‘I’m telling Santa!’ – Why you shouldn’t use Santy as a threat to your kids this Christmas

Empathy and patience might work better than scare tactics

Don't make Santa the bad guy. Photo posed/Getty

Rebekah Crilly

“If you don’t stop fighting, I’m telling Santa”. I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. Now, this wasn’t some out of the ordinary fight between my two boys. It was a run-of-the-mill week day where I was trying to get homework done and cook dinner as they clawed at each other and I tried not to lose my mind. The only thing that made it different was that Christmas loomed and with that came the promise of Santa Claus.

The stressed-out parent in me took the bait.