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At least not at our house. So much so that I may never again utter, “Better be good, Santa is watching.”
Yes, Santa is watching. He sees it all, the naughty and the nice. The tears. The tantrums. And the totally cute moments.
But this whole, “Santa only comes to nice little boys and girls?” Or the, “You don’t want to be on the naughty list.”
I’ve used these lines for years. With oldest, they worked like crazy. He straightened up, he looked around the room trying to find Santa hiding in the curtains or something. From Nov. 1 to Christmas Day we always lived with a little angel.
So follow- through on the no-presents or fewer-presents threat wasn’t an issue.
Now? Oh, it’s an issue all right.
We’re going through the lovely tantrum, moody phase that hits many Kindergartners. Even the teacher said so. She sent home sheets of literature on what we parents need to do to calm these tantrums and mood swings.
Well, we’re still waiting for those solutions to set in and work. Meanwhile, we’ve pulled out a few “Better watch out, better not pout” warnings. And guess what? Our lovely little youngest isn’t biting.
“So, I don’t care,” he says. “I don’t need presents.”
Oh boy.
Now all we have are empty threats. Because, like I said, the Santa in our house doesn’t have a backbone.
This past week youngest had a moment that I swear caused strands of my hair to turn gray as I watched in the mirror. It was one of those, “Oh boy, where have we failed?” moments.
And as we struggled on our decision of what to do, and called Aunt Traci and Grandma, for advice, husband uttered words that still make me shutter.
“Hon, I know you’re not going to like this, but I don’t know how we can shower him with gifts for Christmas after this,” he uttered in the phone late last week. “Santa can’t bring all those gifts after this.”
Uhhhh … What? You mean when people say, “Santa only brings toys to really good boys and girls,” they actually mean it? No. Not me.
I don’t take away Christmas gifts. I just can’t. That’ not in line with the Christmas spirit, is it? My Santa, our Santa – Ok, my husband and I – don’t take away Christmas.
So now my ole standbys are history. You can’t threaten with Santa if your Santa has no backbone. I’m coming up with a new menu of phrases. Or chart list. Or incentives.
Anything but empty threats about Santa. ... At least they still work with oldest. Or he lets us think that.
I'm with you! Charts, stickers, one-on-one time, whatever. But not taking away the presents. Especially for a Kindergartener. But I would look at the type of presents-- are they cool enough to take away when behavior is bad so they can be part of the training? :)That's ironic that you would write about this very topic. I was wondering myself if sometimes Santa doesn't visit if children were naughty. Santa Claus only brings one present to our house, though, plus fills the stockings, so it would be really sad if he didn't visit our youngest, who is also 5 and in kindergarten! Good luck, Laura!Santa visits no matter what. In the past I have used sticker charts with my hard to manage children and they worked great.Yep, know how those empty threats don't work. I have been telling my husband for yeas not to threaten to take something away, which is usually PS3 time, and then not follow through. At 15 my son should have it figured out that dad doesn't follow through. Come to think of it the last time I told him he had to, so no PS3 for 3 days. With Santa, good luck with that one. I know it is hard but Santa shouldn't be so generous this year, then maybe you can explain to him that he wasn't behaving and that is what happens.I like to keep my holidays and behavior management tools separated. Also, lots of parenting gurus warn against doing anything that identifies them as "naughty". If that's how they perceive themselves, that's how they'll act. Hugs to you, been there done that. And things have been improved, even with a stocking full of toys. I think granolamom is on a great track with Santa bringing toys that will help occupy engage and occupy.
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