A mom has sparked a debate on social media after she revealed that she only lets her children watch cartoons on a treadmill.

Taking to the social media platform, the American mom explained that she "tricks" her kids into exercising using a very unusual parenting technique - but not everyone agrees that it's a good idea.

She shared a video of her 11-year-old son walking on a treadmill while watching a cartoon.

Watch the divisive TikTok below:

[[tiktokwidget||https://www.tiktok.com/@txsalth2o/video/6975590883093794054]]

"I only let my kids watch cartoons if they're walking on a treadmill," she captioned the video. "One day my 11-year-old walked 16 miles (25.7 kilometers)."

Needless to say, the video did not go unnoticed on the social media website, and at the time of writing, it has received nearly half a million likes and thousands of comments.

One commenter wrote: "Why can't kids be kids? Why do they have to walk 13 miles to watch tv?

[[imagecaption|| Credit: TikTok]]

A second echoed this sentiment, commenting: "dude let them have tv time to hangout and relax..."

A third wrote: "This could turn bad, but I'm sure you also have their best interests in mind so it never will. Good job!"

Mom says she only lets her kids watch cartoons if they're on a treadmill - sparks debate