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April 9, 2020

94 Comments

When Holly, Zach and Jake woke on Easter Sunday expecting nice surprises, instead they were left devastated to see what Easter bunny had left for them.

What they found was a note:

To Holly, Jake and Zach,

I am writing you this letter to let you know that this year I have decided you are on my ‘naughty list’ and I’m not bringing you any Easter eggs or gifts because I have been watching carefully and you have been very naughty,” it read.

Fighting, arguing and not doing as you are told.

I have rung Santa and told him to keep a close eye out to see if your behaviour improves then you will still have time to make his good list.

I hope next year you can do a better job of being good and I will bring you some yummy eggs and a nice new toy.

Please behave for your mummy and remember, I am always watching.

Love Easter Bunny…. “

The children were understandably left devastated.

Queensland mum Tracy Elizabeth wondered if she had gone a little too far. Whether she should dash off to the shops and pick up some chocolate?

“I posted it on my own Facebook page and felt it was a bit of lighthearted fun on an Easter morning,” Ms Elizabeth told news.com.au.

“Anybody who knows me, they know I’m a good parent, I know I’m raising my children the best I can, I’m the first person to go absolutely overboard and do outrageous things for them.”

eb letter

So she posted a video, along with the note, to a Facebook community group, and the comments exploded.

“Please tell me I’m not the only parent who has done this to their kids,” Ms Elizabeth wrote. “Waiting for them to wake up and feeling like cruellest mum on the planet but hoping it teaches them a lesson for the future.”

The mum has been forced to defend herself against a debate raging over whether it was in fact the right thing to do.

With over 540 Facebook comments, opinions are divided with many raging at the Sunshine Coast mum that it is cruel, while others have taken the task of defending entitled children.

Ms Elizabeth said her children “aren’t temper tantrum kids”, but over the Easter school holiday period they began acting up, fighting like every typical kid, “but I have been saying to them ‘if you don’t start respecting each other or me and my rules, things like the Easter bunny and those special treats aren’t coming into the house any more’.

“They definitely called my bluff, this year I thought, ‘no, I’m going to teach them a lesson’.”

“There’s no perfect way to parent, there’s no right and wrong way of doing it, I want to raise respectable little human beings that understand there are consequences if you do wrong things.

“Hopefully we get it right”.

Expert opinion

Parenting expert, Dr Justin Coulson, shared the news story on his Facebook page writing, “Something inside me just broke when I read this.”

He explains, “There are ‘better’ solutions that don’t require hurting our kids to get the message across.

If we want our kids to do the right thing then punishments can be effective. But if we want them to do the right things for the right reasons, punishments become pointless – even counter productive.

Our kids need our patience as we work with them rather than our impatience as we do things to them. True learning comes from love, not fear.”

Do you support what this mum did?

Share your comments below

 Image via Getty

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  • I think as a parent if you make a threat then you need to carry through. The trick is to think very carefully before you make the threat.
    My eldest got hold of a pair of scissors and cut her hair. I fixed up her botched hair cut as best I could. She did it again. and again. Then she cut all the hair off barbie. I was so scared that she would attack her little sisters hair so I made the threat…. “If you cut your hair or anyone elses ever again then I will shave all your hair off”…. I prayed so hard that she wouldnt call my bluff because i would have done it. Thankfully she knew that I had never made an idle threat and she decided never to do it again.

    Reply

  • It’s something that the kids will never forget. If she can live with that ok

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  • Sometimes you have to take a hardline and kids may need something drastic to understand their actions. But honestly, if they’re that young that they still believe in the easter bunny I probably wouldn’t have chosen that punishment. It might have been a warning from the mum that if they kept misbehaving, they would have to ration their eggs and she would give them each one when they had earned it from behaving properly.

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  • I think there is no one size fits all when it comes to raising our children. Each child is different and the standards we have with regards to parenting are individual. I don’t feel that its our right to tell another parent how to parent their children….what works for one may not work for another…
    We spend far too much time telling other people how we think they should parent and we should learn to differentiate between what is our business and what is someone elses…….

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  • Mums can be so judgmental. Sounds like she was really fed up. I don’t think bringing Santa or the Easter Bunny into it is all that useful because I think her relationship with her kids and kids with each other is more important rather than bribery.

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  • While I might not do it and most people might not do it they’re her children and ultimately it’s up to her how she disciplines them.

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  • I think she went a bit overboard, perhaps she could have left a small thing for each of them instead.

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  • Poor kids I think it was a bit extreme to treat them like that you can sure discipline them in a different way

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  • So sad for the kids. They must have been heartbroken. Every kid argues with siblings and sometimes misbehaves. Thats a normal part of life. I think it was cruel to punish them like this.

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  • I wouldnt have gone that far and ruin the day for the whole family. But the mum was probably at the end of her tether.

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  • Poor children, I feel so sorry for them reading this. Poor little things, I think this is cruel, kids always look forward to Easter, Christmas & Birthdays taking that away is just mean :(

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  • Each to they’re own. Not something I would do but you never know someone else’s circumstances and how far she’d been pushed to feel like she needed to do it

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  • Bad behavior definitely shouldn’t be rewarded, however, there may be other ways that perhaps the message can be delivered. Children are children at the end of the day, and its our job as parents to continue to teach them boundaries.

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  • If I was that desperate I would give them one small one each, not as many or as big as usual.

    Reply

  • I can’t decide they are her children so may be should go with her decision and children will laugh at this in a few years

    Reply

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