While other parent bloggers are writing about Christmas recipes, making decorations with children, and other pleasantries, I am going to be a complete Scrooge and write about my top three pet hates at Christmas.
1. Chocolate in advent calendars.
Whose stupid idea was this? When I was a child we didn’t have these. I used to love coming downstairs to open the next door on my advent calendar and see the little picture behind it. My child has one like this and is equally enthralled with it, and with the visual countdown to Christmas it provides. When you put chocolates in them it just becomes all about the chocolate and nothing else. What’s the point? Why not just buy a normal box of chocolates and give them one every day? This has ruined what was a lovely Christmas tradition for children.
2. My child being repeatedly asked by other adults, “Have you been good?”
There is no such concept as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behaviour in our household so I’m not sure my child knows what people mean when they ask him this. He always replies ‘yes’, but with a look of confusion and concern. Has he measured up to these mysterious adult standards?
I would never threaten my child with the non occurrence of a happy, anticipated event. This would go against all my parenting beliefs. So I wish other adults would stop assuming otherwise.
My son needs to know that he will receive a visit from Santa no matter what. Nothing he can do will make him a ‘bad’, unworthy person.
3. Christmas music.
It’s bad enough that all the shops and various other public places that have a sound system subject us to the same intensely irritating inane nonsense every year, year in year out, for three months of the year (that’s a quarter of my life I have to spend trying to avoid it), but now I find my child’s school teaching the kids to sing it too.
Furthermore, as my child’s school is a non-faith school I had assumed this was down to political correctness. However, last week I attended the school’s annual visit to the local church and found that they were singing about the birth of Jesus, just in silly songs. If they are going to sing about this then there’s no excuse not to sing some traditional Christmas carols. Who says children want more modern stuff? Who decided this? An adult. I used to love Christmas carols and I’m sure today’s children would too. They’re timeless. As with pet hate no.1, this is another needless ‘update’, ruining another lovely Christmas tradition.
Does anyone else have any pet hates at Christmas? Go on, have a rant!
Having got all this off my chest, I would like to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas.
Parenting with Understanding 
Totally agree, especially with point 2, I need inspiration to help lauren find a sensible way to respond to this nonsense, maybe “yes thank you, have you?”…
Yes, totally agree, my son has a traditional (just pictures) advent calendar which he loves, I haven’t found a suitable way to respond to the “have you been good” which makes me bristle with annoyance, and from what I can tell from the songs my son is singing at home, they are also doing a nativity with modern songs (will find out tomorrow…). Whatever was wrong with “Little Donkey” and “Away in a Manger”?! Merry Christmas!
I haven’t come up with a good response to no.2 either. Might have to try Charlotte’s.
I’m still pondering about the Nativity show with modern “nursery rhyme” type songs (which is what my son’s Nursery put on, although the little ones did sing “Away in a Manger” too). The local church crib service on Christmas Eve was the same. DH reckons it’s because traditional Christmas carols are quite complicated and difficult to understand by young children. I bought this argument for a day or two, but am now wondering whether this represents the “dumbing down” of today’s children? This is a whole other blog post I guess!
Yes, I absolutely think it’s ‘dumbing down’. When I was a child we didn’t have any problem with traditional Christmas carols, we loved them. Children don’t change unless our society makes them change.