For as long as many people alive today can remember, Christmas has always been a joyful holiday celebrated with a big group of friends and family, the center of attention being a fictional man named Saint Nicholas, a jolly old fat man who gives children gifts if they’ve been behaved that year and coal if they’ve been naughty. But is Saint Nicholas just an excuse parents use to spoil their kids once a year? 

To understand how parents think of the legend and how they used it with their children, we’ll need to ask some mothers; When parents were asked if they used the legend of Saint Nicholas as an excuse to spoil their children for Christmas we got three different answers from them. When the first parent, Crystal Bigelow, was asked this question she answered that she never did due to her refusing to lie to her child for the sake of joy. But when we asked Amie Sitter-Jones she answered with a strong yes to the asked question; Lacey Beard upon being asked the same question she had answered a mix of both of the other answers, mentioning that she did it when her children were younger but she eventually got tired of lying to her children for them to behave that year. We asked the three parents another question along the lines of “Have you ever overspent on gifts for your children on Christmas?” Once again we received very different answers; Bigelow answered that she had never overspent as she rarely bought many gifts for her child, unlike Sitter-Jones who had once again answered with a strong yes to the question. Beard had answered yes to the question due to her family being an electronic ran family who loves expensive things.

Taking note of three different types of parents on this holiday we can conclude that it is not the same for all families, some families don’t spoil their children at all and some over-spoil their children. Many parents use the legend of Saint Nicholas as a reason to force their children to behave while others use it to bring joy to their children and make them excited for a holiday, but overall a majority of parents do spoil their child in some form during this holiday whether it be with toys or even food. Although some children get spoiled while others don’t, the joys of the holidays still grow strong for many each year. So for this Christmas, enjoy the time with your loved ones, even if you don’t get spoiled.