For the vast majority of mothers, the idea that our child would intentionally inflict harm on another is almost inconceivable, so to learn that your son or daughter instigated or participated in an incident of bullying can be devastating.
One woman who decided to publicly shame her 12-year-old son after discovering he was responsible for breaking a classmate's shoe in a display of bullying has faced criticism for her handling of the situation.
Terri Day Evans, who originally shared her post in February, has been forced to return to the issue and defend her decision as the message she wrote to her son on Facebook reaches more and more people online.
Outlining the situation in her original post, Terri wrote: "Absolutely disgusted that my 12-year-old son saw fit to purposefully tread on a new girl's foot at school and twist his foot with such force it broke her brand new shoes causing the heel to snap."
"I'll tell you something Jacob, if you so much as breath in her or anyone's direction in a bullying manner I will personally hand you over to their parents for every demeaning chore they see fit for as long as they do...kiss goodbye to your birthday money as you will be buying the girl a new pair of shoes and a bunch of flowers."
Terri, who ended the post with a hashtag #iwillnothaveabullyinmyhouse, has since faced criticism for her decision to name and shame her son, but insists she stands by her choice.
Updating her post, Terri wrote: "To answer a few questions, yes my son can see it, he was tagged in it before it went viral (which I didn't realise was going to happen) so his friends could see that his actions have consequences."
"He is not big, clever, hard or funny. He's a 12-year-old boy answerable to his mam," she continued. "I don't much care who doesn't agree with my parenting style."
Outlining her motivation for the post which ultimately divided opinion in the parenting community, Terri wrote: "My son humiliated and embarrassed a girl, regardless of his reasoning that little girl still cried. "
"For anyone's knowledge that girl may have left her old school because she was being bullied... then imagine how much worse my son's ridiculous act would have made her feel."
Finishing her post in no uncertain terms,Terri who explained she spoke to her son personally as well as through Facebook, wrote: "My so-called embarrassing him online is nothing in comparison to the humiliation that little girl had to feel walking around with a broken shoe and red eyes from crying."
The post which was uploaded at the end of February has been liked 55,000 times and shared 11,700 times.
