'My daughter found my Christmas list so now I want to return all her presents'

15 November 2022, 12:24

A mum has said she wants to return her daughter's Christmas presents. Picture: Getty Images

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

A mum has revealed her six-year-old daughter came across her Christmas list while playing.

A woman has asked for advice after her daughter found her Christmas shopping list.

The anonymous mum explained that she had written the list in one of her notebooks which was left on her desk.

But when her six-year-old made a den, she must have come across the book and took a peek inside.

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Taking to Mumsnet, she wrote: “Yesterday my daughter (6 nearly 7 and bright/doesn't miss a trick) was building a den with blankets around my work desk.

A woman has said she wants to take her child's Christmas presents back. Picture: Getty Images

“Didn't think anything of it until this morning. She asked me a question that made me stop and double take.”

The list itself has all the gifts the organised mum has bought for her daughter’s birthday, as well as Christmas.

She continued: “I have listed all the presents I have purchased for her bday and Xmas (they are close together).

“I have listed her stocking items, the items Santa is bringing and then the presents we have got and what I have asked the wider family to get.

“I also have lists for wider family presents, food, Xmas cards.”

After realising her daughter had read the book, the mum went on to say she is ‘very cross and hurt’, continuing: “I haven't asked her outright but I have asked her if she has anything she wants to tell me and she said no.”

A mum has asked for advice after her daughter found her Christmas list. Picture: Getty Images

The woman has now removed these pages from the notebook and wants to take all the presents back.

“My initial thought is to write a message for her if she returns to the book along the lines of 'I know you have read this - all presents have been returned. Please do not look in my notebooks again',” she said.

But her husband has advised against the note, saying it’s ‘very mean’ and ‘it’s natural for kids to snoop’.

Unsurprisingly, the post has received a lot of comments, with most people siding with the husband.

“She’s a child of course she read it, she’s already ruined it enough by taking the surprise element away, this does not require a punishment!,” commented one person.

Someone else said: “I genuinely accidentally found my Christmas presents at that age... playing hide and seek, opened airing cupboard there they were.

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“Mother was angry at me... but it was a cupboard we regularly open? You knew she was playing there... dont keep the notebook there. But a talk about privacy won't go amiss.”

A third wrote: “I think it’s lesson learned for her, but doesn’t need to go any further. I found presents as a child (actively looking) and it meant I didn’t have the surprise I wanted at Christmas.”

While a fourth added: “She’s a young child who wouldn’t fully understand the idea of privacy, and if she has read the notebook her Christmas magic will be spoiled already, without you trying to make her feel worse about it.”