. Don't believe me? I'll introduce you to Monster S. She has an attitude from Hades, and before she uses word she hears me say, she asks me what they mean just so she can use it in the right context.

Pony up friends, and teach your kids right from wrong with out traumatizing them with a story that they'll tell their spouse one day. Because remember, one day your children will be telling someone something they remember from their childhood and whomever they tell is going to think of that every time they look at you. So make sure they're thinking of something that resonates profoundly, instead of lowering their opinions of you as a parent and as a person.

Put an end to public shaming, and bring back the times where parents talk to their kids. You know when they're lying. Do what my dad did. Random lie checks. "Hey honey how was school? Oh great, that's good. So have you ever done drugs?" Re-instate the surprise factor if you really want them to be scared that you know what they're doing. But quit with the poster board, because are far better uses for that dead tree.