“THE SLEIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS” by Kate Stewart

Thatch: “- It’s time to admit what no parent wants to admit.”
Serena: “- Our kids are assholes.”
Thatch: “- We got caught up in the excitement of having money and gave them everything they asked for. Maybe we got too busy maintaining the business that we started to give in to them.
Now, they expect everything.
Nothing is special, earned, or deserved because they get everything on a whim.”
Thatch: “- And Jesus, Gracie is one more flippant comment away from a narcissist. She’s self-centered, ungrateful, disrespectful, rude, demanding, and manipulative. She’s on the verge of thirteen. We have to stop this, now.”
Serena: “- She is so manipulative, and she’s not even nice about it.”
Thatch: “- I love her, but I don’t like her. I don’t like my kid, Serena. She’s a nightmare to be around, and Peyton is picking up all her nasty behaviors with surprises of his own. He’s becoming a dick.”
Serena: “- Thatch, you don’t mean that.”
Thatch: “- Right now, I absolutely do. They’re out of control.”

Serena: “- Thatch, we can’t take their Christmas away.”
Thatch: “- So we’ll take a holiday.
Toss every bit of a bullshit that’s not working–the books, the online advice, the judgemental rants of backseat driving parents. 
These are our kids, and it’s time for something different. 
How extreme we go is up to them. Let’s truly let them decide. Their behavior will make the decision. 
Not one parent has probably ever used the naughty list as true incentive.”
Serena: “- Won’t that make us the assholes?”
Thatch: “- Yes, but it’s a lesson they won’t forget. This is serious.
Our four-year-old is biting, cursing, and driving his pre-K teacher nuts.
Gracie is learning to be an egomaniacal asshole.
They have no remorse to the point I’m terrified we’re raising twin sociopaths.
So, this is not just for us. It’s for them. They can’t continue like this and survive in this world.
Perfect we might not be, but we’re going to make them, at the least, appreciate the parents they do have.
But you have to trust me, and you have to be all in.”
Serena: “- Thatch, you’re the nicest, less aggressive parent. I trust you. I’m with you.”
Thatch: “- No backing down. If we undermine one another, in no way this will work.”

Kindle, 2024