Reply #125: He doesn't have to follow through

[LostinVA]

he can sit them down and teach a lesson about ultimatums: that they are usually the wrong way to do. There have been some great suggestions for punishment on this thread, but not Christmas.

OP, you say you're Catholic, right? So you're religious. Please, do not use the time of the celebration of Jesus' birth to punish your kids... because that's what it is. And gifts? It's not just something they "expect," it's a time they love to celebrate with you.

I had a harsh dad who almost EVERY year used Christmas to pick fights with my mom ot us kids, take toys away after we opened them because he thought we were "rude" to his sociopath mom, etc. It took am long time for me to like Christmas again, and it has been very difficult to forgive my dad, even almost 30 years later.