I love the holiday season and getting into the holiday spirit. What I mean by this is that I can use this time of year as some serious leverage when it comes to the shenanigans of the Wee Ladies. No, no friends. It's not all the cookies and shopping, presents and chopped trees that have me giggly. It's that I have Santa on my side. We are a United Front. Santa's watching your kids.
As creepy as that may sound, he knows if you are being good. So when things go sideways, all I have to do is peer over my hot chocolate and Baileys and remind the Wee Ladies of this. I can easily use it for a solid two months out of the year. Maybe even bring it up mid-year as a refresher.
I love this threat. And yes, let's be open and honest. It is a threat. All you have to do is gently but firmly say, "Remember- Santa Claus is coming to town. So you better not pout or cry. And I will definitely give you all the reasons why. You might want to rethink that whole cleaning up the mess you made. Oh, and don't whine about it either. He's watching. Santa is always watching."
Sometimes when things get really sour with the Wee Ladies, the threat gets worse. "You do want Santa to bring you your presents, right?" Met with a distinct nod, I can swiftly redirect them back to more appropriate behaviour.
Shake your head at me all you want. But it works. And it works well. Why ruin a good thing? If I have a guaranteed means for good behaviour, if I can curb the whining, then boy howdy I will. No one wants to cross Jolly Old St. Nick. If we do, we might only get a lump of coal in our stockings. And I can see him shaking his head while exhaling his smoke ring from his pipe. Fear not, I haven't pulled the coal threat out yet. I think I'll save that for next year.
Santa is kind of like the Polk-A-Roo version the lady at the store who tells your kids to sit down in the cart, or stay out from under the racks because they might knock something over or get lost. They threaten to their face and in front of you, the parent, without your permission. You might get lost. Or You might crack your head on our Wal*Mart concrete and the Waltons have no use for lawsuits. Only Santa's threats are through the parent directly. The key here is that the kids always listen. ALWAYS. They do listen to that old lady with the blue perm cashing us out. And when she says sit, they sit. Just like when they know Santa is watching, it's all hands clasped at the table, napkin in lap, and a pearly white smile to boot.
Forget Reward Charts. Just use Santa. Christmas may only be once a year, but you can try and use Santa for about 364 days of the year.
Just ask the lady at the checkout. She'll agree.
All's I'm sayin's all.
Labels: Battle
