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My parents, in addition to upholding the vile Santa lie, also had the gall to read fables, myths,fairy tales, legends, and other blatant untruths to me as a kid...I really consider them to be deceitful scammers who forever damaged my ability to trust.
So they presented stories to you as fact?
See. I get what the naysayers are saying as this seems quite, quite different to me.
Perhaps when the baby arrives I'll suddenly get it. Who knows.
My parents, in addition to upholding the vile Santa lie, also had the gall to read fables, myths,fairy tales, legends, and other blatant untruths to me as a kid...I really consider them to be deceitful scammers who forever damaged my ability to trust.
In fact, anyone who buys his or her child any book of fiction is perpetuating lies. After all, the only things that matters are facts.
In fact, anyone who buys his or her child any book of fiction is perpetuating lies. After all, the only things that matters are facts.
You see I was kind of on Santa's side until I read you original out of proportion post and then these follow ups. Hmmm. Starts me wondering if these are the kind of examples being thrown around, then maybe the 'truth police' have a point. Because I am not seeing the connection between reading a story and pretending Santa is real.
Don't get me wrong - we'll do at least some variation of it - I like the example I quoted a page back, but I don't know if I could outright lie to my kids face. Or perhaps as a parent one becomes so adept at it that it's just second nature.
Anyway I'm torn. And these parallels that don't seem to be parallels don't help!
Ultimately I want my kid to be happy and i'm sure that includes taking pictures with Santa, writing wish lists, stockings and all the rest of it. I just don't know if I would present it as fact.
I also like the Santa is the spirit of Christmas idea. I'd probably go down one of those roads as it leaves all the Santa related excitement in tact.
Edit: Mum got back to me - I did believe in Santa. No idea how I found out the (awful) truth, but I have implicitly believed everything she has told me and to this day feel she is one of the most honest people I know, so apparently my belief in Santa did nothing to affect this belief. Phew! Go Santa!
Christmas should be fun for the kids, I agree with all that. But I think the whole Santa thing gets it really twisted apart from the actual "spirit of Christmas".
This video has probably been posted, but it's floating around and totally hilarious. Parents give their kids crappy presents as a joke (some of these are really great!) But these kids reactions, omg!
When I was a kid, I thought Santa was this magical person who would give me whatever I wanted. I made out huge lists and looking back, Christmas really brought out my greedy materialistic side. I am so embarrassed of myself for being that way! (I wasn't nasty by any means though)
Never once did it ever occur to me that my hard working parents had anything to do with the gifts I was granted. I believe had I known more about that, I would have been alot of more appreciative of my parents during Christmas & all they were doing for us as kids.
Seems to me that if people can believe in burning bushes, talking serpents,parting seas and getting eaten and spit out by a whale,believing in Santa should be a no brainer!
Geez, was I the only kid who didn't care at all when I found out Santa wasn't real? I just don't understand the heartbreak. I shrugged my shoulders at it. I still got my presents, except I found out they came from my parents instead of some guy breaking into our house. In a way I was relieved, because it all suddenly made sense, instead of making no sense at all.
As a child I never got what I wanted for Christmas and could not understand why Santa gave some children everything and I always got little stuff that I didn't want.
I realized at a very early age, maybe five or six, that there was no wonder man. I started to search and found stuff that my parents had bought for us. Of course I never told them. I began to ask for less or not anything at all.
We always told my son that Mommy and Daddy bought him special surprises for Christmas. When he was old enough to understand, we explained the Santa myth to him. Christmas was always fun because he got some surprises. It is important to me that children realize that nothing in life is free and that being good doesn't always get everything they want.
Geez, was I the only kid who didn't care at all when I found out Santa wasn't real? I just don't understand the heartbreak. I shrugged my shoulders at it. I still got my presents, except I found out they came from my parents instead of some guy breaking into our house. In a way I was relieved, because it all suddenly made sense, instead of making no sense at all.
I kind of agree with your point, but I can barely remember what it was like to find out or believe in Santa or not -- it must've been age 4 or 5 (I can't recall very many "beliefs" at that age to be honest).
I don't recall being too upset though (Or maybe my memory on that particular matter is just particularly fuzzy), since I was just happy to experience the spirit of the holidays, celebrating, and getting gifts at Christmas.
I wonder how many kids figure out Santa or the Easter Bunny from just learning to figure out what they're told is "make-believe" and the real by themselves without being told bluntly and harshly, as people make it out to be. Many kids have imaginary friends at some age and I think that kids know that they're not real but think it's fun to play along.
For example, one thing I do recall clearly, was in kindergarden, when the teacher sang the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" to us, I knew dragons were not real but I liked to imagine they were real. I remember once we had to draw a picture of ourselves and something we did. I drew a picture with coloured pencils of a stick figure boy climbing on a dragon's back, and drew some birds. I recall, the teacher writing down my narration for the story was something like "I went to the park and there were birds, dinosaurs and dragons, and I fed them bread", and I didn't know if the teacher knew that I knew that there really weren't such a thing as dragons!
I think kids are smarter than we give them credit for.
My two daughters were cynical wee souls who were scared stiff of Santa as 2 years olds then refused to believe he was real from the age of about 4.
Their father and I never had to lie to them, we just let the whole thing flow as it is wont to do.
Interestingly enough they never believed in god either.
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