Comments on: Did Santa ever skip your house?

By: Someone else's Grandma

Someone else's Grandma — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:52:00 +0000

You should never, ever make a threat to a child that you aren’t totally prepared to follow through on.
First of all, they catch on to it much sooner than you think and then, when you eventually make a threat that you do plan on carrying out, it won’t work. What do you say to them then when you have essentially taught them not to expect a follow-through?
Second, you need to measure the ‘cost’ to you and others of following through. I agree with your decision to follow through on keeping her home from the dinner date with her grandmother. The cost to you and her grandmother was probably worth it to teach the lesson.
I’m not so sure that you want to have a similar experience happening on Christmas Day when the rest of the family is opening presents and she’s sitting on the sidelines howling. Is that how the kind of Christmas memories you want to create,not only for her but for everyone else in earshot? How will her brother feel if he is getting gifts and his sister isn’t?
What misbehaviour on her part would be serious enough to generate the level of punishment that exclusion from the family Christmas would bring?
Third, one of the ‘rules’ of child discipline is that it needs to occur close to the offense. If, on December 8th, she did something that brought your no-Santa threat into play, that will be long gone from her mind by December 25th. When her presents don’t appear, she won’t be capable of making that connection so it’s not an effective punishment and she won’t learn anything useful from it. The things she will take away from probably aren’t things you want her learning or remembering.

By: Susantroy

Susantroy — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:25:00 +0000

After Christmas you can always use ‘Santa said if you didn’t behave and listen I was to send your gifts back’.
I also made PNP Santa videos. I made a nice and a naughty one. Depending on what kind of day my 3 year old is having I play the different videos. When he gets the naughty one he immediately starts behaving better and when he gets the nice one he is even nicer because he is so happy.

By: Mary T.

Mary T. — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:45:00 +0000

Never done that though I’ve been tempted…I did create one of those Magic Santa or PNP videos that explained to my 4 year old that she was on Santa’s “naughty” list – but that she still had time before Christmas to “listen to mommy and daddy” and she’d be put back on the nice list again. She was glued to the computer watching the video and for the few days after followed through with her promise to be a good girl and listen to mom and dad. Reality is that she went back to her four-year old self and has thrown tantrums, yelled, misbehaved, not listened etc. I still use the “Santa isn’t bringing you any presents this year if you keep that up” but I too am afraid that I’d have to follow through with that threat and it truly would break my heart…how could I do that to my child???