To lie or not to lie
I’ve never really given it much thought as to what I would tell my kids about Santa Claus. But now being a mom, with friends who are moms, the topic seems to come up..what are you going to do, are you going to lie to your kids?
Some people seem to have really strong opinions about telling their kids that Santa Claus is real because it would be a lie, and they don’t want to lie to their kids. That makes some sense to me. But really, when I found out that Santa Claus wasn’t real, I don’t remember it being a big deal. I don’t remember feeling devestated that my parents had lied to me all along, that my mom was the one who bought the stuff and filled up my stocking. I do remember being super excited Christmas Eve about waking up extra early with Kaylee, and then later the rest of our siblings, to go through our stockings with a flashlight, being really quiet, and then repacking everything (which it never seemed to fit back in right) and going back to bed, only to wake up my parents a few hours later and going through them again, of course acting surprised like we had no idea what we were getting. It was totally part of our Christmas tradition. Even in the last few years, when we’ve all stayed at my parents house on Christmas Eve, the 5 of us kids still wake each other up, and now the spouses too, at 2 or 3 in the morning to sneak downstairs and go through our stockings.
Kaylee, as one example, really hasn’t told her kids about Santa Claus. She hasn’t made a big deal about him, but she also hasn’t said that he wasn’t real. So, a couple weeks ago, at the Chrismtas parade in Shelton, we were watching the parade from the balcony at the funeral home and the final float came by with Santa Claus waving to the crowd. Brendan, looks at Kaylee and says, ‘I’ve never seen Santa Claus before!’ It was like all of the sudden, he was real to him. He’d seen him in movies and books, but never in real life. Brendan had figured it out on his own, and then was excited to actually see him in person. Brendan though isn’t sure he wants to be friends with Santa, I guess later he told Kaylee that he wanted to give him a hug, but not right now, maybe in a couple of years. ha ha ha!
Really, is Santa Claus any worse than any other fictional character? Is it any worse than letting your little girl read princess books, and watch Disney movies, and then take her to Disneyland to see Cinderella in real life? It doesn’t really seem so to me. They are both lies. Cinderella doens’t exist anymore than Santa Claus does. Yet, I’ve never heard a big debate on whether or not going to Disneyland was ok, because it’s basically a big park filled with life-sized lies that you are going to have to explain to your kids later. Is Santa a bigger deal because he revolves around Christmas, and we want our kids to understand what the real meaning of Christmas is?
I guess I don’t have real strong feelings about making sure Jayden knows right now that Santa doesn’t exist. I do have strong feelings about making sure he knows what Christmas is really about. But as a kid, you get wrapped up in presents, who doesn’t like to get presents? Especially ones that just magically appear! I guess I figure if he asks me about it, I won’t tell a huge, elaborate lie just so he’ll believe longer. And I’m probably not going to make a big deal about Santa coming either. It all just seems to be part of this time of year. And besides, last year, I knitted up these huge, kick-ass stockings for me, Royal, and Jayden, and gosh darn it, they are gonna get filled with stuff, whether it’s from me or Santa!
My kids were never really tramatized by knowing that Santa was a fake. We always told them that there used to be a man named Santa Claus/Saint Nicholas (the truth), who was a really nice man that loved children and loved giving presents to people (again the truth). When he died, people thought it would be nice to keep the tradition of Santa (apparently the truth), so other men would dress up and “pretend” to be Santa.
We just always told them, “that man is just pretending…”.
I don’t think there is any “lie” attatched to that.
Sounds like our families have done things a lot alike. That must mean were right…hahaha.
Making sure the birth of Jesus and an understanding of the Gospel are clearly the focal point of Christmas is the priority and you are already doing that.
Hang up those gigantic stockings and stuff away!!
(maybe “santa” could put a tiny little Nativity set in Jayden’s stocking)
I remember never really making a big deal about Santa to my kids, but it seemed like everyone else did, and so they believed in him. Then when Dale was about 8 he wanted to know the truth, was Santa REAL? Well, I didn’t want to lie to him, so I told him no, Santa wasn’t real, it was just a man dressed up in a costume of Santa Claus, but that there used to be a Saint Nicholas, who liked to give presents to people, etc. Well, Dale looked me in the face and told me he didn’t believe me and that I was lying to him! lol So much for trying to be honest! Eventually my kids just figured it out on their own.
you’ll have to read my blog. my comment was too long. :)
My mom has the biggest Santa Claus collection I have ever seen. It is well over 1000 different types, styles, etc. and growing with every Holiday season. I don’t remember the time at which my parents told me that Santa was not real. They never lied about it, they just let me decide on my own. I do remember asking my mom when I was much older why she collected all those Santas and she said, “I like the goodness that he represents.” He sounds like a pretty good idea to me.