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I think so many people are afraid to let their kids be kids that they take some of the fun out of childhood for them. Kids are full of imagination and want to believe in magical things, and I think there is no harm in that and it is actually beneficial to let them have those moments.
When my two Sons were kids I LOVED Christmas because it was such a mysterious, magical time for them. My Wife and I did goofy things, like making a tape recording of Santa and Rudolf supposedly putting their toys by the tree. All of us hid around the corner while we listened to them "talking and going about their task". We didn't let the boys peak but we just huddled there, listening, and my Sons had this wonderful look of excitement on their faces.
One time I even tied a flashlight to a rope and put a red piece of plastic over the end so it glowed red. I went up on the roof and while my Wife and Sons looked out the window below I swung the light past them. (It was supposed to look like Rudolf flying past the window) Right after I did that I climbed back inside the upstairs window and my two Sons came running up the stairs really excited and said "Dad, guess what we just saw ????? We saw a flashlight flying by the window, it was the craziest thing !!!!!!"
Not all my ideas were genius, but some of them worked. I really missed those days when they finally figured out there was no Santa.
I think so many people are afraid to let their kids be kids that they take some of the fun out of childhood for them. Kids are full of imagination and want to believe in magical things, and I think there is no harm in that and it is actually beneficial to let them have those moments.
When my two Sons were kids I LOVED Christmas because it was such a mysterious, magical time for them. My Wife and I did goofy things, like making a tape recording of Santa and Rudolf supposedly putting their toys by the tree. All of us hid around the corner while we listened to them "talking and going about their task". We didn't let the boys peak but we just huddled there, listening, and my Sons had this wonderful look of excitement on their faces.
One time I even tied a flashlight to a rope and put a red piece of plastic over the end so it glowed red. I went up on the roof and while my Wife and Sons looked out the window below I swung the light past them. (It was supposed to look like Rudolf flying past the window) Right after I did that I climbed back inside the upstairs window and my two Sons came running up the stairs really excited and said "Dad, guess what we just saw ????? We saw a flashlight flying by the window, it was the craziest thing !!!!!!"
Not all my ideas were genius, but some of them worked. I really missed those days when they finally figured out there was no Santa.
Don
Love this.
A friend of mine told me that his aunt would dress as Santa, complete with beard and pack, sneak out of their grandparents' Victorian house where the family gathered at Christmas and make sure that he and the other grandchildren caught a glimpse of "Santa" rounding the corner of the front porch just as the parlor doors were thrown open to reveal the filled stockings and presents piled high beneath the tree. Somehow, they never noticed that their aunt was missing from the family circle during this crucial time! She'd slip in the back door, change clothes, and be so interested to hear that she'd just missed seeing Santa!
I myself heard sleigh bells at midnight when I was six, and with my family, was spending Christmas with my own aunt and uncle...magical memories.
I would hate to think this is true. I have certainly seen no one on this thread who wants to do that or any such thing!
I wasn't pointing fingers at anyone on this thread, just making a general statement. I see parents who think their kids need to grow up like right now, and never give them a chance to be simply kids. Childhood is a wonderful time and kids need to play and enjoy things that we adults can't understand. I remember my own childhood with magical friends and made up stuff, and it was a great experience for me.
I wasn't pointing fingers at anyone on this thread, just making a general statement.
I suspected as much - which was why I was cautious about suggesting that. But as I said - I am thankful that the idea that this is so does not match anything in my experience OR on this thread.
Not that such people do not exist. Of course there will be some. But the idea there is "so many" is - I hope - just pessimistic over exageration - or perhaps you have just been unlucky to witness an above average quantity of examples of it.
Then again in some areas of places - even in my home country of ireland - I more often worry about parents who want nothing at all to do with their kids - let alone that they want them to grow up too fast. There are certain - areas of dublin and greater ireland shall we say - with parents of the mentality of at 8am screaming at their kids "Go out and play and dont let me see your face around here until dinner time".
In the 60's... I'm 55. Turns out, my dad was just a tightwad.
I totally relate as I am in the same age bracket. I have found we weren't broke so much as my pop was frugal. He was born and raised during the depression and that sentiment stuck with people for a long time.
It's too bad some people who experienced the recent recession don't have any of that mindset; they could crawl out from their holes quicker.
My parents and grandparents said that fever blisters were lie bumps so when I would get a fever blister on my mouth they said it was because I lied. I was around 4 or 5 when they first started saying this but even then I didn't believe it.
My parents and grandparents said that fever blisters were lie bumps so when I would get a fever blister on my mouth they said it was because I lied. I was around 4 or 5 when they first started saying this but even then I didn't believe it.
And the little white marks that occasionally showed up on fingernails were also said to be indicators of lies (although I don't recall my parents telling me this - more likely it was other kids).
I think both of these examples fall into the folklore category rather than the "lying to your kids" category, however, along with eating bread crusts for curly hair, getting a wish if a garment accidentally donned inside out was worn inside out all day, and so on.
hee hee hee! I was soooo mad when I found out this one was a lie! I always wondered why we were "broke" when my parents didn't want me to have something.
As a kid my friend told me his mother had asthma but it only happened when his mother and father wrestled. He walked in on his parents and his dad told him they were wrestling. He said the wrestled a lot after he went to bed.
Took us a few years to figure it out. I think we were 9 or 10?
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hee hee hee! I was soooo mad when I found out this one was a lie! I always wondered why we were "broke" when my parents didn't want me to have something. 
