"My mother-in-law is angry with me because of the way I am parenting my young kids. I have 2-year-old twins, a 5-year-old and a 7 year old. They were acting like maniacs at the beginning of October so I told them that there were monsters in their closet that would come out if they misbehaved. I told them the monsters would go away after Halloween if they behaved better. Their behavior quickly turned around. The twins were terrified and told my mother-in-law about the monsters. She says I'm evil and abusing my kids for lying to them about the monsters in their closets. I think it was clever parenting. She does not. She says the kids are going to be scarred for life and have a hard time sleeping because of what I've told them. I think she's just mad that she didn't think of it first. Are my Halloween monsters clever parenting or abuse? Did I go too far?"