Naughty Day Merry Christmas for everyone Naughty Day started when my daughter asked me why it was that

t you always had to be good. I answered that you did not have to. Whats more sometimes you have to be naughty in order to be able to distinguish between being good and being naughty. Of course she did not understand. She did understand, however, when I announced that we were going to s end the weekend without !om, "ust the three of us, and one of the days was going to be Naughty Day. !y children could not be waiting for it. #hey told everyone that they were facing a day when they could do whatever they wanted. #eachers in the nursery, arents and eo le in the church walked u to me to ask what it was all about as my children had been talking about how good it was going to be with Daddy. #hey were not re$uired to behave well and obey Daddys orders, as that was what Naughty Day was about. #he day finally arrived% they "um ed into the bed ne&t to me, and said that we could start by staying in '(s all day. I indeed felt the urge to lay down two im ortant rules as, according to the enal law, I am their father. )*ule One+ was that no act against life was allowed which means anything that can hurt or cause ain to anybody. So if my little rince had been asking my little rincess to "um off the balcony that would have definitely been covered by *ule One, thus it could not be erformed. )*ule #wo+ was that, though they could do everything and anything they wanted, they had to face the conse$uences of their acts. ,fter discussing the rules we "ointly hugged each other and let the -./hour/long anarchy start. !y lad started by collecting all his four/wheeled vehicles in one bo&, lacing the bo& in the to of the staircase and launching a ton of cars accom anied by shouting )0oooraaaay+. !y gal wanted to eat as much ice/cream as she could instead of the fact that it was winter. She even wanted to bring the ice/cream with herself to the restroom. #hough I can imagine your face now, my dearest reader, I was not against her idea as it was not violating the two rules. #he cute innocence in the story is that, for them, being naughty means to violate all the everyday rules set u by us, adults. It was an incredible e& erience. I could not do anything but laugh with them at the committed )mustnt dos+. We baked cookies and the flour s ilt on the floor was used as canvas for drawing by my daughter. 1or lunch they had chocolate and

for dinner some meat by itself. !ilk was drunk from the carton% !armalade was eaten from the "ar with a huge s oon. (oking around and "um ing u from the table was the norm for eating. Drawing was continued further by drawing on the forehead, face and tongue. Well we had some sensible actions too, like baking chestnut and creating chestnut dummies. So being naughty, for them, was not really about doing something bad but about doing something that might annoy me. It is something that I do not let them do because it is uncomfortable for me or something that they do not know the conse$uence of. 2y the way talking about conse$uence3 In the afternoon my boy ste ed on a toy while half/ insanely dancing to the loud music and started crying because of his aching foot. Daddy, of course, felt sorry for him but he knew what had ha ened and why it had ha ened. #hen we started tidying the lace as !ommy had told 'o children know that all the toys had to be ut away. *eminiscing, I think this was the oint when the erfect day started to show its flaws. #he eak oint was when my girl vomited all the ice/cream mi&ed with chocolate that she had had all day 4rela&, I was easy with conse$uences at this oint, and did not make my girl clean the car u 5. #hen as a conse$uence of the laying all afternoon instead of having a rest, we were so tired that we could barely stay with eyes o en when we arrived home. Of course as a erfect closing for the day the bath/tub had to be filled u to its brim to leave room for s lashing out as much water as it was ossible. Imagine the rest6 when I entered the bathroom with their '(s in my hand, I witnessed my naked children cleaning u all the water they had s lashed out. #hey were so unskilled and une& erienced handling the rod of the mo to make the conse$uence of the desired game disa ear. #hen my daughter looked into my eyes and said6 7'o y, its not that good at all being naughty. We have discussed that it was enough and we are going to be good from tomorrow on. I "ust hugged together the two little innocent guys fast but I guess they could see it in my eyes that I was moved. y that everything could be done until everything was tidied u when she got home. *ule #wo, regulating conse$uences, let the

With this tiny bit of goodness I would like to wish you a !erry 8hristmas and a 0a y New 9ear. '.S.6 #heir mother is, by the way, the Su erwoman. She always says that I describe her as a crone, but hereby I state, that she is not: