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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to want to give my DS coal for Christmas?

108 replies

LolaCrapola · 20/12/2015 22:34

DS - age 6 - is currently misbehaving lots at bedtime- no amount of consequences or threats that Santa doesn't bring presents for naughty boys seems to be working.

He is up and down the stairs for up to an hour, to the point that we all end up going to bed at about 9pm because it's easier!

I'm seriously thinking of doing something with regard to presents to ensure he gets the message that his behaviour is unacceptable, such as not having any presents that are marked 'from Santa', or not having anything in his stocking (yes I am that angry) or just not giving him all the stuff I have bought for him (his main present is a £30 Lego set for which I still have the receipt).

He will obviously have stuff from other people and his brother will have presents.

Has anyone else ever made the threat and followed it through???

(The reference to coal for anyone that isn't sure is because I live in Wales...and Santa brings naughty children coal)

OP posts:
DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 21/12/2015 08:52

I did use Santa as a threat but all I did was say Santa is watching..." More of a warning than a threat really and it did use to make them stop and think which was really all that was necessary.

Any hint of "naughty list" etc came from stories and films etc rather than me.

Mehitabel6 · 21/12/2015 08:52

I can't think who would say that blaming a higher authority is a good strategy for any children.

BeanGirls · 21/12/2015 08:53

I genuinely cannot believe the amount of people who are unable to discipline their children themselves. Without the threat of Father Christmas, what do you do the rest of the year. I can't blame the poor children for misbehaving or not settling at night with all these threats floating around in their heads.

Krampus · 21/12/2015 08:54

Don't use Christmas a threat, you only have a few more days to use it anyway, what will you do on Thursday?

Its not working away anyway so there will be only 2 outcomes:

  1. You follow through with the threat and you both feel terrible, there will be lots of anger and resentment
  2. You don't follow through and he has learnt there are no consequences to his behaviour.
6 year olds can be a pita and he's probably hyper from the Christmas build up. I think you need to try the firm, consistent, calm method. Then exerciseduring the day. If you make a threat of any consequences, make sure they are ones you can easily follow through with. No TV or screen time the next morning, or anything else that is fairly immediate and has a short sharp impact.

Mine are far too old believe in Santa, one is nearly 15 and he other will start secondary next year. They are both getting a present from Krampus in their stockings. It's a jar of marmite and shoved in a dirty black sock. They will have a faux violent message from him like ; Start remembering your spelling tests or I will creep into your room at night and shove marmite up your nose. They hate marmite so it was the modern equivalent of coal for them. Krampus is a bit of a joke in our house as we have a toy one over the fire place and my youngest often chats to him.

MerryMarigold · 21/12/2015 09:03

I would think of other consequences nothing to do with xmas eg. no lego for a day, no TV for a day, no sweet/ choc/ dessert for a day. He will get it eventually. I also wouldn't do getting angry at bedtime as it winds them up. He is old enough to understand when you talk about it the next morning and the consequence kicks in then.

You could also, on the positive side, give him a going to bed chart with a sticker for every day he does it without a fuss. Do you spend time with him at bedtime? I think 30mins for story, chat etc. is ok, but if you're throwing him into bed and expecting him to stay there on his own whilst everyone is downstairs having fun, that's a bit hard.

Badders123 · 21/12/2015 09:07

He is excited and overtired.
Yabvu in using Xmas as a threat. And cruel.
Use everyday consequences.
Maybe try some relaxation techniques at bedtime?

Hurr1cane · 21/12/2015 09:30

PDA specialists say that meh. I'm not one, but have been on lots of training for various reasons.

DisappointedOne · 21/12/2015 09:32

Or I should add - earlier overall bedtime? If he's up for an hour and you all go up at 9 does that mean he's going at 8? I think 8 is too late for a 6 year old.

Not all kids are the same. DD is 5 and goes up at 8pm at the earliest, but won't sleep till about 9pm after a lot of sodding about. Take her up at 9pm and she is asleep within minutes.

Night owls are born, not made.

BiddyPop · 21/12/2015 09:35

DD, now 10, has ADHD and aspergers so bedtimes have always been a nightmare but the run up to exciting events, and the end of terms when exhaustion hits, have always been that bit worse.

I know it's hard work, but try to address the bedtime issues calmly rather than giving in to anger (believe me, I know how hard that is!!).

For the time after tea before bed, start to slow down the pace. So no loud noisy toys, no wild board games or running around. But a quiet programme on tv, curl up together and read a story aloud, that sort of thing. We make sure that there is an hour of calm before bed, and that often includes rubbing her back or feet for a while (sensory and calming, she loves that).

Does he enjoy a bath? I have found that can be very calming, and DD still has long baths now on particularly hyper nights, every Sunday night and Christmas Eve. We use lavender bubble bath, Lush ickle bot bath bombs (full of lavender) or sometimes plain. And she has a good basket of bath toys that she can mess with, squirt water in the bath but not outside it, full and overflow, and watch swimming. We used to pour water down her back sometimes too, just trickling from a cup - like the back rubs, she loves the feeling.

Before heading upstairs, we still usually give her a drink of milk. Often warm, or hot chocolate. But fills her belly and helps sleepiness.

There's a routine to getting to bed - the same every night - and that helps her brain get into sleep mode. Bathroom, then up to her room to change into pjs, back downstairs to fill hot water bottle, and then one of us tucks her in. We used to read to her every night, but have eased back on that over the past few years to only nights she really needs it. But she does listen to audio books on her ipod going to sleep, and that helps too. (DH is the same and needs a voice talking to go to sleep, I used to have music but am happy with the voice instead, we have radio 4 extra on in our room).

She is also allowed to read, or colour (with pencils) in bed, and sometimes she sorts her Match Attax cards. But in bed, under the covers, and preferably turning off her light when she's done. And she has a few stuffed animals in her bed still, who are often ignored but still get lots of cuddles sometimes and on occasion I hear her telling them about her day (when she might not tell us) so worth keeping them there to let out any worries.

DisappointedOne · 21/12/2015 09:44

We discovered early on that DD doesn't follow "the books". Baths wake her up. She can't sleep early just because we say so (nor can we). As for calm before bedtime, it's never made a difference. We recently discovered that a funny book, followed by a ticklin marathon that gets her into hysterics gets rid of any excess energy and lets her sleep much more easily. DH remembers his mum doing it to him.

DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 21/12/2015 09:54

I genuinely cannot believe the amount of people who are unable to discipline their children themselves

I can't see any.

BiddyPop · 21/12/2015 10:01

Yes Disappointed One - I firmly agree that you have to figure out what suits your own DCs, as some things that should work for DD really don't, and vice versa.

But we definitely know that cross voices, shouting and anger don't help, and constantly chasing up the stairs doesn't either. Trying to get her to bed calmly, and giving her permission to do things herself (within reason), work much better. And rather than saying "no more food until breakfast", she seems actually to get hungry late in the evening so a big glass of milk (often a sportbottle with 700ml!) helps, and she'll often now eat an apple in bed as well. Annoying to remember to check for cores, but better that she's not coming down 5 times announcing "I'm hungry!".

DisappointedOne · 21/12/2015 10:09

I did use Santa as a threat but all I did was say Santa is watching..." More of a warning than a threat really and it did use to make them stop and think which was really all that was necessary.

Any hint of "naughty list" etc came from stories and films etc rather than me.

But you were reinforcing it by saying he was watching! Otherwise what would be he point of saying it?

(We don't encourage Santa belief here.)

DisappointedOne · 21/12/2015 10:09

*the point

Hurr1cane · 21/12/2015 10:11

Disappointed I think that shows brilliantly how vastly different children are. If I were to read DS a funny book and tickle him, he'd be up all night because it would send him really giddy and give him energy. In fact I constantly find myself having word with DP for getting him too giddy. It's a minefield of trial and error isn't it?

DisappointedOne · 21/12/2015 10:15

Yep!

knobblyknee · 21/12/2015 10:18

All I can say is that I let my son choose his own bedtime and never had these dramas. He stayed up late once to watch a film, was tired the whole of the next day and decided it wasnt worth it.

He used to have things he could do quietly in his room. We talked about why we need sleep, and he also had a wall clock.

DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 21/12/2015 10:22

But you were reinforcing it by saying he was watching! Otherwise what would be he point of saying it?

Like I said, it made them stop and think about what they were doing and how they were behaving. No one in the stories ever actually gets no presents do they?

I have three children and each one is so different wrt what techniques worked. This is why I never judge what someone else does because that's what works with their children (short of beating them with a large stick!) Given the older two have grown into two well rounded, polite, well behaved teenagers I think I've done a very good job. We shall see how the stroppy 9 yr old girl turns out later.

GinIsTheBestChristmasSpirit · 21/12/2015 10:40

My 5 year old is hyper as anything arm as he understands Christmas now. If it is just the last couple of weeks it's likely linked to tiredness and excitement.

We just take him back up to bed. He is getting there slowly. It's a pain but it passes. I refuse to ruin Christmas for him because he is excited and it makes him silly.

BeanGirls · 21/12/2015 10:50

I'm not very good at changing fonts etc. on mymsnet. But to reply to dragonsoup who has taken a quote from my statement up thread.

There are a lot of people who (it seems)are unable to discipline their children without the threat of santa on this thread, and I am surprised. It's clear from my paragraph that is the point I'm making, you don't need to be a smart ass.

DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 21/12/2015 11:38

There are a lot of people who (it seems)are unable to discipline their children without the threat of santa on this thread, and I am surprised.

But I don't see anyone who can't discipline without Santa. That is just one single part of a person's parenting arsenal. Most parents use multiple techniques when dealing with discipline. I would say all parents do actually, especially those with more than one child who all need different handling.

It's clear from my paragraph that is the point I'm making, you don't need to be a smart ass.

Do you normally resort to insults when someone disagrees with you?

Mehitabel6 · 21/12/2015 13:32

I don't agree with any specialists who want to turn to a higher authority for discipline. A small child should be secure in that a parent is the one 'in charge' and not some other being from outside.
Santa can't answer back but teachers certainly don't want to be responsible in other people's homes!

NewLife4Me · 21/12/2015 14:19

I don't think you can use FC as a threat as your child hasn't even been naughty.
There may be some reason he is unsettled and you just have to keep putting him back to bed when he gets out.
have clear consequences if there isn't a good reason.
make rules such as no coming downstairs unless you are ill, no leaving room unless for toilet.
Finally, don't let him rule the roost, you all going to bed at 9pm is allowing his behaviour to continue.
Be firm and don't let him get away with it.

no73 · 21/12/2015 15:03

I tell my DS also 6 that overtime he is naughty a present gets taken out and a potato goes in instead. Did this a couple of years ago and gave a whole sack of spuds as a giggle as he had been hitting/kicking/punching me all the time and his face fell until Nanny and Grandad walked in with his sacks of presents. Thankfully DS does have a sense of humour and laughs about it when he talks about it. He will get some spuds mixed in with his presents this year but I won't have actually taken any away.

Hurr1cane · 21/12/2015 17:19

Ok Meh. And what are your PDA related qualifications? I'd never use that with my child, but I don't have to.

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