Hands up, who’s guilty of threatening to cancel Christmas? Or at the very least warning the kids that Santa won’t bring any presents?
One mum in Queensland has gone a step further, issuing an elf-sanctioned warning notice to her kids. She even covered the Christmas tree in plastic wrap to prove her point!
A photo, shared on the ABC Brisbane Facebook page, shows just how serious this Mum is, with a Christmas tree sealed in cling wrap and a list of demands from ‘Elsie the Elf’ telling the kids that Christmas is cancelled for now.
“Christmas is cancelled”
The note from Elsie, AKA ‘Creepy McCreep Face’, tells the three naughty offenders that they need to improve their behaviour, or else Santa won’t visit. Worse still, there won’t be any presents!
“Christmas is cancelled for now! If you want me to keep visiting, a Santa visit and your tree presents back, your behaviour needs to improve,” the note says.
She also tells them that Santa is “very angry” with them and they need to ‘say sorry to Mummy’.
“You all have 1 week to improve. I’M WATCHING,” the cross ‘elf’ writes.
Naughty or Nice?
Of course, whenever you put your parenting style out there for the world to see, you’re going to attract comments. Some considered it a stroke of genius and one mum even confessed she had actually cancelled Christmas.
” I am a mum who did cancel Christmas one year. My son unwrapped all his family given gifts from under the tree 3 weeks before Christmas. After school that day we sat together and re-wrapped the toys and books and took them to our local K-mart and as I tagged them, he had to put them under the wishing tree for more deserving children,” she wrote.
Others weren’t on board with the joke offering ‘helpful’ parenting advice, suggesting it was ‘cruel’ and that blackmail and bribery weren’t the answer:
“Just wondering how you all blackmail your kids for the rest of the year?,” on parent writes.
Making such a threat without follow through (if required) is not a good idea. Parent should shape behaviour, not Santa!
— Will Paul (@WillPaul2) December 5, 2017
And then there’s the mum who saw the real sense in what this fed-up mum did.
Parenting expert Michael Carr-Gregg says while it’s important for kids to have consequences, parents should leave Santa out of it.
“I think that we get into dangerous waters when we speak on behalf of Santa Claus or his elves,” Dr Carr-Gregg tells ABC Brisbane.
“The general principle of there being consequences for bad behaviour I agree with 100 per cent. Just not this way.
“Christmas is a time for family, peace, love and good will … and to turn it into a punitive toll takes some of the gloss off Christmas.”
What about you? Have you ever resorted to threatening to cancel Christmas when the kids misbehave?
From naughty kids to nice ones. Check out Prince George’s cute letter to Santa, where he asks for just one thing.
