When Erica carried her daughter at the shops she didn't expect to be abused.

Can you see what she did “wrong”?

Erica Tampas was shopping at an accessories store in Tampa, Florida, with her two children. Her oldest, age five, was feeling unwell, and Erica agreed to carry her on her back in baby carrier while she wheeled her one-and-a-half-year-old in a stroller.

Ms Tampas was just a mother trying to juggle getting her shopping done with a sick kid. It’s a situations most mothers have faced time and time again.

Most mothers, however, wouldn’t be subjected to a public Facebook shaming for the way they chose to carry their own child in a shopping centre.

A photo of Ms Tampas and her child was taken without her knowledge and uploaded to Facebook by the manager of the store where she was browsing, accompanied by a scathing caption.

‘This is the kind of ignorance that gets passed down to kids and ppl enable their children to be independent,’ wrote manager of the shop Mindy Domingo. ‘This girl is at least 5 but what u don’t see in this picture is the 1 ½ yr old in the stroller.  God People are f***ing stupid!!!”

Mindy continued her criticism in the comments section of the post, saying, “Either watch your damn kid, keep them strapped in a stroller, leave them at home or better yet DON’T become a parent!!!”

“Ppl in Citrus Park (my mall), Westshore and International (the entitled) are some of the dumbest ppl and idk how idiots get degrees from Universities and regular actual smart people that have fucking common sense live paycheck to paycheck,” Mindy ranted.

Horrified at finding herself victimised in such a public forum, Ms Tampas requested that the photograph be removed. Instead of acquiescing or apologising, however, Mindy simply deleted her whole Facebook page.

Naturally, Ms Tampas was shaken by the incident.

“It’s not acceptable to be photographed while I am shopping at a business with my five-year-old – and bash that person and post it on the Internet,” she told People.

She’s also defended her choice to carry her daughter, who some might consider too old to sit on her mother’s back, in a baby carrier from time to time.

“It has nothing to do with being a lazy parent — it just has to do with us as moms wanting to carry our babies close because they’re not small for long,'” Ms Tampas told Yahoo.

“We want to educate people that it’s not a weird thing to carry your baby it’s totally normal. We like to carry them to have them close we have both our hands free. It’s a common sense thing — and we can shop and they’re not destroying your store.”

Thankfully, the store’s senior management have denounced Mindy’s comments, writing in a statement on their company Facebook page that the “necessary appropriate action” has been taken.

Is it ever okay to shame another mother for her parenting decisions? 

Read more: 

“We need to stop shaming mums who breastfeed past a ‘certain age’.”

6 reasons Stay At Home Mums feel ashamed.

Holly: “I got mum-shamed last week by a cabby.”