Santa... Real or Not?

[mellyboo]

Santa adds magic to a child's life, same as tooth fairy and Easter bunny and every other thing that a child can believe in, innocence brings pure joy when it comes to the jolly fat man, giving a child something to believe in!

When kids are told Santa's not real its part of growing up, its not going to land them in therapy in 20 years, its going to upset them for 10 mins until they find something else to think about, My sons 7 this month and still believes in Santa! One day he will learn the truth and it will be on that day that Christmas loses its magic for him, but that's been 7 years so far that he's went to bed with dreams of a magical land, watching Santa make his way to the UK online and going to bed listening for magic bells, getting messages from the big man online via PNP ( portable north pole ). Christmas is a magical time, killing off Santa to save 10 mins of tears seems mean to me.

Id be gutted if my son went to nursery years ago and another child had of told him Santas not real and killed the magic early!

All of that being said is just my opinion, im not judging anyone who thinks differently and im not saying my way is the only way, just what i think personally!

The elves make special gifts just for the children on the nice list vrs mummy went to Argos..

My mum died when i was 3 and it was the magical things in life that made me happiest, It was one of those things that stayed a constant for long enough for me to grow up happy, i seemed to be always moving house and schools and whatever but Santa never forgot about me! sounds silly but its true!

I couldnt of said this better.

 

[raychmumtobe]

raychmumtobe I see you have nephews, do they believe in santa? Just think it'd be awful for their cousin to be the one to unravel it all if they do, much like your original post about older sibling doing it x

Ive just edited my OP to add, that if she beleives in him, im not saying im going to tell her hes not real, im just not going to tell her he is. My parents did exactly the same, they never left cookies out for Santa, or put fake snowy footprints through the house or even told us he was real, they just didnt tell us he wasnt, they let us use our imagination. They even let my sister put cookies out if she wanted to, and write a letter to him..
Thats exactly how im going to be.
I dont want to tell her hes real, but if she beleives in him, and theres a good chance she will, thanks to her cousins, and tv, and probably nursery and school, then thats her choice. Im not going to tell her its all a lie. Im just not going to be the one to tell her the lie.

 

[mellyboo]

And to another note .. im kind of excited to be " santa" this year for the first time.. you grow up knowing santa is real for a bit and then you grow knowing his not real.. then you look forward to that day that your santa and see that magic!

 

[mommie2be]

I wish santa was real... that'd save us a lot of money.
We'll be doing santa at my house for sure ! I loved santa growing up & OHs little brother (10 years old) STILL believes in santa. OH used to climb onto the roof every year when they were younger to stop around & jingle some bells, just to get his little brother even more excited about santa. Santa is so magical & innocent it's amazing for kids to have something to believe in like that. We'll do all we can to make the holiday more fun for corey, even if we have to make fake snow & sparkle footprints all around the living room.

 

[liz1985]

I thought believing in Father Christmas was so magical. I can still physically remember the butterfly's and excitement in my tummy, while me and my sister waited at the top of the stairs, while my mum and dad went to 'check' if he'd been. I don't really see it as a lie. I know some people who don't tell their children about Santa because they don't want them to think they might have lied about other things, but I personally think children can distinguish between the two as they get older and it's a natural transision. I will be telling Noah about Father Christmas, but I'll never be using it as blackmail, I hate when people do that, and when the day comes, and he asks ill tell him the truth. I'm glad my parents 'lied' to me.

It's upto you at the end of the day as a parent, you and hubby may need to come to a compromise.

 

[raychmumtobe]

See I think thats lovely, and I dont have anything against those who do all that stuff, I think its sweet, but I just dont want to do all that in our house, I never needed any of that growing up, and we still really looked forward to xmas, to spending time as a family and enjoying the day. Playing games, singing karaoke, watching xmas movies and eating as a family whilst chatting constantly. None of it was about Santa, it was a family day... And it was the only day a year we were like a real family. I loved it and so did all my siblings.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I think Santa is such a magical part of Christmas for children, I can't even remember finding out Santa wasn't real. I'm going to be doing the whole Santa thing with Holly

 

[Vrinda]

We don't really celebrate Xmas here, we do Diwali and there's nothing like santa or so this isnt really an issue to us. Also about the food, I guess we will not have to lie about meat comes from animals etc.... as we dont eat it either.

I would try to be honest with kids, they are really intelligent and someday they'll probably know it on their own. I think it would be good idea to ask people how they felt when they came to know the truth about somethings they were told about.

I just dont seem to remember anything like that so I cant really answer about that as far as I came to know about Christianity since my school was secular etc and I knew all the time Santa is as fictional as Micky Mouse etc.

 

[The Alchemist]

I just remembered something in my childhood about Santa. You know how at the malls, there is a Santa and parents take their kiddos for an Xmas photo with Santa? Well, as a kid, I always knew Santa was fake because I had realized there we're so many santas and why is there a skinny Santa, he's suppose to be fat!

I wish I had enjoyed the magic of Santa as a kid, but for some odd reason, I guess I learned to analyze things really early. But at least now I get to enjoy being that parent taking lo to see Santa and sit on his lap for a Xmas picture.

 

[aimee-lou]

Confession time here - I'm not actually sure he's not real! I was 14 and heard bells outside and someone downstairs (I'm an only child and my parents were big christmas lovers so maybe I still picked up on that) and I came downstairs (it was about 3am) and the xmas tree lights were on after I'd turned them off that night. Really weirded me out!

I do the full thing with Earl, I would love to do the whole american 'elf on the shelf' thing, but we have the angel on top of the tree instead. I really don't see the harm, and when Earl is old enough, he'll come to his own conclusions in his own time.

 

[catfromaus]

We don't do Santa- we are Christian, and I would prefer the day to be about more than just what presents the kids are going to get.

 

[Larkspur]

I've been thinking about this and I'm going to let him believe in Santa without the naughty/nice stuff.

However I'm going to teach him right from the start that the Jesus stuff is a fairy tale.

 

[Siuan]

We'll be going with the myth of all of the above. FC, Tooth Fairy etc. Because I don't see the harm in it at all.

It does worry me that she might find out via schoolfriends/older children, but if that happens we'll deal with it as it comes.

I think it's all part of the magic

 

[ericacaca]

When I used to ask my Mum if he existed she used to always ask me "What do you think?" She never told me he was real, she never told me he wasn't real. She left it for me to decide. I want the same tact with our little boy xxx

 

[ericacaca]

I've been thinking about this and I'm going to let him believe in Santa without the naughty/nice stuff.

However I'm going to teach him right from the start that the Jesus stuff is a fairy tale.

hmmm... so you won't be calling it CHRISTmas then? Or singing any carols? Or letting him decide for himself whats real and whats not? Sorry but that really hit a nerve and there are alot of ladies here who will find offence in what you just said.

 

[LittleBoo]

I don't know, never seen Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer as a particularly holy kinda song

 

[Larkspur]

I've been thinking about this and I'm going to let him believe in Santa without the naughty/nice stuff.

However I'm going to teach him right from the start that the Jesus stuff is a fairy tale.

hmmm... so you won't be calling it CHRISTmas then? Or singing any carols? Or letting him decide for himself whats real and whats not? Sorry but that really hit a nerve and there are alot of ladies here who will find offence in what you just said.

I can call it Christmas without thinking the story behind it is true. And no, never been much for carols. I'm sorry if you are offended by me saying I feel more or less the same way about Jesus and Santa, but there are a also lot of ladies who feel the same way as me, and I think everyone's entitled to their own beliefs.

 

[raychmumtobe]

When I used to ask my Mum if he existed she used to always ask me "What do you think?" She never told me he was real, she never told me he wasn't real. She left it for me to decide. I want the same tact with our little boy xxx

Exactly ^^^^
This is what I want.

 

[ericacaca]

When I used to ask my Mum if he existed she used to always ask me "What do you think?" She never told me he was real, she never told me he wasn't real. She left it for me to decide. I want the same tact with our little boy xxx

Exactly ^^^^
This is what I want.

Its also a very good way of getting out of an awkward discusion An extra phrase to use rather than repeating "Ask your father!" haha xxx

 

[Noelle610]

And - if we all punish our children when it's needed (negative reinforcement) I personally don't understand why rewarding them for good behaviour is blackmail? x

Well I don't punish, but that aside, I dislike it when people use it as a warning "Behave, or Father Christmas won't give you presents!" doesn't seem like a good reason for behaving. I'd rather children behaved well because they knew it was the right thing to do. I don't think many parents actually do that these days though. I have no issues with Santa in other families, but it's something that doesn't sit right for me.

Kind of off-topic, but I completely agree with you! My husband was telling me about some elf you can buy and place in your child's room. You're supposed to move it around regularly and tell them that the elf is "watching them" so that they behave in order to get nice Christmas gifts. He thought this was so clever and I just thought it was really creepy! I'd much rather have Charlotte do nice things on her own accord rather than because some weird mythical creature is "watching her".