Louise Jew writes: An old friend once confided that, as a child, he had been disqualified from the final of a tennis tournament because of a complaint that he behaved badly on court, throwing his racket and being generally temperamental.

He asked the tournament organiser who had complained about him and the reply was “your mother”.

It didn’t make for a pleasant ride home as he berated his mother for shopping him – but he agrees that it did improve his conduct in future tennis matches.

During the summer riots, several mothers handed in their sons and daughters to police after recognising them on television or in photographs of the unrest.

And, more recently, a 22-year-old man was jailed for nine months, after his mother called police when he stole the family’s yacht with a friend and they got into difficulties, having to be rescued by a lifeboat from the sea off Falmouth.

The mother said she knew she had to go to the police, although she felt awful about reporting her son, and says her decision was influenced more by the disruption caused to rescue services than the theft of the boat.

Never having had children myself, I can’t put myself in the place of these mothers when faced with such a moral dilemma.

But I would hope that, if I knew that someone close to me was involved in something really bad criminally, I would be prepared to grass them up – although I think I would first try to persuade them to make amends themselves, either by giving themselves up or, if it involved stolen property, returning it to the rightful owner.

Of course, if parents did their job properly in the first place and instilled the difference between right and wrong from an early age, they would never have to face such an agonising decision.

But then, I suppose, that’s easy to say when you’ve never had children….

Find out what the rest of Lou’s Women think – and have your say below.

Mother-of-two Elaine James says: “The enormous responsibility put on parents does seem totally unfair but unfortunately it’s all part of being a parent.

“They would have to decide whether they could live with the guilt of knowing their child has done something really bad and do nothing about it, or live with the guilt of knowing that they have been instrumental in putting their child in prison for a number of years.

“There is no easy answer but if a child is capable of committing a serious crime then he or she is likely to continue doing this, so all this has to be weighed up by the parent to hopefully make the best decision for the child, themselves and the public at large.

“Either way the decision would be horrific for any normal, caring parent.”

Willenhall Carnival Queen Stacey Senior says: “If my mum shopped me in I suppose I’d be thinking ‘serves me right’ but then part of me demands loyalty and protection from my parents.

“I guess it has to be a hard decision to make and maybe these parents thought it might give their kids a good lesson to change their ways by getting the police involved.

“After all I suppose you can’t take anything for granted.”

Language coorindator Irina James says: “I think mothers who do this sort of thing have got a really disturbed relationship with their children, where all communication has broken down.

“It is incredibly sad, but such drastic action may also be a helpless attempt on the mother’s part to save them from an ever increasing spiral of criminal behaviour.

“By involving the law, the children are physically removed from their environment and this can provide an opportunity to reflect and seek help from professional agencies. I am thinking of gangland scenarios.

“God knows I love my children. Would I do it if I found myself in a desperate situation? Possibly, but only as a very last resort.”

Conservationist Sheena Hamilton, a mother of two and a grandmother, says: “I would shop my children if they did something bad because it would be in their best interest – because otherwise they would think they can do anything.

“No mother should consider their child to be above the law.

“Obviously the thing to do is bring them up so they don’t go against the standards you’ve taught them in the first place.”

“Llama Lady” Chris Armstrong says: “I think they are very brave women and I’d like to think that I would do the same if I were in their shoes.

“The poor women must have been at their wits end to report their own children.

“I absolutely applaud them.

“If more parents behaved as bravely as these we would have less thieving and bad behaviour in our society. Good on them.”

Student Holly Dodd says: “It seems to come down to a basic head-heart rivalry.

“My head says that anyone, whoever they are, shouldn’t ‘do the crime if they can’t do the time’ so to speak.

“We are nothing if we abandon our moral compass.

“But I also know, even without having experienced it myself, that nothing is stronger than the ties that bind us to our children, than a mother’s overwhelming desire to protect them from the world and, often, to forgive their wrongdoings.

“I would never condemn these women for enforcing the law on their children, especially in the case of the riots, where these yobs should face the consequences of their mindless crimes.

“But I find it strange that it has somehow come to this, that a mother has to look to the law to discipline her child and that it follows that there is something fundamentally wrong with the parenting for it to happen in the first place.”

Zumba teacher Lou Thomas: “Yes I think I would turn my child in – in the heat of the moment – but not sure if I would regret it later.

“You would run the risk of being estranged from your child for ever more – they are unlikely to forgive you are they?

“I suppose it would depend on the seriousness of the crime and if you felt they could be persuaded to turn themselves in or to make amends in some way.

“A very hard call to make and I certainly admire the women who have had the courage to do it.”