Do any of you actually withhold presents if they haven't been good? Dd2 (4:5) can be very very sweet, but as she herself says, she is a kicking machine, and winds up her big sister and teaches her little brother to kick and hit (though is begining to regret that now!). She enjoys timeout, and will sometimes race us to get there before we can put her there. Much of the time she is good, but there are clear times when she isn't.
We were out with friends and she and her friend were messing about and their mother said 'you had better be good or FC won't come', also other people (strangers) often ask her if she has been good. She says no, but she has only asked for two things, she only wants two things (and I can actually see her complaining on Christmas day that we have given her more than she wanted), and she can't see that FC won't be able to manage that, if he wants to give more to other children that is fine by her.
I don't use FC as a threat as I know I wouldn't withold presents and just continue with usual treatment of bad behaviour. I know that when we go to stay with FIL he will bring it up at every little perceived misbehaviour, to which she will probably get more defiant and cheeky, just to see whether being naughty does stop FC coming or to test her alternative hypothesis that he isn't real and doesn't have elves watching her.
We will of course give her the presents but am bit worried about the impact of the idle threats. She is more suspicious about the existence of FC than her big sister, who spends half her life playing with fairies and wobbling teeth for the tooth fairy.
Have you ever withheld presents? What do you say when they challenge the good/naughty rule?