Someone’s off Grandma’s Nice list this year.
An anonymous woman has caused a stir online after admitting to having banned her daughter and grandson from celebrating Christmas at her house this year — simply because they do not believe in Santa Claus.
The real-life Grinch, posting in a popular Reddit forum, began by explaining that she started her family at a young age and then later remarried, which caused a wide age gap between her three children aged 25, 9 and 7.
Her eldest child now has a child of her own and decided not to raise them to believe in the myth of old Saint Nick.
One problem — the grandmother’s youngest two children still do believe in Kris Kringle.
“She raised him not with the Santa magic, which is perfectly okay, [I’d] just rather not have it ruined for my children who do believe in Santa,” the woman explained.
“I still put packages under the tree with “from Santa” on them, and leave out cookies and reindeer treats.”
The grandmother claimed that she asked her daughter to “talk to” her grandson before arriving on Christmas morning so her youngest children wouldn’t have “the magic ruined for them” but her daughter refused.
“My daughter told us she wouldn’t make her son lie, and my children are old enough to understand if her son decides to say something,” the woman wrote.
“I told her if she wouldn’t talk to her son, they could spend Christmas at their apartment.”
The poster then claimed that the Gen Z parent used the occasion to confront the mother of three, saying that Grandma was choosing her younger children’s happiness over that of her eldest and was being “completely unreasonable.”
“I just want to keep the Christmas magic alive,” the story posted to the thread “Am I The A–hole” ended.
While commenters empathized with the woman for wanting to create a magical holiday for her young children, most pointed out that her youngest will eventually stop believing in Santa Claus, but her daughter and grandson will likely remember the hurt of being banned on Christmas for years to come.
Debates like these are likely to continue as other Gen Z parents argue that perpetuating the myth of Santa Claus is potentially traumatizing to children.
In fact, the TikTok hashtag #SantaIsntReal has amassed over 65.3 million views as young parents explore gentle parenting — a trendy child-rearing style that governs kids with kindness and respect rather than demands and threats.
Sarah Ockwell-Smith, a childcare expert and author of “The Gentle Parenting Book,” told The Post that while there isn’t an official gentle parenting stance on the Santa Claus myth, moms and dads should be careful not to weaponize the once-lauded gift giver.
“Threatening kids with ‘I’ll tell Santa on you!’ is just going to kill festive joy and make both parents and children stressed,” Ockwell-Smith said.
She added that spooking kids into believing that Santa is a watchful know-it-all can, in fact, prompt lasting agony.
“The idea of an all-seeing, judgmental mythical being spying on children is quite trauma inducing,” she said. “There’s no surprise that so many kids cry when they meet Santa.”
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