In 1983, Finland became the second country in the world to criminalize corporal punishment and psychological oppression of children. The amendment was preceded by heated societal discussions on parenting and children’s rights, as well as a slow cultural shift in understanding the dynamics of shame and violence. By the turn of the twenty-first century, and despite Finland’s good reputation as a nation of equality and human rights, children’s safety still remains an issue. In that respect, the Finnish case reflects a long and universal history of familial power relations. Attitudes and behavior are not always equivalent to the intensions of legislation and, indisputably, insensitive and authoritative parenting is connected to trans-generational traumas. However, those who have experienced corporal punishment and shaming in their childhood home do not necessary feel traumatized, or they may not recognize causalities. Drawing on interviews of Finns having been subjected to or executed disciplinary correction during different decades of the twentieth century, on the one hand, and documents concerning legislative work and reports on violence against children, on the other, the essay investigates shame in the context of regulating parenting in Finland. It demonstrates the importance of the analysis of shame and its connections to chastisement in the attempts of dealing with trans-generational traumas.