narzy
Elite Member
BERLIN (Reuters) - German students who moonlight as Santa Clauses during the Christmas season said on Saturday they are growing tired of parents who push them to scold their children for misbehavior.
"Parents are increasingly demanding that we bring the stick and scold their kids rather than deliver the goodies," said Joerg Rupert Schoepfel, who runs a rent-a-Santa service that sends hundreds of students dressed in white beards and red outfits to thousands of Berlin homes each year.
"Christmas is supposed to be a fun time and we want to distribute joy and happiness," Schoepfel told Bild newspaper. "There's nothing wrong with a well-intentioned warning. But parents should educate their children themselves."
He said many parents want him and his hundreds of part-time Santas to tell their children to work harder in school, stop fighting with their brothers and sisters, clean up their rooms and stop sucking their thumbs or pacifiers.
"I'm tired of having to take their pacifiers with me," he said. "I've got at least 50 already. And when kids wet their beds, it's not a problem I should have to deal with. "When the poor little kids can't remember the poem they are forced to memorize, I like to say: 'OK, let's see if Daddy can recite that'." That often ends the visit, he said.
HO HO HO HAPPY HOLIDAYS...
"Parents are increasingly demanding that we bring the stick and scold their kids rather than deliver the goodies," said Joerg Rupert Schoepfel, who runs a rent-a-Santa service that sends hundreds of students dressed in white beards and red outfits to thousands of Berlin homes each year.
"Christmas is supposed to be a fun time and we want to distribute joy and happiness," Schoepfel told Bild newspaper. "There's nothing wrong with a well-intentioned warning. But parents should educate their children themselves."
He said many parents want him and his hundreds of part-time Santas to tell their children to work harder in school, stop fighting with their brothers and sisters, clean up their rooms and stop sucking their thumbs or pacifiers.
"I'm tired of having to take their pacifiers with me," he said. "I've got at least 50 already. And when kids wet their beds, it's not a problem I should have to deal with. "When the poor little kids can't remember the poem they are forced to memorize, I like to say: 'OK, let's see if Daddy can recite that'." That often ends the visit, he said.
HO HO HO HAPPY HOLIDAYS...
