Not doing " Father Christmas "

[Midnight_Fairy]

I love Christmas! I dont think its a "lie" of the sinister kind at all. Its about magic and yes I do go out of my way to make santa seem real to my children. To me, Its not about lying but its about feeling the magic. Santa is the magic of Christmas for us in many ways. He signify hope and happiness for us and also a time of year for families to come together.

We only do one or 2 presents from him and rest from us but he delivers.

I honestly cant think of anyone who has grown up traumatised because they found out. I dont think buying presents makes you a commercial sheep?

 

[supertabby]

It's each to their own, personally I don't see it as "lying" and I'm someone who had issues when I was youbger over lies I'd been told (serious ones re my parents relationship). I've never yet met someone who resents being "lied" to about Father Christmas or who has traumatic memories of finding out he wasn't real. I came to a gradual realisation that he didn't exist as I got older and I think most people had a similar experience. Christmas is such a magical time for children and I really want to encourage that with ours, they grow up so fast anyway - why not let their imaginations and excitement run free while they are young?

As I said that's only my take and everyone is different. My sil and her husband are totally the opposite and see it as lying, they're the only people I've met irl with this opinion. I respect that although our children are the same age group and I don't want to change what I tell my daughter in case she tells them. I'll be respectful and try to skirt around the subject generally but theirs is the minority view and therefore they have to work out how to tackle that.

It's certainly not hypocrisy imo to think it's lying to tell stories about santa but ok to teach religion. Regardless of if God exists or not (let's not open that discussion lol) those with faith believe in God, it's not a story for the kids - it's their truth. Father Christmas is a myth that we tell children knowing full well it isn't real, religion isn't the same at all.

 

[MikaylasMummy]

I agree its fun and its magical and I feel a bit sad to think some kids don't get to experience it all

 

[sparkle_1979]

I must say e even though I find the comments about "lying" slightly ridiculous ( just my opinion ) I also find comparing " Father Christmas to teaching about god " ridiculous. When I tell my children stories about Father Christmas I don't believe it, but when someone teaches about god, they obviously do believe it so the two can't really be compared x

 

[Natsku]

I agree its fun and its magical and I feel a bit sad to think some kids don't get to experience it all

No need to feel sad. I didn't experience it growing up and Christmas was still amazing and magical and the best thing was that it never got any less magical because nothing about it changed as I got older.

I must say e even though I find the comments about "lying" slightly ridiculous ( just my opinion ) I also find comparing " Father Christmas to teaching about god " ridiculous. When I tell my children stories about Father Christmas I don't believe it, but when someone teaches about god, they obviously do believe it so the two can't really be compared x

But children won't realise that difference.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I dont think Christmas lost magic with age at all

 

[Pearls18]

I dont think buying presents makes you a commercial sheep?

If it does I'm happily bleeting all the way to the 25th

 

[Kate&Lucas]

Baaa

 

[dani_tinks]

I don't see it as lying to Jacob when I tell him about Father Christmas.
To me, Father Christmas is the symbol of the time of year.
Christmas to me is about family and the art of giving.
I remember when I found out there wasn't a Santa, I wasn't traumatised - it didn't really seem to matter because I already knew what Christmas was about to my family. We're not religious, we don't celebrate Jesus' birth. We celebrate love and being together and welcoming in another year.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I buy stuff I would have probably brought anyway

 

[Pearls18]

I buy stuff I would have probably brought anyway

Same we don't really buy toys throughout the year unless there's something we would really like him to have so we tend to use Christmas and birthdays as times to buy toys as opposed to buying all throughout the year so Christmas isn't just for the sake of it if you know what I mean.

 

[LoolaBear]

IMO everyone is entitled to their own opinion/beliefs/traditions etc.

to some santa is just like reading a book to a child, they know its a story, but it's still magical. Jus tbecause a child doesn't believe its real it doesn't make the idea of it any less magical.

With me LO's we tell them the story of Santa, we don't say if he's real or not, we allow them to choose whether to believe in him. we did tweak the story slightly, taking out the naughty and nice list, adding bits in here and there, telling them about how he has different names to different people across the world and how his story is different as well. and also some don't know his story. that he gives one special present to each child who knows of him and allows him into their lives. we have also told them that he chooses the special present because he takes time to consider the special present like we do with family members as the magic is more about the thought of the gift rather then the actual gift itself.
when they started talking about what present they would get we knew that they chose to believe. Christmas Eve will be about father christmas, christmas day will be about family, time together, making memories, making others happy.

so that's our christmas this year and for many years to come, others will do it differently others may not like the way we do it but at the end of the day isn't it just a bout the special feeling and memories created for our children? believing or not thats what it is to me.

(i had a feeling they would believe as they believe in fairies and all sorts of other magical things, they have very wild imaginations, and i will admit to playing on this, but i have never once told them if it's true or not, its make believe, to some its made up, to others they believe, just becuase you can't see it doesn't mean its not real. they will grow up knowing that it was their choice, i jsut told them the story)

 

[Tasha]

Perfectly summed up Loola x

 

[XJessicaX]

We will bring in the topic of Jesus and to us (an atheist family) it is just a fairy tale. No harm in telling a story even it is a lie if it brings happiness.

 

[Dragonfly]

He may not believe he is real but William had some banter with santa a few days ago. As us Irish say "for the craic".
https://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk238/anneke1982/mhgjhgjhgjhg.png

 

[Natsku]

I think Maria thinks he's real even though I tell her otherwise she tells me he has shoes so he can walk to the shops to buy presents for babies

 

[Sarah125]

Wow this was a very interesting read. I honestly didn't know people didn't 'do' Father Christmas besides other cultures etc.

We will be telling Sophie about him as I found it so magical growing up. We are atheist but will tell Sophie the story of Jesus etc as I feel it is her right to decide if she believes in god herself. As pp said it would be told more as a fairy tale. Me and my brother got so excited for Santa coming. We made him cakes, left a carrot for Rudolph, heard his sleigh bells and got so excited about the thought of him coming down our chimney! It was so lovely of course I will be doing this for Sophie! We were always fairly spoiled by Santa. We didn't get any toys the rest of the year and we had a stocking full of cheap bits and bobs (Apple, satsuma, pound coin, bubble bath, chocolate coins etc), one big present to share and maybe about 15 small presents each. We loved to give presents and enjoyed the family time and food. It was never present orientated for us even though we got a fair bit

So yeah each to there own but Santa will definitely be visiting this little girl and I cannot wait