Santa - Believers and non-believers

[loeylo]

OK, so perhaps many people do take the Santa thing to a level that I DO find weird. For the people who just tell the stories and have some presents from Santa show up under the tree, I don't find that too weird. The people who go through elaborate details and actively tell their kids he's real and answer probing questions as if he's real and actively try to get their kids to believe, I find that "weird." I also find it weird when people have their kids line up to sit on a strange man's lap. I also find it weird that I have to worry about my kid saying "Santa's not real." Of course he's not real, he's a fun story to tell around this time of year. There are lots of kid's stories that are fun and most of them we don't try to convince our kids that they are real, even if we play along with imaginative play.

I agree with this. We teach them all year around not to let strangers touch them, not to take sweets and presents from strangers, and other 'stranger danger' things, yet come December, it's OK to have a random bloke with a fake beard ask a kid's name, is they've been good, offer sweets etc. and yes, potentially sit on his knee (depending on where you are, it seems). At the same time, it's all about not lying to your kids and answering anything they ask as truthfully as possible (in an age-appropriate way), and to be honest about what they themselves think, but if they or anyone else questions if Santa is real or not, all truthfulness is out the window.

I agree it's weird that this is even a problem. My daughter comes home from school or playgroup full of nonsense - from someone's dragon being real to stories about god and how she will go to hell because she doesn't go to church, but it's really as simple as telling her that said dragon is pretend and that while some people believe in god, we don't (and why), and that religion is not actually about going to church. Kids will say a lot of things, and not everyone will agree with what they say.

Mine believes in Santa in the same way she believes in Peter Rabbit, I'd say. She's as old as Violet and has already questioned many a thing connected with it (why there are so many, we're not supposed to see Santa, how does he get into houses, how does he get everywhere etc.). It doesn't take away the excitement of Christmas. I'm not fussed if a kid tells her Santa isn't real. I'm pretty sure she actually knows, deep down, that he isn't, just like Peter Rabbit is only in the book and not every rabbit we see is Peter, and rabbits don't wear blue coats.

But to a kid, Santa isn't a stranger.

 

[AngelUK]

Yeah but in all fairness, neither is the guy who talks to them nicely in the park and offers sweets. One of my boys is especially friendly and wants to talk to all the parents in the playground or softplay and it does worry me :S
I see both sides really. I don't think there is one right and one wrong here.

 

[AnneD]

How exactly does that make it ok?

 

[AngelUK]

I mean that telling your child about Santa surely is not wrong but I understand why ppl would not want to do it.

 

[loeylo]

Yeah but in all fairness, neither is the guy who talks to them nicely in the park and offers sweets. One of my boys is especially friendly and wants to talk to all the parents in the playground or softplay and it does worry me :S
I see both sides really. I don't think there is one right and one wrong here.

What I meant is that in a kids eyes they genuinely do know Santa, they know exactly what he looks like and have heard lots of stories and know he is kind and not going to kidnap them. Their parents are also there with them.

Even as a young kid I could definitely differentiate between a random guy in a park offering me sweets and meeting Santa in a grotto with my parents. To me, Santa was just like a neighbour or someone from church.

 

[_Meep_]

Even as a young kid I could definitely differentiate between a random guy in a park offering me sweets and meeting Santa in a grotto with my parents. To me, Santa was just like a neighbour or someone from church.

This. There is not even a comparison to be made between an unaccompanied child being approached by a genuine stranger (menacing or otherwise) and an organised, planned meeting between a child and a Santa Claus figure with parents present and full consent given.

I can't even think of any documented occurance in which any child was abducted by someone ACTUALLY posing as Father Christmas in order to gain the child's trust ... except when it has come up in all the speculation over the case of poor JonBenét Ramsey, and even then, basically nobody really believes that that is what happened.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I can see sense in the 'worrying about someone telling kids something that is not real, when its not real' you know...it does not make much sense.

 

[Scout]

Oh geesh, the stranger danger thing is ridiculous. A parent being with a child while they visit Santa is not the same thing. What about a parent being with a child while they visit the doctor or the dentist? Those people are strangers and yet we trust them with our kids. What about when we put them in nursery at the gym or church or wherever? Should I have expected my daughter to go running out of her preschool class the first day we went in because her teacher was a stranger? No, because mommy was there and mommy said it was okay, just like I'm there when she visits Santa. And if she didn't want to visit Santa or sit on his knee, then of course I wouldn't make her, just like I don't make her hug a family member if she doesn't want to.

 

[staralfur]

Oh geesh, the stranger danger thing is ridiculous. A parent being with a child while they visit Santa is not the same thing. What about a parent being with a child while they visit the doctor or the dentist? Those people are strangers and yet we trust them with our kids. What about when we put them in nursery at the gym or church or wherever? Should I have expected my daughter to go running out of her preschool class the first day we went in because her teacher was a stranger? No, because mommy was there and mommy said it was okay, just like I'm there when she visits Santa. And if she didn't want to visit Santa or sit on his knee, then of course I wouldn't make her, just like I don't make her hug a family member if she doesn't want to.

Yep, completely agree. I also think it's important to differentiate between types of situations - teaching your kids not to trust anyone isn't helping them.

 

[_Meep_]

^ Yes, 100%

 

[AngelUK]

Agreed.