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I'm actually currently pregnant with our first child, but I wanted to get some opinions from ladies who have older children. Particularly if you did not do the Santa thing with your kids!
My husband and I are not religious in the least (I'm an atheist, and he describes himself as pagan), so we don't celebrate Christmas. This is a huge change from my family, who are Christmas crazy.
We really do not feel comfortable doing Santa with our daughter or any future children. We'll do presents, but they'll be from us. We won't even have a tree or anything.
When I told my mother she FLIPPED OUT and basically acted like it was borderline child abuse for us to not do Santa. The only reason she could really come up with when I asked her why it bothered her, was that Luci might go to school and tell all the other kids that Santa isn't real. But there will always be some kids saying that at school. We hope to teach our daughter that some kids believe in Santa and God, and she should respect the beliefs of others. But my mom says there's no way that would work.
That said, how did you anti-Santa moms deal with your kids respecting the beliefs of others? Did your kids ever feel like they missed out on the Santa experience, or did they just think it was some weird thing that other people do? I suspect most kids look forward to the holiday for the presents, not Santa. (I was terrified of Santa as a kid!)
Deep down, I suspect this is my mom trying to have as much input and control over the raising of her last grandchild(ren) as possible. She was never so pushy and opinionated with either of my sisters like she is with me. I think it's because she and I differ greatly in opinions on politics and religion, and she acts like she's trying to "save" my daughter from me.
My husband and I are not religious in the least (I'm an atheist, and he describes himself as pagan), so we don't celebrate Christmas. This is a huge change from my family, who are Christmas crazy.
We really do not feel comfortable doing Santa with our daughter or any future children. We'll do presents, but they'll be from us. We won't even have a tree or anything.
When I told my mother she FLIPPED OUT and basically acted like it was borderline child abuse for us to not do Santa. The only reason she could really come up with when I asked her why it bothered her, was that Luci might go to school and tell all the other kids that Santa isn't real. But there will always be some kids saying that at school. We hope to teach our daughter that some kids believe in Santa and God, and she should respect the beliefs of others. But my mom says there's no way that would work.
That said, how did you anti-Santa moms deal with your kids respecting the beliefs of others? Did your kids ever feel like they missed out on the Santa experience, or did they just think it was some weird thing that other people do? I suspect most kids look forward to the holiday for the presents, not Santa. (I was terrified of Santa as a kid!)
Deep down, I suspect this is my mom trying to have as much input and control over the raising of her last grandchild(ren) as possible. She was never so pushy and opinionated with either of my sisters like she is with me. I think it's because she and I differ greatly in opinions on politics and religion, and she acts like she's trying to "save" my daughter from me.