I'm another on her pedestal...DS is, for the most part, pretty gosh darn good. But his parents, in particular his Mummy , are pretty gosh darn wonderful too...

DS figured out through listening to carols that Santa, 'sees you when you're sleeping etc and knows if you've been bad or good etc' and asked on his own what happens if you've been bad. We kind of had no choice but to say that Santa has been known not to come to chn who do a lot of naughty things, but we try to play it down. DS finds it fascinating though and has been asking for more details on what might constitute such an offence (today it was, 'Does Santa come to sick boys?').

Here, Santa only brings one gift, as we are a very lucky family with lots of people who love us and want to give us presents. We don't 'need' presents from Santa the way some other children do. We talk about the original Santa buying clothes and other necessities for children a long time ago.

I don't think I'd ever threaten that Santa won't come, but I know if I ever did, I'd follow through. It really irks me hearing parents threaten their kids and not follow through. The old, 'if you don't behave/stop doing such-and-such, we're going home!' is a whopper as a) it's negative b) non-specific about what behaviour is desired and c) the parent has no intention of actually doing it.

Certainty, not severity.