How to Embarrass a Child

Everybody has their fair share of embarrassing situations. For some reason, parents seem to get more than their fair share sometimes. Ironically, children can be just as embarrassed by you as you are of them. Follow these steps if you want to learn what may embarrass your child so you can help to relieve some of the most common embarrassing situations.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Understand that public humiliation damages a child's self-esteem. Some people think that if they draw attention to a child's mistakes, it will embarrass them enough that they will stop doing it. The truth is that embarrassing your child as a form of discipline can cause long-term problems.
2. Show embarrassing baby pictures of them to their friends or dates. This is a popular trick among parents; it will always get a reaction out of your child. This is usually done in good fun, and their friends or dates will get a kick out of it.
3. Being too noisy in public can be a huge embarrassment to a teenager. Teenagers are going through an awkward, self-conscious phase, and when you draw attention to yourself, you draw attention to them.
4. Dressing too grungy or skimpy can embarrass your child. What you wear in public can embarrass even very young children. Children get teased about their parents, and having a parent who looks like a bum or is dressed like a skimpy teenager can cause your child a lot of undue embarrassment.
5. Telling a child's friends about their private problems will embarrass your child. Keep your stories about your child's potty-training problems private, even if you think it's a cute story.

Tips & Warnings

• Watch your child for subtle clues that they are embarrassed. If they tense or are uncomfortable, take that as a clue that they are embarrassed by something that you are doing.
• Communicate openly with your children and allow them to feel comfortable with telling you how they feel. If your children can tell you when you embarrass them, you will avoid having a strained relationship when they get to their awkward teen years.