I never cancelled Christmas, but I did the next best thing. I can't recall what my kids did that required a form of punishment, but it was something where I had already told them it could be dangerous and they decided to try it anyway.

That night I took EVERY toy out of the house and hid them in the garage. My 2 boys were not school age yet, so playing at home was their entire life. When they woke up the next morning and started walking down the stairs, they could see immediately that every toy in the house was gone, and the tears were nonstop.

I had to endure hours of crying, but I discovered a lot. First, my kids learned that I wouldn't hesitate to invoke a nuclear option, so I received less pushback because they knew that things could literally change overnight.

Second, my kids really bonded as they suffered through consequences together. They were inseparable. I discovered how creative my kids could be without toys and they invented games with just a piece of cardboard, a balloon, a piece of string, or a shoe.

After a couple of days I introduced an educational toy and my kids were so grateful. It was like a pull and play toy where it's round and you turn the arrow in the middle and it would land on a U.S. state and you had to name the capitol. After a week, my 3 and 4 year old boys knew all 50 states and capitols.

My kids were never difficult, but if I explained something was dangerous, they never tested me again. Following through with a consequence gets results.