Full Disclosure

The other day Spencer was going to the bathroom while I was getting ready for work. This happens a lot because once he sits down he likes to ruminate a bit before he deigns to move on (men, seriously). I went to say goodbye (still on toilet) and noticed that his lips were chapped. I grabbed one of my chapsticks and slathered it on, and he said “Maybe I’ll have my own chapstick. Oh! I need to put it on my Christmas list!”

I said, “Sure, maybe Santa will bring you some!”

And then he said (still on toilet, mind you), “Yeah, Santa can always see and hear us.”

Spencer’s been in trouble at school the past couple days. Not huge things, but certainly things that need to be addressed. He’s a follower and has a need to be liked by his peers. So a little girl tells him to do something they think is funny and soon he’s cutting the erasers off the pencils. The first day he got a stern talking to, we took away a television show. We didn’t expect it to happen again the very next day. I’m at a loss as to how to handle it – we talked to him about doing what is right and not what his friends tell him to do. We told him the importance of respecting your teacher and other people’s property. I have never, ever threatened my children with Santa/lack of presents, but I said this:

You know Christmas is coming, right? Maybe you should try to be good.

We took away the evening’s Advent activities (hot chocolate and a Christmas movie) and tv, and wouldn’t let him watch daddy play video games (gasp). Instead he settled down with the collected works of Curious George.

I hope it works. Sometimes this whole parenting is a floundering-in-the-dark sort of feeling.