Mum berates child with bad words in Buangkok CC: Psychiatrist says doing it in public makes it worse
Shazalina Salim
TNP
Sept 6, 2024
A TikTok video making its rounds last weekend shows a woman berating a child, believed to be her daughter, who appears to be struggling with basic subtraction.
As the woman loses her cool, she is heard uttering unkind words to the child, such as "You never use your brain" and "I must tell the whole world you fail maths".
The clip was apparently recorded about 20 to 30 minutes into the public dressing-down.
Mrs Lu, the netizen who shared the video on Aug 31, described the scenario unfolding before her eyes at Buangkok Community Club as a "mental and verbal abuse".
The 44-year-old tertiary lecturer recounted to AsiaOne how the woman told her to "mind your business" when she heard her and another woman commenting on her teaching methods.
Psychiatrist Adrian Wang of Dr Adrian Wang Psychiatric and Counselling Care at Gleneagles Medical Centre described the woman's behaviour as harmful.
"As parents, it is important not to vent our frustrations on our kids," Dr Wang told TNP.
"When we are angry, we shout louder, use more force and in this case, use bad language.
"The lesson is lost here. All the child sees is anger and will feel she is not good enough. It will harm the child's self-esteem and can even lead to future anxiety or depression."
The woman's behaviour, as bad as it is, is not uncommon in Asia. And humiliating a child behind closed doors does not make the nasty behaviour any more acceptable than committing it in public.
"It's bad either way, but doing it in public is worse," explained Dr Wang.
"It's a sure-fire way of creating future psychological problems for the child. Both the mother and child need help."
