Dr. Brené Brown, who has been researching shame for 10 years, describes it this way : “ The difference between shame and guilt is the difference between 'I am bad' and 'I did something bad .”
The same article suggests that kidshaming may bring about short-term changes, but it will not produce desirable long-term results. If the child has learned anything, it is not to trust his or her mother or father.
The Wall Street Journal also reports that shame doesn't work for children. It only leads to self-hatred or hatred of parents.
Why is this a trend? It seems to be related to the popularity of TikTok. On this platform, there is a battle b2b email list for who has the funniest video. Which videos are the funniest, end up on the For You page and receive thousands (maybe even millions?) of likes and comments. The funnier, the more likes. It's that simple.
TikTok is growing, the number of parents on TikTok is growing, and the number of kidshaming videos is growing. These TikTok videos then spread further via Instagram, YouTube, Facebook… But kidshaming is definitely not just a 'TikTok thing'. It happens on all channels.