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In the U.S., one Illinois lawmaker has introduced legislation that would make “parental cyber-bullying” an offense if a parent or legal guardian of a child under 18 posts “any verbal or visual message” on social media that he or she reasonably believes would “coerce, intimidate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to the minor.”

The Ontario mother told the CBC she received some threats after posting the picture and said she contacted the local Children’s Aid Society to explain just what motivated her.

Brisebois couldn’t comment on the case. However, she said some parents turn to social media as a last resort, a kind of cyber support system, and that how parents may be handling parenting in the digital age may differ from the past.

“Sometimes parents are just at a wit’s end and don’t know what to do and will revert to” social media, she said.

Sometimes parents are just at a wit's end

But studies also show that when parents routinely use shaming as punishment, children can grow up to be more depressed, less confident, more anxious and less supported, she said.

“I think parents sometimes feel more limited in the discipline they can use in today’s society, when physical discipline is certainly not condoned,” Brisebois said.

Some parents may look for a creative way to send a strong message. “I can understand how a parent, when they’re frustrated with behaviours, might resort to something like this,” Brisebois said.

“And then we have a lot of people on social media saying, ‘good for you. You’re a tough parent. This is what we need.’ But that comes from a place of lack of education around the impact on children when we use these types of techniques.”

Shaming can also damage parent-child relationships and lead to resentment. “If you’re shaming them, they’re going to hate you,” family therapist Alyson Schafer told the Post in 2015.

“They’re going to retaliate. They’re going to lie and sneak around. You’re not getting the long-term win you’re hoping for in raising a model citizen.”

Public shaming also doesn’t appear on the Canadian Paediatric Society’s tips for positive discipline.

• Email: skirkey@postmedia.com | Twitter: sharon_kirkey