‘My partner wants to punish our toddler by taking back all her Christmas gifts’

A mom has sparked a parenting debate after revealing how her partner wants to punish their 27-month-old daughter for her dangerous behavior by taking away her Christmas presents

The little girl couldn’t resist flipping the TV plug on and off while her dad was engrossed in a soccer game, leading to threats of confiscating her Christmas gifts.

The mom shared: “Our daughter is 27-months-old. She has loved Christmas and has been so great the whole festive period. Her favourite presents so far seem to be a big red car toy and two talking dolls. Today when I was upstairs she was downstairs with her dad watching the football and she kept switching the socket on and off at the wall (our sockets are apparently a weird shape/old so the socket protectors we bought to prevent the toddler switching them don’t fit). I could hear him telling her no over and over again.

“Finally he told her if she did it again he’d take away her big red car for a week. She did it again and I heard him say ‘right! ‘ and take her car away which obviously caused crying.” However, the child returned to the switches, resulting in her father removing her doll for a week as well.

But the mom is at odds with her partner over their toddler’s punishment, calling it “silly” and too harsh for a toddler. She took to Reddit to vent: “I went down and moved something in front of the switch to prevent her getting at it. I personally think this punishment is silly and will make no sense to her,” she said.

“A week also seems like a very long time for a 2.25 year old. Taking away her Christmas presents, I don’t know it just seems too much for her age and totally unrelated to the ‘crime’.” Labeling the punishment as “idiotic” she sought advice from the online community: “What do you think? What would you do? I would prevent her getting at stuff she’s not meant to or just remove her from the room if she kept doing it and tell her why.”

She expressed her desire to return the confiscated doll after a few hours but faced resistance from her partner who felt it would undermine his authority. “I wanted to give her doll back when she asked a few hours later but my partner says that would be undermining him. I don’t think she has the understanding yet for these events hours apart to make sense to her in that way. I think taking her to a more boring room for a bit would be a better way of teaching her.”

She doubts the toddler can grasp the concept of delayed consequences: “I genuinely don’t think she would connect that her not being allowed her toys the next week was because she pressed a switch last Wednesday.” While many Reddit users focused on the potential hazards of the child playing with switches, some agreed with the mother’s perspective.

One user warned: “For what it’s worth, socket protectors can be more dangerous- in the UK sockets are designed to only open and engage with a plug with the top pin. Until that pin goes in, the lower terminals aren’t accessible. With the socket protectors, there’s a chance it can open up the lower terminals.”

Adding to the discussion, another chimed in: “I think you’re right. She’s two. Control the situation, don’t punish the child, it won’t achieve anything.” A third weighed in with advice on child behavior: “Your partner doesn’t understand small kids’ brains. If a kid that young is doing something you don’t want them to do, you remove them from the situation. A completely unrelated consequence for a period of time they can’t comprehend is just him on a power trip. Now you get to figure out how your relationship looks when you disagree on a parenting principle. Good luck.”