The Elf on the Shelf tradition that seems to be sweeping the
country would not take off in our house, as our ASD kids would not be happy
seeing their possessions being messed around by an elf each night. Instead of causing excitement, it would cause
a meltdown each morning. When we made
footprints for Father Christmas 10 years ago to surprise our daughter and
eldest son, we thought we were creating a magical experience in our house for Christmas
morning. Instead our daughter refused to
come downstairs until we had hoovered away the mess. We’ve never tried to recreate that magic
again, as know the reaction we will get.
Last month our youngest son came home from school and said
someone in his class had told him Father Christmas was not real. He is only 8 and too young for the magic of
Christmas to be spoilt for him yet, so I looked for ideas on how to reassure
him Father Christmas is true (he wants proof and won’t take our word for it)
and came across a website called the North Pole Behaviour Department.
They create a pack for your child with their
name on green, amber and red cards, which you leave out each night for them depending
on their behaviour for the day, with a progress chart for your child to tick off
each day. On the first day in December
the child receives a certificate to say if they are on the naughty or nice
list, as well as a card from their chosen elf with a small list of things the
child can work towards to earn a green card each day. At £10 for the pack, I thought it was worth
buying for our son. You need to fill in
the details of your child’s chosen elf and so I asked a friend to write in the
name of ‘Stampy McSprinkle’ with a list of three things for our son to work
towards to earn a green card, so that he didn’t recognise the handwriting.
Reward systems work for our son and Stampy McSprinkle has
been a big hit in our house this month.
The first thing our son does each morning is to check what colour card Stampy
has left him overnight and then he fills in his progress chart. Today, our son received a mid month behaviour chart with a
chocolate lollipop from Stampy to let him know he’s on the nice chart. Sometimes our son stops in his tracks and thinks
about the behaviour he is showing and asks us if we think Stampy will give him
an amber or red card. I think he may miss Stampy McSprinkle when Christmas Day arrives. Fingers crossed, he will still believe next
year and the magic can begin all over again.
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