I’m Tired of Adults Using Christmas as a Day Off From Parenting

I can't be the only one feeling this way.

Over the past three to five years, it seems as if my cousins have popped out a new baby every year. With Christmas being only a few weeks away, I'm extremely excited. I still have to do Christmas shopping, but that's a story for another day (I know….it's sad).

I love Christmas because I get to spend time with family I don't get a chance to see often, and there's lots of food. Christmas time at my family's house means it will be packed with people. Yup, that means my little cousins will be everywhere. I love them very much!

However, I do not enjoy seeing them run around the house and causing a ruckus without being disciplined by their parents, my older cousins. They sit back and relax, as if they are on vacation for the day, ignoring the malice being caused by their children. My mother and my aunts get highly annoyed of this behavior as well.

I recently had a conversation with my dentist about holiday plans, and she described the same type of behavior from her nieces and nephews, except it was far worse. The children colored on the walls and smashed cakes and cookies on the furniture.

I'm starting to think this way of parenting is a generational thing, because my cousins and I weren't raised to wreak havoc like this, and if we did, there would be severe consequences.

Am I wrong for feeling this way?