If there?s one thing I?ve learned in four years of parenthood, it?s that there are some threats I’ll definitely follow through on, but others simply cannot be enforced.
“If you don’t eat any dinner, you’ll get no dessert.” I enforce the hell out of that.
“Continue fighting in the back seat and I?ll turn this car around.” Yep, I just might.
“Keep calling your sister an ugly poopy face and Santa won?t come to our house.” Eeehhhhh, nope.
I may be relatively new to parenting, as well as to the use of Santa as leverage for good behaviour, but I know this much: The Jolly Old Elf is coming regardless of how much my four year old talks back, or how often my toddler bites said four year old. That?s because I literally cannot fathom a scenario where my kids could behave so atrociously that Christmas would be straight up cancelled. I mean, come on.
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29 toddler discipline tactics that work
My husband and I try really hard to stick to the consequences we dole out in the never-ending battle to maintain the upper hand. Often it?s a ban on Starbucks (my kids are half-sweet hot chocolate addicts), which scares them just as much as an early bedtime. Of course, no one’s perfect; there are occasi...