What is \u201ckid shaming\u201d on TikTok? Parents go viral for all the wrong reasons TikTok: Brian Wells\/Derek HensleyA new TikTok trend of parents disciplining their children in an attempt to \u201cshame\u201d them online is booming, but also causing controversy, as some are even calling child services to report videos. Being a parent can be frustrating at the best of times, but especially during lockdown. As TikTok has grown in popularity in the past year, some parents are using the app as a new method of discipline. TikToker and father Derek Hensley, from Williamson, West Virginia, found himself under scrutiny for his perceived \u201ckid shaming\u201d online. One viral video, which amassed 10 million views, shows him removing his daughter\u2019s bedroom door in response to her slamming it. Another video, which received 3.6 million views, shows him smashing his child\u2019s TV after she didn\u2019t do her chores. Many users in the comments expressed concern for the children. \u201cMy dad was like this, and now we don\u2019t speak anymore and he\u2019s not allowed anywhere near my kids,\u201d one commenter said. \u201cAs a social worker, this behavior is violent and will lead to more violent behavior from your child.\u201d https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@derek_hensley\/video\/6922229787419364613?refer=embed&is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6931184181967947270 After receiving death threats, comments from concerned users and even calls from child services, he clarified to the Wall Street Journal that the videos are in fact staged, with his children encouraging him to make a TikTok account. \u201cMy kids aren\u2019t actually being punished in my videos,\u201d he said. \u201cIf my kids are being disciplined, it\u2019s not on camera, but they\u2019re rarely in trouble anyway.\u201d This isn\u2019t the first time kid shaming has gone viral on the app. In May 2020, TikTok user Brian Wells amassed criticism for smashing his children\u2019s electronics with a hammer on camera, while berating them for not doing chores. Again, while some TikTok users were concerned at the time, Wells later clarified that these videos, like Hensley\u2019s, were staged. He explained in a later TikTok that the items were in fact faulty and that he thought the videos would be a funny way to dispose of the items. Although his children act shocked in the videos of their father smashing the items, they can also be seen smiling. However, not all these videos are staged. Some concerning cases of kid shaming have gone viral on the app and caused social media users to take action. In August 2020, parent Tasha Fuller went viral after hijacking her child Alex\u2019s TikTok. She posted a video next to her visibly upset child, who is transgender, telling people that they must refer to Alex by their deadname. \u201cIf you can\u2019t follow a mother\u2019s instructions, you will be removed from their life,\u201d she said. This led to social media users starting a #JusticeforAlex movement, which involved sharing petitions and GoFundMes in order to give Alex the funds to move out of the home they share with their parent. While \u201ckid shaming\u201d may have blown up on TikTok recently, parents sharing how they punish and discipline their children online isn\u2019t a new concept. In 2018, a father from Roanoke, Virginia, shared a video on Facebook Live where he forced his son, who had been kicked off the school bus for bullying, to run to school in the rain. \u201cWelcome to \u2018You Better Listen to Your Dad 2018,\u2019\u201d he said in the video that later amassed over 1.6 million views. Dr Free Hess told the Wall Street Journal that the growing trend in staged kid shaming videos makes it difficult to draw the line. She claims that staged videos of kid shaming could potentially lead to production of real kid shaming videos. TikTok\u2019s community guidelines state that they remove content that depicts or promotes physical abuse or psychological disparagement of minors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is \u201ckid shaming\u201d on TikTok? Parents go viral for all the wrong reasons TikTok: Brian Wells\/Derek HensleyA new TikTok trend of parents disciplining their children in an attempt to \u201cshame\u201d them online is booming, but also causing controversy, as some are even calling child services to report videos. Being a parent can be frustrating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}