The boy’s father, surnamed Huang, told White Deer Video, Shaanxi’s official media outlet: “My son doodled on a wall being renovated at his primary school. After discussing it with the school, we decided on compensation. We hope that through street performance, he can learn to take responsibility.

“He performed for three days, one hour each day and earned enough to pay compensation,” Huang said.

This father’s innovative parenting approach received a lot of praise on mainland social media.

“Thumbs up for this teaching method that encourages the son to pay for his behaviour,” one online observer wrote on Weibo.

“Street performance could also boost the boy’s confidence and improve his guitar skills. It’s truly a win-win strategy,” another said.

Compared to traditional strict approaches, innovative parenting styles often attract attention in China.

Last November, a mother with a PhD used ChatGPT to comfort her five-year-old son.

ChatGPT, created by OpenAI, is a conversational bot that can understand complex questions and give human-like answers.

The boy, nicknamed Twelve, fell off his skateboard in the playground and other parents laughed.

He was so upset about being ridiculed that his parents could not console him.

His mother, a PhD graduate from Peking University, instructed the chatbot to stand in her son’s shoes and criticise those who mocked him.

In a female voice in Mandarin, the chatbot said: “First, they have gone too far. How can they treat a kid like this? Second, it is so irritating to see something like this happen.

“They should know what they did was completely wrong. Third, laughing at a fallen child is such a lack of sympathy.”

Twelve was immediately persuaded by the chatbot’s “objective perspective”.

In August last year, a boy, nicknamed Guoguo, from Jiangsu province in eastern China was taken to the police station by his mother for being rude.

After listening to the officers, Guoguo promised not to use foul language again and to learn to respect others.