[Minn]

Humiliation, or the constant threat of it, is abuse. Period. Hate me if you want, but if you are proud of that, I am very sorry for your children.

Keep your shirt on. Playfully doing things to intentionally embarrass your children in front of their friends is a time honored tradition of good fathers everywhere. I especially like it when my kid says "you have to understand: my dad is kind of wierd".

[pollyannaish]

It depends. PLAYFULLY is the key word here. Teasing them directly is fine and we do that all the time in our family. But teasing them about something they are sensitive about in public to get laughs from their friends or an audience is something completely different.

AND doing things that are embarrassing because of how YOU are acting is another thing all together. I have very vivid pictures of my father doing Dick Van Dyke style dancing behind the shopping card every time we went to the grocery store. I loved that...even as I was looking around furtively to make sure none of my friends might see. You have to understand. My dad is kind of weird. ;-)

[pollyannaish]

BTW, I misunderstood the nature of the post I was responding to, for which I have apologized. Sorry for the confusion.

[JNL]

You mean kissing your kid in public and crying daddy loves his little baby, isn’t right.....I always thought he was joking when he told me I was weird.

I’m just holding on to the naked baby pictures, first girlfriend and the true revenge I shall have for all the sleepness nights.

I must be a bad parent.