Fostering Shame in a Little Girl

I was standing in line in a crowded public rest room engaged in one of my favorite hobbies, people watching, when I observed a brief interaction between a mother and daughter. Mother looked harried and weary as she wrestled a huge purse in one hand and a cigarette in the other while waiting for her child to emerge from a toilet stall. When the girl did, the beautiful, bright-eyed daughter marched over to a row of sinks to wash her hands dutifully. 

On the way she dropped the jacket she was carrying. Mother snatched it…