On lying to our childrenFollow

Ok, so I'm not winning mother of the year award this year because Hannah knows that Santa Claus is just pretend. She asked, I answered, I don't like lying to her about things because it's important to me that she knows that I'm an accurate source of information. Besides, Santa is really for the parents anyway.

Insert relevant comic strip here.

Despite the seeming concern to the contrary, she's still excited about Christmas, still talks about Santa coming (with the understanding that he's just pretend, but she LIKES to play pretend...she's got a great imagination!). Her Christmas has not, against evidently ALL the odds, been destroyed. Apparently, everyone that Smash's mother works with has decided that the only explanation is that I'm a closet Jehovah's Witness because who else would take away Santa from a three year old?

Anyway, how many of you have kids that *really* still believe in Santa (or ever did?), and do you think that either you or they would be particularly crushed if they were to cease such a belief? Sure, I can imagine it a great threat to bad behavior to exclaim that Santa is watching and won't bring presents, but do you really think they REALLY think that Santa is the one who won't be bringing anything or that they recognize it as a fairy tale with possibly real consequences? I don't remember a time before I recognized that "santa" had the same hand writing as my mother, and I still loved Christmas as a kid. Santa is a retail construction for goodness sake...what's the big deal....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Nexa

That's funny. I've told that story to dozens of people and they all thought it was great.

I believed in Santa for a few years, and felt horribly betrayed when I found out he wasn't real. That may have had more to do with how I found out; but either way, it's an unnecessary risk. I applaud you, if that matters.

It enjoys being sub-defaulted. I'm doing my best to accommodate it.

Well, yeah, the three black Richards thing is definitely in the "I'll tell you when you're older" camp.

I originally typed "I'll tell you when you're odder", but I just don't know if that's possible under the circumstances.

Well, it would really be hard for her to believe that I managed to get all three black men in Maine into bed at once and coordinated that while her father was at work.

Nexa

See, I figure the same but, if he wants to play along, then why "spoil" it? We don't really do the whole "OMG I hear reindeer on the roof!" and tracking via NORAD and threats to call Santa and all that rigamarole. It's really just presents under the tree with Santa's name mixed among the ones from Flea and myself. I mean, hell, last year I crudely wrapped a present in scraps of paper, bits of newspaper, old junk mail fliers & coupons and said it was from the cat. I'm hoping the kid doesn't believe that the cat actually trotted down to Toys 'R Us and bought & wrapped a gift. But it's still fun to pretend.

I never really did the Santa thing as a kid because my older sister used to snoop for presents all the time and then would show them to me weeks before the holiday. So getting the "Santa" gift that had been sitting in my mom's closet since Dec 3rd wasn't all that convincing.

I pretended to believe in Santa long after I actually did. And I will admit that I did believe in Santa, mostly because I never thought my mother would lie to me.

Thankfully, I was smart enough to understand the difference between this and her lying to me about the three black Richards she cheated on my father with.

Yeah, I was the youngest of three, which, I'm sure is a big part 'not believing'.

It is fun to play the Santa game though. Kids must go along with it to insure maximum giftage. Standing outside in line for an hour and a half to sit on Santa's lap when it's 0 degrees wasn't to fun though.

The Mr and I were just talking about this last night and what our course of action will be when Zavi comes up to us and says he doesnt believe in Santa anymore. We view it differently, where I'm like Thumb, you stop believing you stop receiving. The Mr believes that kids should still get a present from Santa as it would look weird from the younger siblings perspective.


Zavi still believes and wholeheartedly at 6. In fact Santa emailed him yesterday with a video email and if it works and you watch it, a picture of Zavi was in Santas Book. When that part popped up Zavis eyes got as huge as dish plates and he hs not stopped asking since how Santa got his picture I just told him obviously Santa has his ways. I figure this video email added another 2 more years of belief into his system.


The way I figure it, you dont get to be a kid for long. And if as a kid you want to believe, I am all for helping you keep that belief going until you grow out of it.Im not going to be the one to take that away, it will happen fast enough on it's own with kids at school. Zavi still clings to the belief of the tooth fairy too. My theory is that it has to do with seeing results. He may not see Santa or the tooth fairy, but he knows if he puts a tooth under his pillow, when he wakes up a present will be there in its place. And he sees the eaten cookies, the gifts, and the note from Santa each year. yet he has never seen any results from the trolls in the woods my dear husband talks about every hike we go for, and so Zavi rightfully questions if those are real

When you fill the thing out it is mainly for Canadaians. I just assumed they thought Santa talked like that

See, I think that's fine. It's clear that Zavi WANTS to believe in Santa and if Hannah was happy with the concept and wasn't obviously skeptical, I would have let it go. However, she wanted *answers* dammit!

Nexa

I was about the cookies.

We'll have to see if Thom buys into the whole farce. Which may be difficult because his mother is so impatient she will tell you what your present is then force you to open it up three weeks before the occasion. I already got the t-shirt the bought to replace the one of mine she ruined (Inigo Montoya) and the extra one she bought to replace the other new one that will be ruined in a year.