Mum divides opinion with unusual ‘gift’ idea for bold child

Let's be honest - who among us hasn't used the threat of Santa over the past few weeks?

The fear that they'll get a lump of coal can be enough to get the most unruly child to behave but whether 'Santa' would actually follow through and leave a bad gift for your bold kids is, however, another story. Now one mum is asking if her gift idea for a badly-behaved child is unfair. Taking to Mumsnet, the woman said her kids, aged between four and eight, had "cottoned on to the disconnect between their mums harping on about Santa's 'naughty or nice' list, and in reality there's actually a shed load of stuff to open (even though they know they've been naughty)." She came up with the idea of wrapping a potato and leaving it with her daughter's Santa presents "with a label that says that this would have been a another proper present from Santa, had the behaviour been better." "A valid parenting hack, or unreasonably mean (Christmas) spirited?" she asked other Mumsnet users. The response was mixed, with some fellow mums believing the tactic was too mean. "If you have to use Christmas to make your children behave, you are doing parenting wrong," commented one. "I think this is mean, we shouldn't be using Santa as a discipline tool," wrote another. But other mums agreed that Christmas is a necessary carrot for good behaviour. "I'd love other methods to work but they just don't have any impact," said one. "Those people who are saying it is unreasonable need to wind their necks in and be more realistic about their precious little angels!." Where do you stand, Mama? Would you ever follow through on your Santa threats? Let us know in the Facebook comments or on Twitter.