A mother-of-two has been blasted for "lazy parenting" after sharing her holiday hack to help keep her peckish children at bay.
Shannon James from Newport, Wales, shared a clever trick on her Facebook page showing parents how she prepared snacks for her two sons, Kalem, 8, and Theo, 3, during their summer break.
The photo, which has since gone viral on Facebook, shows two white baskets loaded with goodies and a drink dispenser filled with orange squash, Manchester Evening News reports.
Though some praised the mother for her witty thinking, other parents were quick to slam her for "lazy parenting".
Other critics lashed out at her choices of snacks, while others said the children should not be allowed to splurge and help themselves.
In her original post, Shannon, wrote: "Six week holiday survival kit. One of the hardest times of the holidays is the kids asking for drinks / snacks every 5 mins so with this idea they can help themselves.
"The baskets will be refilled every morning but once it’s gone it’s gone so hopefully this will teach them not to be too greedy and a have bit of independence.
"Of course this is alongside breakfast, lunch and dinner and fruit is always available for them to help themselves to."
After receiving widespread backlash over the post, Shannon edited it, adding: "I won’t repeat myself again! I put this up to try and be helpful, never did I expect it to blow up and me being judged as 'lazy parent'.
"I filled the basket with everything I bought as an example for the photo, they will not be getting this much each day - however yes some days they may so shoot me.
"Also as stated below there is fruit that they are more then welcome to have and have no cap on hence why it’s not in the basket."
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, the 27-year-old said: "It’s so crazy how much this post has blown up.
"People shouldn't be so cruel and judgemental to people behind a screen, their words can be so damaging.
"They're lucky I’m a strong person and can take the bad comments but the good far outweigh, lighten up enjoy the tip or just scroll on by."
However, some users praised the mother for sharing her clever summer trick.
One wrote: "Love this idea. It teaches the kids to become independent and hopefully teach themselves to savour snacks and divide them equally throughout the day.
"I wouldn't worry about people commenting negativity abouts this post, I truly think it's a brilliant idea. The voodoo card will be dealt to those haters lol."
Another said: "Fantastic idea. That container for the squash will be empty in now time & I’d rather a child know that they could get a drink whenever they need one, especially in this heat but only one condition , the one to empty needs to tell me when it needs refilling.
"I have fruit & snacks at the ready all the time."
One added: "I have 3 children and I have one of these for each of them all year round. I fill it with their lunch box stuff and for snacks in the day.
"This is not lazy at all. It's common sense."
