Can I open Just ONE present? I can’t WAIT for Christmas!
Christmas is almost here, one week away. My 9 year old insists he still believes in Santa, yet he seems to have guessed all his Christmas presents so far this year. Well, most of them. I learned from years past, not to put the wrapped presents under the tree too early. Santa does come and bring him a few “big” presents on Christmas Eve, but I love to look at the tree, overflowing with presents underneath it’s colorfully decorated branches. After all, my mom always had our presents out early. That was the fun of Christmas, trying to guess if it was socks or a game or a book under the tree.
He also keeps begging me to order things online, he knows Santa loves Amazon. Of course, they are things we already ordered. I keep telling him “Christmas will be here in 1 week, you need to wait.” He doesn’t stop pestering me.
How do you deal with the Christmas Whiner?
- Be firm: Don’t give in. Set boundaries. I find that giving in just a little, makes a monster out of the whiner.
- Just ignore the whining, it will stop eventually. They will get tired of whining by the time they fall asleep.
- Bribe with candy: Offer to give them bags of candy, ice cream or any sugar treat to get them to be quiet. OK, so I am mostly kidding, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.
- Distract them: Start a new craft project, play a board game, spend quality time with them. Sometimes all it takes ia a game of monopoly to get my son to stop whining about Christmas. Granted, it takes 2 hours to play. But think of all that quality time you are spending with them, that is time you can never replace!
How do you deal with your Christmas whiner? Please share your strategies to help the rest of us stay sane the last week before Christmas.
