Naughty or Nice?

So, if you have kids, especially small ones (like I do) I'm sure you've used the "Santa threat".  You know, the "Santa is watching, so you'd better behave..." threat.  Or maybe you have an Elf to help you out... the one who reports back to Santa about the kids' behavior every night?  

Now, what I want to know is... is it working for you??  At the very beginning of December, when my 6 year old was dawdling instead of getting dressed for school, and my daughter was playing in the sink instead of washing her hands, I broke out the very first "Santa Claus is watching you!" threat of the year.  My son tried to call my bluff, asking, "how can he be watching if he's not here?"  

My answer?

"He's magic!"

Henry

He was dressed and ready to go in under 3 minutes after that.  Sarah too.  I was thrilled!  And thinking that having a magic elf, something tangible that they could see move around the house letting them know that he'd been off reporting to Santa every night, I ran right out and bought one.  We named him Henry, and the kids fight over who gets to find him every morning.

What??  

That's right... the elf who is supposed to help curb bad behavior around the holidays is in fact encouraging my children to argue!  Whenever I remind them that Henry (and Santa) are watching, they pretend to get busy or stop running or fighting or bugging the cats or whatever... for about 30 seconds.  

Normally I'm a proponent of only using threats I can follow through on.  Or rather, if I make a threat (or a promise) I try really hard to enforce it.  I know that's they only way they learn that I mean what I say, and I say what I mean.

But does that mean I rob my "naughty" children of Christmas??  If Santa is watching, and he doesn't like what he sees (ie, it takes multiple warnings, threats, time-outs and the occasional spanking to get things done because the "Santa threat" is no longer working) will they really wake up to empty stockings on Christmas morning??  Is that fair?

The disciplinarian in me says yes.  You make a threat / promise, you follow through.

At the beach in August

The mom in me says no.  Christmas is magical.  The ONLY gifts Santa brings to THIS house are what's in the stockings.  How can I stand for them to run out of their rooms so excited, only to find that their stockings are empty?

Of course not.

Because after all, they are pretty good kids.  They have their moments of course, when I want to scream and pull my hair out at the roots, but overall, I'm lucky.  They don't throw tantrums in public (at least not regularly).  They have pretty good table manners for their age.  They say "please" and "thank you" almost all the time without a reminder.  And best of all, they are sweet, caring children who give the best hugs around!

What mom could say no to that??  Certainly not this one.