A mom who was fiercely slammed for forcing her young kids to use their own Christmas money to pay for dinner has clapped back at critics.

UK-based mom-of-two Katie King, 31, went viral on TikTok earlier this month when she posted a video of her kids Louie, eight, and Arna, five, enjoying a meal out at McDonald's.

She explained in a text overlay that she had 'made them pay for it' with the cash they had gotten for the holidays, and it sparked immense backlash.

Viewers branded her as 'disgusting' and insisted that it was 'so wrong' for her to make her children pay.

Now, King has responded to the negative comments during an exclusive chat with the Daily Mail, and she insisted that it was a valuable teaching moment.

'We home educate [our kids] and we try to incorporate learning in to every day living as much as possible,' she explained.

'Teaching value of money and money management is very important and this was one of those times.'

She explained that the kids had received $10 each for Christmas in addition to a slew of toys, Legos and even a new laptop, insisting that they were more than 'happy' to spend their cash on the meal.

'It was their choice and they wanted to,' she added. 'They could have had a meal at home but they opted for a McDonalds instead.'

King told the Daily Mail that her kids get weekly allowance for completing chores so they are 'used to enjoying and managing' their own money.

'We teach them the importance of saving some, spending some and in the future investing some,' she said.

'My son will ask for something that he wants - Pokémon cards, sweets a game for his PlayStation - and what's interesting is on most occasions when I say, "Okay well if you have enough money you can buy it," he will often take time to think about it and say no.'

In the viral video, which got over 1.2 million views on TikTok, King wrote: 'Yes they eat McDonald's. Yes I made them pay for it with their own money they got for Christmas.'

'This is home education,' she added in the caption.

Viewers quickly rushed to the comment section to share their thoughts. 

'Girl you wanted them in this world but now you don't want to pay for their damn food?' one asked.

'This type of education is DISGUSTING,' added another.

'This is so sad, they are just kids,' penned someone else.

'This is heartbreaking,' read a fourth comment, while a fifth said: 'This is so wrong.'

'As their parent you should be providing then, not making them pay,' a different user chimed in. 

King admitted that some of the negative comments were 'hard to see' since being a good mom 'means so much to her.' 

'It's okay to not agree and ask questions, but personally attacking someone and name calling will never be okay,' she stressed. 'We are all human just doing our best.'

But despite the online backlash, she said she had no regrets about her decision to make them pay for the meal.

'They got most things on their Christmas lists, they are well traveled, very loved and very lucky children,' she concluded.

'Them spending $4 and $7 on a meal really isn't a big deal for them. They know that money will come again and they also know they didn't use everything they have.'