I did something similar - the story was an older brother, Eric, who my wife and I gave away because he misbehaved. This was a fun party trick when people would compliment me on how well behaved our children were. I’d tell one of my kids to explain why they were polite and they would reply they didn’t want to be Eric and be given away.

Fast forward years - and I stopped using the joke because they kids were now in college. My oldest’s psych teacher offered (privately) her counseling options after a class discussion on handling children with behavioral issues.