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I’m sure you’ve all heard about the guy who is auctioning off his naughty kids’ Christmas presents on eBay.

How great is this? You and I and everyone else all understood the rules…if you’re a brat, your likelihood of getting anything good is greatly reduced…especially if your behavior deteriorates in the few weeks preceding Christmas.

Back in the day though, Santa would actually follow through. In this day of “kinder, gentler parenting” and being your kid’s friend instead of a parent though…come on, how many Naughty Listers ever actually go without these days?

What is truly hilarious though, is the perspective of the “social worker” the Houston Chronicle dug up:

Lane Coco, a Ph.D. social worker at Depelchin Children’s Center, suggested that the embattled parents may have stumbled into an “ultimatum situation” in which everyone loses.

“Perhaps they should have planned some kind of activity,” she said. “It sounds like the kids were bored with school being out. … Sometimes parents let things go by the wayside, they’re lax, then they really come down with something very harsh. It’s really not fair to the children, or to them. They usually feel pretty lousy about what they’ve had to do.”

Coco praised the family for its joint meetings, and suggested the parents might have asked the children for ways they could better get along.

“It sounds like the children are at a developmental stage where there is a lot of picking at one another and sibling rivalry,” she said. “Making the youngest one the odd man out - that’s not unusual at all.”

With the situation in its present state, Coco suggested another family meeting in which the parents could assure the kids of their love.

“Maybe he could salvage the presents, take them off eBay,” she said. “Get the kids to work with them, rather than fighting with one another. Try to form alliances with the children rather than coming off with this off-the-top-of-the-charts disciplinary thing.”

One solution might be to have each child choose one of his gifts to give to a homeless child.

“That takes the spotlight off how bad they are, and turns it into something more in line with Christmas,” Coco said.

Try to form an alliance with your children! Engage yourself in parenting by committee! Bend over and take it when your kids mouth off to you! Good plan, Dr. Cuckoo!