Mom Tries to ‘Tattle’ on Toddler’s Behavior to Santa—It Backfires
The mother of a three-year-old girl used the tried-and-tested method of getting her daughter to behave coming up to the holidays: tattling to Santa.
But in her case, things didn’t run as smoothly, with the whole escapade caught on video.
Kaylee Ellis, 34, lives in Indianapolis with her husband Zach, 36, and daughter Lydia, and has recently gone viral for trying to warn the toddler she needs to behave or Santa Claus will find out.
“My husband and I are big believers in gentle parenting. Our daughter is a big believer of not being so gentle,” Ellis explained to Newsweek.
“I was trying to do her hair for school when she tried to smack the hairbrush out of my hand. At a loss of what to do, I decided to bring in some reinforcement—Santa.”
But, she revealed: “Unbeknownst to me, my husband decided to take the opportunity to film my tattling.”
A video shared to her TikTok account @kayleeellis02 on December 1 has racked up over 972,000 views and close to 90,000 likes, as she captioned it: “Anyone else have Santa on speed dial?”
It shows Ellis speaking sternly to her daughter in the kitchen, both pajama-clad, as her husband unknowingly records them from behind the door, as she described it: “Husband caught me calling Santa to tattle on our 3-year-old.”
Kaylee Ellis was gently disciplining her daughter by telling Santa what she had done. But when she noticed her husband filming, Ellis completely lost her composure.
TikTok @kayleeellis02
She has a Santa hotline on loudspeaker, with a recorded Santa voice urging: “Don’t forget to always listen to your parents,” as Lydia shakes her head.
Then, time for the parent to talk, Ellis wastes no time with introductions or pleasantries, and simply tells Santa: “She hit me.”
Ellis seems to be about to launch into the details of the potential naughty-list-maker, but then turns and notices the camera, and immediately dissolves into a fit of giggles.
Losing her composure completely, she doubles over and begins gasping with laughter, walking out of the room bent over, as her husband can also be heard laughing from behind the camera.
Meanwhile, Lydia is looking on in confusion, likely still concerned her spot on the nice list is in jeopardy.
TikTok users were in stitches at the video, as one commenter put it: “I absolutely love our generation as parents. Why is everything so funny.”
Another laughed at how Ellis “just went straight in, no introduction lmao.”
And one pointed out: “The fact that it sounded like you really needed to vent that ‘she hit me’ to someone,” to which Ellis responded with the comment: “I was ready to let Santa know all my grievances.”
Ellis said she would be leaving the Santa stuff to the “professionals” from now on. The family’s video has gone viral on TikTok.
TikTok @kayleeellis02
“I think the Santa strategy needs to be left to the professionals, which apparently my husband and I are not,” Ellis joked to Newsweek.
“We haven’t tried since. I just know we won’t be able to keep it together a second time!”
As for the sheer amount of people who have see the family video, Ellis admitted: “I was not expecting the video to go viral.
“I had no idea that many people would see me laugh until almost wetting myself!”
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