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My parents sometimes foo that for my brother and I. We are adults and if you look at my previous post, we know Santa isn't real and our mother (father doesn't shop) actually asks us what we want for Christmas.
My parents never pushed the Santa aspect of Christmas. I never believed it anyway, let's face it when you go shopping you see santas everywhere. A normal child would probably question how Santa can be everywhere at once. I'm still not into Christmas that much because they keep pushing the season up to right after Halloween. My favorite holiday is and always will be THANKSGIVING!
We've made it clear to our 3-year-old that it's a story. What she does with that is up to her. She plays pretend so much that I don't know if she really believes in Father Christmas (as she calls him; she watches a lot of British cartoons) or she's just playing along.
The Bible says not to lie. Period. There's ways to enjoy the Santa concept without telling your kids there's a B & E committed by a fat man in red to drop off a load of expensive stuff.
I was nine when my mom "told" me, and I was almost heartbroken. I guess she wanted to protect me from being teased by other kids. I still remember that I asked her, "Does that mean the Easter Bunny and tooth fairy aren't real, either?" My niece is eleven and is in the GT program at school -- and my sister says my niece says she still believes in Santa Claus.
This leads me to think that sometimes children simply want and choose to believe in magic, and what is wrong with that as long as they have a firm grasp of what is real, otherwise? People all too soon figure out the reality that the world is often a harsh and grim place, so why not let them hang on to a belief in impossible things as long as they can? That is why, as a "disgusting" agnostic, I don't say that Christians are disgusting because they believe that Jesus was "immaculately" conceived (to name just one of many things that many non-Christians believe to be impossible).
Why would you want to teach your children something that when they find out the truth they are heartbroken??? Why deliberately set them up with a lie that you must undo and will potentially hurt them? There's nothing "magic" about that.
Why would you want to teach your children something that when they find out the truth they are heartbroken??? Why deliberately set them up with a lie that you must undo and will potentially hurt them? There's nothing "magic" about that.
OPTION A: About five years of "magical" Christmases and excitement followed by tears and a sense of loss that didn't last very long
OPTION B: The absolute truth, no magic, no disillusionment
I will choose Option A. You can choose whichever you like.
(And no, I was neither traumatized nor really hurt, just very much let down. Remember, I was nine, and I had probably subconsciously already figured it out, but I just -- I think -- didn't want to give up the magic. I would compare it to having my heart set on going to Disneyland at that age and then being told that we couldn't go after all. Not exactly "take her to therapy" time!)
Which is why the is Disney movies are mostly sanitised. In the real Little Mermaid dirty, Ariel cuts out her tongue to become human, can't marry her Prince Eric because of an arranged marriage and couldn't become an angel because she committed suicide. Yeah, we should really tell kids the true Hans Christen-Anderson or Grim versions of the stories rather than the Disney versions. To me, I rather hear the Disney version and Santa Claus is a Disney version of getting presents on Christmas representing Jesus's gifts and gift to us as ell as St. Nicholas. Kids may feel lied to but I felt more betrayed finding out that my grandmother's dog was really put down rather than sold to a man who owned a farm.
Exactly! I never used Santa to threaten my children about behavior. It was simply a fun, magical thing for us to do, and I really enjoyed it--cookies, milk, carrots, and a little letter that Santa left for them. It brought back the magic I experienced as a child.
I miss those "baby" days of my children especially at Christmas and absolutely delight in seeing my very, very young nephews enjoying Santa now.
They were not damaged by believing in Santa, didn't think we were liars, and are productive young adults.
I don't remember how we dealt with the Santa Claus thing, but they all seemed to come through it unscathed.
Pretty much this.
I don't think that Santa, or lack thereof, is really responsible for any great trauma in anyone's life.
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