AceShowbiz - Shania Twain has never bought her son a birthday present for fear of "spoiling" him.

The Canadian singer-songwriter and her music producer ex-husband Robert "Mutt" Lange are parents to son Eja, who was born in 2001.

While many celebrities choose to shower their children with gifts, Shania has now shared in a candid interview with The Daily Mirror that she refuses to purchase birthday presents for her 16-year-old.

"He'll never know my childhood or the way I grew up, it's like another lifetime away," she confessed. "You have to make a real effort not to spoil your children. I have to be careful not to let him have everything he wants, so I've only ever baked a cake for his birthday gift."

However, Shania insisted that her son is happy with her decision, as it's all he's ever known.

"He expects it. I'd say, 'You know what you're getting from me for your birthday.' And he'd look forward to it," the 52-year-old explained. "At Christmas, he'll have only three presents. That's not a rich man's celebration. A lot of people would send him stuff, and I'd think, 'How much stuff do you need?' I tell him that anything he's not using after a month, we're giving to charity. There's no point in pretending that we're without, though - if he needs a shirt, I'll get him a shirt. I'm not going to act poor if we're not poor. That's my approach and I'm just doing my best."

The You're Still the One hitmaker also revealed the one thing that she hates, and that's negative people.

"I have to choose who I'm sympathetic to, because it takes too much energy," Shania laughed. "My poor husband (Frederic Thiebaud), he doesn't get any baby man moments, I just say, 'Suck it up!' My son only says (puts on a baby voice) 'Mummy, mummy' when he's really upset. I love being mummy, mummy and wifey, wifey, but to some people I'm just like, 'Oh, come on.'"