santa...

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Just curious about what others think on here.

So, how did you deal with it as a kid. Basically, when I was five years old I figured it out. I became so angry that my parents had lied to me. I was even more upset that they continued to lie to me when I approached them with it. I realize that my response is not typical.

Everyone encourages me to do the santa thing with my kids but it's a lot of effort because I don't believe in lying and I don't want to teach them that lying is alright. At the same time, I don't want to take something away from them that is considered fun to most people. Sure, it's fun to watch them open the gifts int he morning thinking it's from a man in a red suit but it's just hard.

So, my husband does most of it while I just smile and say a few words.

i think it's just a "me" thing.

The strange thing is that my six year olds first tooth is lose. I have no problem telling him to put it under the pillow so the tooth fairy can give him money. Go figure. Hypocritical?

I figured out he was real

I really didn't care if he existed or not, as long as I got my presents

The first time your kid seriously questions the existence of Santa you tell them that sometimes it is really fun to pretend. Kid is happy and problem solved. I would never lie to my child about something like this.

Same procedure with the tooth fairy.

As I recall, I never really believed in Santa. I just played along. I didnb't mind that my parents hadn't told me. But I do have an Aspie friend. he's 15 and just found out that Santa isn't real last year. He was very annoyed.

We have our own legend and seasonal holiday involving Saint Nicholas in addition to a purely consumerist approach to Santa Claus, here in Belgium (and Netherlands). But I never believed either of the myths.

My parents took us with them when they went Christmas shopping, so I don't really remember ever believing in Santa. They had one tradition of pretending one present was from Santa but I don't think I really believed that either. I was pretty angry though even at a later age pretending he existed and lying to me in such a way. I would never do this to a child.

I'd rather teach a child about Jesus, than lie to the kid about Santa.

Personally, I view Santa as a symbol of being kind/nice. I thought that it was great that one guy wanted to give gifts to all good children when I believed.

I know that my cousin told me about him not being real was a time in Easter, a good time to tell because it doesn't ruin a christmas for everyone. Best for it not to come from the parents though, Aunts, Uncles or cousins but not parents.

I was 7 when a school mate told me Santa wasn't real and I refused to believe her. I confronted my mother about it and she confessed. I was so angry and I wondered what else she was lying to me about and it undermined my trust (which in hindsight wasn't a bad thing).

my kids have always known that Santa is a fun holiday myth. I give them presents from Santa and my NT daughter says "mom, why did Santa send you so many things for me but there's nothing under the tree yet from you?" because a gift from me is more special than one from Santa. she has constructed an elaborate fantasy about how Santa works with parents and that parents are Santa's helpers because of the population explosion, which is why sometimes Santa's gifts show up under the tree at random times and sometimes parents have to wrap them. in fact, she appears to be so convinced of the reality of Santa as she lives the fantasy that I was prompted to ask a couple of years ago if she realizes Santa is pretend and she answered "of COURSE, mom! GOD!" in an indignant voice which I found very funny.

I have a problem with misleading kids with the Santa myth because I did wonder pretty often why Santa favored rich kids and why sometimes he didn't bring poor kids anything. it made me ask if being poor was the same thing as being "bad" if Santa didn't bring presents.

I felt extremely hurt as a child when I found out my parents had been making up the whole santa thing.
I had been hearing the bells on christmas night one year.


I tolerate the myth of santa for the sake of not being scrooge-like, yet I do not contribute to it by telling stories about some make believe bullcr*p.

I figured it out when I noticed Santa had the same handwriting as my grandma :lol:

I never fully believed in him to begin with. I truely gave it up when I was nine. I asked my parents why the paper on his presents was the same as what we were using and why his handwriting was the same as theirs and they told me it was because Santa was so busy delivering gifts to all the kids in the world, there was no time to wrap the presents himself so he left them for my parents too. I bought that. If they had told me something stupid like it was just a coinsidence, I would have never fell for it. I was a junior zoologist as a child and knew just about everything there was to know about any species. Male reindeer loose their antlers in the winter and all of the reindeer are protrayed with their antlers and are usualy protrayed as guys. The gifts supposedly from Santa were either clothes that didn't agree with my sensory issues (my parents didn't know how bad it was at the time) or junk from the dollar store. The good stuff always came from my parents and the best things always came from my brother who was in the navy at the time and stationed somewhere which had better stores than in the sticks. I still sleep with the stuffed animal he got me when I was eight. My parents were always telling me how important it is to believe in God, if I had truely believed in Santa and found out he didn't exist, I would probably become an athiest really soon too. I gave him up for sure when I was around nine on my own when my logic sences were blossoming. I think the smoking gun was no one could live for hundreds of years.

My belief in him was cemented when I learned about his his
tory

I don't want to teach my (future) kids about Santa. I know my girlfriend's mom thinks it's a magical thing to do and all that.

Here's how I see it:

Parents: "Santa is real"

Kids: (ask a million questions)

Parents: (do everything in their power to justify Santa's existence..for friggin' years on end)

Kids: "Well, if they say so.."

( except for that one Autistic Jewish kid that tells 'em Santa isn't real, but like they'll listen)



Years pass...

Parents: "Santa isn't real...ya gotta stop believing in it"



So tell me...was all that effort really worth it just to lie to one's kids, even with an incredibly poor reasoning like "the magic and wonder"? Especially when you're gonna drop it on 'em, after all that time, that you lied.

I mean...really. I'm not buying it.

I was told Santa wasn't real in 4th grade. When I asked my mom, while crying she told me he wasn't real. I was angry, but not the fact she lied. I like reading stories about Santa. I like what Santa stands for in my mind. I have ignored it though. I know lots of people don't believe in him, but I like to. I like to think there is one but all the parents help since he's only one guy. But that's me.

We have our own opinions. It just gets me excited, I like keeping it going. I like writing a list every year. I still do it.