Geneva mothers offer tips for post-holiday ‘bad’ kids

But what happens after they receive their gifts? Some might return to their misbehaving ways.

Geneva moms Karen Tomko and Laura Heine noticed this was a common problem and recently decided to put their solution in a children’s book.

“Rodney the Repo Reindeer: A Cautionary Tale to be Shared After Christmas” tells the story of the less popular reindeer, Rodney, who comes around after Christmas to take back gifts if children misbehave.

Tomko said she’s tried the method with her own children and found it works very well, especially if the children are motivated to be good again in order to get back their presents.

Tomko and Heine published their book through Tate Publishing, which is a hybrid of a self-publishing and print-on-demand company.

“Rodney the Repo Reindeer” is available at Town House Books in St. Charles and will be available at the Amazon website.

Tomko recently sat down with the Republican to discuss the book.

How did you an Heine come up with the idea for the book?
We’re both stay-at-home moms with young children. In speaking with other moms at park district or sporting events, we noticed a common theme. Kids can feel entitled to gifts they receive for Christmas. Although they might behave well before the holiday, they can become ungrateful after they receive their presents and misbehave, such as fight with their siblings. We decided there was definitely a market for this kind of book to help parents with post-holiday frustration.

How do you and Heine hope this book helps people?
We wanted a tangible object parents could use. Rodney is a B-team reindeer. He has bad teeth and his antlers are askew. He comes around after the holidays. He looks for door hanger signs, which are available at the back of the book, which lets Rodney which kids he needs to repossess gifts from if they’re bad.

What are you and Heine’s plans for the future in publishing?
When “Rodney the Repo Reindeer” takes off and sells a billion books worldwide, we’d like to work on a prequel showing how Rodney got his job with Santa in the first place. We always have things in the works.