WATCH: Father makes bully son box him to teach him a lesson – but did he go too far? - EWN

A father's controversial attempt to teach his 13-year-old son a lesson about bullying has sparked debate after a viral video showed him making the boy put on boxing gloves and experience what it feels like to be intimidated by someone bigger and stronger.

The father took the unusual approach after discovering his son had been bullying two schoolmates, including a girl whom he allegedly told to kill herself.

But anti-bullying advocate Clinton Fein believes the punishment risks reinforcing the very behaviour the father is trying to stop.

Speaking to CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit, Fein, co-founder of Bully Dialogues, said he was horrified by the footage.

"My immediate reaction was horror because what he was doing was bullying his son. And if the lesson is to teach your son not to be a bully, the worst thing you can do is to actually bully him."