“Eye that the Kings are watching you. If you are bad they will bring you coal ”. It is one of the threats that parents make most often to their children these days. I want to believe that most do not finally comply.
According to tradition, the gifts that the Magi give to the Child Jesus have their meaning. Melchor brings myrrh, Gaspar, incense and Baltasar, gold. I don't know where the coal came from, but it seems horrible to use it as blackmail to get the child to listen to us, pick up his toys or not fight with his little brother.
Supposedly, depending on how he has behaved throughout the year he receives more or less toys and if "it has not been good" the Kings bring coal. Of course, sweet coal, a candy made with sugar and water, so that the surprise is not so bitter.
Coal sachets are sold in supermarkets and kiosks, so I understand that they are bought and given away. Although it is a joke, it seems very bad taste and if it is not, it seems horrible. There are parents who put a bag among the gifts as showing that they are not so insensitive as to leave their child without a gift, but they do give a touch of attention implying that it has not been as good as it should.
In the end, what they get is to put the children in tension and create the feeling that everything they do is judged by an omnipresent trio that looks at them from above, instead of teaching them that the Kings are magical, generous and selfless characters.
If the intention is simply to give a treat, there are so many others much richer and without any hidden meaning. And if the intention is to draw attention to children's bad attitudes, there are much more pedagogical ways of doing so.
