Santa and his band of holiday misfits

Atla said:
I had this discussion with my wife recently. We have a 20 month old daughter - Should we raise her to believe in Santa?

Not to sound like a total Scrooge, but why lie to your kids only to crush them with truth later? Why have them focus on something that is 'fun' and materialistic, but not the true purpose of Christmas? Also, why should we buy things and say someone else bought them? We talked about simply telling her it was a fun tradition but that Santa isn't real from the beginning. Seems to me that's the best compromise.

Unfortunately, the wife asked our older son who just found out Santa isn't real, what he thought we should do. He wanted her to think their was a Santa.

So... that happened.

I blame the future tears on him.

There's a LOT of reasons to not raise them, and the only good reason is fun.

Teach them that presents cost money and thankfulness should be generated towards the parents who worked hard for them instead of some figure who gave them free stuff. (Gee, I could pull that into some political/social directions!). Teach them that the only faith figure they need to impress with their behavior is God and not some Jolly Guy in a suit. Speaking of which, teach them that if some fat peeping tom sneaks into your house offering free goodies and candy in return for certain 'behaviors', he's going to get shot.

Okay, maybe I am a Scrooge.

But I stand by it, Santa is Bullshit. Responsible Parents teaching Life Lessons and Christian principles is more important.
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wow. Let the kids have their few years of magic. There's plenty of time once they're a little older to start teaching value of money and where presents actually come from. I think you should listen to your older son there.
 
mbalbritton said:
With my youngest kid reaching that age where this will be the last Christmas that she can hear Santa’s sleigh bells (Polar Express reference), it takes me back to try and remember when I first learned/discovered the lies and deceitful actions of my parents and elders.

I don’t recall the moment. Seems that after 8-10 years of being lied to about Santa, the Easter Bunny and the tooth Fairy, you’d recall the seemingly traumatic moment you said to yourself, WTF! You’ve all been lying to me!!!??

Do you recall that moment?
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Wait.... what?!?!?!


Bastard.
 
RenegadeT said:
wow. Let the kids have their few years of magic. There's plenty of time once they're a little older to start teaching value of money and where presents actually come from. I think you should listen to your older son there.
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We did. lol.

Our 20 month old hasn't learned to stop smacking our dogs weiner, so I think it's still to early for any sort of value lessons. :)
 
Atla said:
I had this discussion with my wife recently. We have a 20 month old daughter - Should we raise her to believe in Santa?

Not to sound like a total Scrooge, but why lie to your kids only to crush them with truth later? Why have them focus on something that is 'fun' and materialistic, but not the true purpose of Christmas? Also, why should we buy things and say someone else bought them? We talked about simply telling her it was a fun tradition but that Santa isn't real from the beginning. Seems to me that's the best compromise.

Unfortunately, the wife asked our older son who just found out Santa isn't real, what he thought we should do. He wanted her to think their was a Santa.

So... that happened.

I blame the future tears on him.

There's a LOT of reasons to not raise them, and the only good reason is fun.

Teach them that presents cost money and thankfulness should be generated towards the parents who worked hard for them instead of some figure who gave them free stuff. (Gee, I could pull that into some political/social directions!). Teach them that the only faith figure they need to impress with their behavior is God and not some Jolly Guy in a suit. Speaking of which, teach them that if some fat peeping tom sneaks into your house offering free goodies and candy in return for certain 'behaviors', he's going to get shot.

Okay, maybe I am a Scrooge.

But I stand by it, Santa is Bullshit. Responsible Parents teaching Life Lessons and Christian principles is more important.
Click to expand...
YES!!!! I get it your a new-ish parent but what you don't know yet is that parenting is an exercise in hypocrisy.Do as I say not as I do applies.You can not always tell the truth it just don't work that way.
 
I still remember what my parents said to me I absolutely believe in it and it’s what I passed down to my seven year old this year when she told me Santa wasn’t real.

“Santa is real, he just may not be in the red suit you imagine he is in. But someone is always watching and listening. As long as you believe that and you are good there will always be an extra present under the tree.”
 
I asked my son about this today, asked him when he figured it all out... he had no idea. He's a pretty clueless "head in the clouds" kind of kid anyway.
We also talked about the tooth fairy. He did say it was kinda weird that a fairy would want to take people's teeth. Like, what the heck would she do with them?

I jokingly told him if his younger sister ever asked that, we'll tell her they are saved to give to people who need replacements after accidents, old age etc.
He made a gagging sound and we both laughed at how disgusting an idea that was - re-using used teeth from somebody else's mouth. lol.
 
RatLabGuy said:
We also talked about the tooth fairy. He did say it was kinda weird that a fairy would want to take people's teeth. Like, what the heck would she do with them?

I jokingly told him if his younger sister ever asked that, we'll tell her they are saved to give to people who need replacements after accidents, old age etc.
He made a gagging sound and we both laughed at how disgusting an idea that was - re-using used teeth from somebody else's mouth. lol.
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Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in the Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety-Fifth Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
 
Atla said:
We did. lol.

Our 20 month old hasn't learned to stop smacking our dogs weiner, so I think it's still to early for any sort of value lessons. :)
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Oh man that will be a fun story to tell boyfriends she brings home from college one day.
 
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