Mom Shamed for Controversial ‘Naughty’ Gift That Wasn’t a Lump of Coal

A mom is being slammed after revealing what she’s planning on giving her kids on Santa’s Naughty List for Christmas this year.

The unnamed mother took to the popular parenting website Mumsnet to post a simple question: “Is it unreasonable to add a beautifully gift-wrapped potato with a label that says that this would have been a another proper present from Santa, had the behavior been better? “

According to the mom, her kids have caught on to the fact that simply being put on Santa’s Naughty List doesn’t mean that they won’t be getting any presents, and given that parents commonly use Santa and the promise of presents as an excuse to encourage their children to be good, “doesn’t it follow that we should deal with the bad behavior on the Christmas present pile as well?”

But not all parents seem to agree with this mother’s reasoning, some calling the tactic “weak parenting.”

“Unreasonably harsh – the solution is to not use Santa’s List for discipline, not to traumatize your [dear children],” one person commented. “It might ‘work,’ in that she’ll always remember the potato, but in a couple of years she’ll also know it was you being mean!”

“Don’t use Father Christmas as a threat ­– it’s mean. Discipline them the same way you normally would at any other time of the year,” another person advised.

“Disciplining your children using Santa is weak parenting,” one parent wrote. “Threatening to give a potato instead of a present is lame and a bit desperate. Actually wrapping a potato and giving it to a child on Xmas day is simply horrible.”

The mother hasn’t said whether or not she’s planning on following through with the gift, but she did mention that the potato would be put to good use in a dinner for her kids.