Naughty or Nice?
 

I just hate it! I go out and parents are begging their kids to behave themselves. Then, comes the blackmail. When all else fails, kids are reminded that Santa is watching.

I say for once, parents should treat their kids to a lump of coal on Christmas morning. Isn't that how the story goes, anyway? Santa knows if you've been bad or good... So, if they are bad all year long they should get exactly what they deserve.

My husband said that would traumatize a child. Do you think that would be over the line? I've never heard of anyone doing it
before.

(Sorry for the type-o; had to edit:D)

What scared me for years is that my mom told me if I open my eyes while Santa was in the house he would put coal in my eyes. Scaed the mess out of me.

I was told that if I open my eyes Santa would pour pepper in them. The things parents will say to make their kids behave amazes me.:eek:

Well when I was younger. My younger brother who is 6 years younger than me was bad. I think I may have been around 16, so he was 10. Well this one particular year he was always getting into trouble in school. Getting in trouble at home, and just plain getting in trouble. Well for Christmas my parents were like they had had it with him. So when we all got up Christmas morning he had nothing under the tree. In his stocking at the fire place they were full of coal and rocks.

Well I was cracking the hell up. I mean I must have laughed for 30 minutes. It didn't help that I was opening my stuff and he was crying. I mean boo whoing. My parents were like we told you about getting in trouble and that one year it would all come back to haunt you. This went on for hours. I mean it was so damn funny. Well to me it was...not to his ass. :p Well we always go over to my aunts for dinner. So about an hour before we were going, they brought his stuff down and gave it to him. I had never seen a kid so happy in my life. Needles to say I think it work. All the trouble stopped, and today he is one of the best teachers this township has.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with getting a lump of coal for Christmas if you deserve it. It won't tramautize the child. It will make him regret being a little bad a$$ and behave.

Christmas is not about getting presents; it's about celebrating the birth of Christ. You aren't entitled to getting something. That's just an extra treat for the holiday. I think more children should get nothing for Christmas (not have presents hidden upstairs like kiml122's little brother :D), maybe then they'll count their blessings and truly appreciate everything that they do have.

Go On Head' Gul!
 

Preach, Sista Preach!! Then the kids will appreciate what the3y already have, count thier blessings, and discontinue acting up!! Believee me, I know from experiencing it!! :eek: If I had kids I would take them somewhere like a homeless shelter or a foster home (one of the cleaner/ safer ones though) to show them how some people are forced to live (I wouldn't do this w/ very small chldren though) and tell them they should be grateful for what blessings Jesus has already bestowed upon them...

Good!!!
 

I know someone who did that to their child but they didn't get presents later that day. They were told IF they behaved they would get them on their birthday (in February). Well, talk about a perfect child and the her behavior did improve.

I'm all for it. The child won't be traumitized.

Oh my
 

Personally, as a mother and a daughter, I don't think I would withhold Christmas presents.

When my daughter cuts up, she gets it then. I would not give her coal for Christmas, and then say, "This is for all those notes you got home from your teacher in September!"

I feel that she needs to behave because she knows right from wrong, and she knows that mommy and daddy will put the smack down, not because she has some fear of Christmas. Christmas is a holiday meant to recognize the birth os Jesus, not a weapon to be wielded against one's gifts from God (their children).

I don't think so...
 

My parents didn’t believe in giving gifts for being bad and they didn’t believe in giving gifts for being good. Kids are supposed to behave and shouldn’t be rewarded for that, as my mother would say. The only reason why we got gifts for Christmas was to stay in the tradition of giving of gifts. So we did get gifts no matter if we were good/bad. However, my parents had a tendency of buying you things you needed-socks, long johns (if you weren’t good)-instead of what you wanted-toys (if you behaved). As my brother older, he caught on to the game.

If a parent can go so far as to tell the whole story, then they should go all the way with the consequences. Good=presents, bad=coal. Kids aren't stupid, they'll learn real quick. I think it's a part of life's many lessons.

My aunt cancelled Christmas for her son one year because his behavior had been bad for a lot of the year. She said that it wasn't like he had done any one particular thing, but overall he just was not behaving well. He probably was maybe 10-12 years old (I can't remember), and she requested that no one in the family give him any gifts. He didn't get any gifts later either.

Her reasoning was that he needed to learn that in life there are consequences for your actions. It wasn't that she usually rewarded him for behavior that she expected out of him, but she also didn't want him to feel like he could do whatever he wanted to do without suffering some consequences. She knew she could not control his behavior because that was something he had to make up his mind to do, but she could show him his actions had severe consequences. I think it was a lesson well-learned because he talks about it all the time.