Santa... and your kids...

[RecoveringJournalist]

I know a lot of people on here have young kids.

My kids are 7 and 8 and we have gone to great lengths to try to keep them believing in Santa for as long as we can.

Yesterday, a delightful Jewish kid told everybody on the afterschool program that Santa was fake, that they're parents did it, elf on a shelf is fake and they're idiots if they believe anything their parents tell them about Santa.

I think we have our kids back in line for now, but I'm curious how others on here have handled the issue. Were you like my parents, who fessed up immediately as soon as I questioned it? or Did you try to do something to get another few years out of it?

 

[LongTimeListener]

You created this thread solely to lure Whitman back, didn't you?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Glad this isn't a Poin Files thread.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

You created this thread solely to lure Whitman back, didn't you?

Some on here, if they're in the right mood, are capable of giving good, thoughtful advice. :D

 

[cranberry]

I think we have our kids back in line for now, but I'm curious how others on here have handled the issue. Were you like my parents, who fessed up immediately as soon as I questioned it? or Did you try to do something to get another few years out of it?

Honestly, I doubt your kids bought your story. They might go along because there's an upside. But trying to keep the Santa thing alive much past seven or eight seems like a pretty useless exercise. By second grade, I had learned an awful lot about the real world in schoolyards and buses.

 

[Moderator1]

Mine are 31 and 28.

They still believe. I do, too.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I think we have our kids back in line for now, but I'm curious how others on here have handled the issue. Were you like my parents, who fessed up immediately as soon as I questioned it? or Did you try to do something to get another few years out of it?

Honestly, I doubt your kids bought your story. They might go along because there's an upside. But trying to keep the Santa thing alive much past seven or eight seems like a pretty useless exercise. By second grade, I had learned an awful lot about the real world in schoolyards and buses.

I think there is a bit of that. They believe because they want to, or they're scared that if they don't, they won't get anything.

I think the fact that the kid who was telling everyone was Jewish, helped the cause a bit.

Maybe I'll just tell them that his people were the ones who killed Jesus, so naturally he doesn't want anyone to believe in a celebration of his birthday.

 

[cranberry]

Well, I can see why you want to keep them sweet and naive a while longer. In just a few years they'll probably be banging a middle school teacher. :)

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I wonder how old they were when **** delivered the bad news.
I was 9 or 10. I'd had my doubts but I wanted to think it was real.
Having much older sisters didn't really help.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I wonder how old they were when **** delivered the bad news.
I was 9 or 10. I'd had my doubts but I wanted to think it was real.
Having much older sisters didn't really help.

I was eight. I had a friend with an older brother. He broke the news to both of us. I asked my mom about it and she readily fessed up. My parents were also in the middle of getting divorced, so I don't think my mom had the energy to reel me back in.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

The Herald runs "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" as its only editorial on Christmas Day every year. Best editorial they run, and it still works for me.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

The Herald runs "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" as its only editorial on Christmas Day every year. Best editorial they run, and it still works for me.

That's awesome. The Globe's editorial is probably, "No, there's no Santa, and you should never forgive your parents for lying to you."

 

[Michael_ Gee]

My mistake. Runs on Christmas Eve, which of course makes more sense.

 

[Roscablo]

My oldest, nearly 10, is a very logical, factual child. He loves science. Around age 5 he said, "Reindeer don't fly." I thought, there is no way we're going to keep this going with him. But he has not stopped believing. Maybe he knows, I wouldn't doubt it if he did, and he partially keeps quiet for his younger brothers, but he hasn't let on to us. Just a few weeks ago he brought up Santa and I thought, here we go.

He also had a friend in kindergarten who blurted out to the whole class that Santa wasn't real and that his parents told him that. I was in class volunteering that day and it almost started a riot. But all the other kids put an end to that rumor and that was that. My other two kids are 7 and 3. The 7-year-old has made comments about the Santas at different stores, events, etc., but approaches them like they are fill ins.

All that said, I am just kind of letting them take care of it. As long as they still believe or at least the magic in it, why bother swaying them one way or the other. If they start to question I don't think I'd try to put them back in the he's real category. But as long as one of their brothers still believes I think I would have a talk about the spirit of it all and to make sure they don't ruin it for the others.

 

[Dyno]

Sure, blame the Jews. ;D

My friend's otherwise normal, socially-adjusted kids - 12 and 14 (!) still believe in Santa. The older boy is in high school! They're not huge church-goers and the kids go to public school, have lots of friends, etc. I am flabbergasted.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

HOW ABOUT A SPOILER ALERT, ASSHOLE?!

 

[LongTimeListener]

Sure, blame the Jews. ;D

My friend's otherwise normal, socially-adjusted kids - 12 and 14 (!) still believe in Santa. The older boy is in high school! They're not huge church-goers and the kids go to public school, have lots of friends, etc. I am flabbergasted.

Sometimes I think kids continue to believe because they don't want to crush their helicopter moms' spirits.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

Think about 10 or 11 is the right age. 7 or 8 is just too young for the innocence bubble to be burst.

And the 14 year old above has to be auditioning for a career in acting. Otherwise, he's either a) at one of the kindest, gentlest public schools in the country or b) is comfortable being stuffed into lockers on a consistent basis.

All that aside, Moddy said it best earlier in the thread.

 

[User 11148]

My oldest, now almost 21, was about 12 or 13 when she stumbled across some stuff we had squirreled away. I am certain she didn't really believe, but her finding that stuff punctured the fiction she was struggling to maintain. She was in tears, so this is essentially what I told her:

"Believing in Santa Claus requires some effort on your part. It might require you to not notice some things here and there, but so long as you want to put in that effort, your mother and I are game."

 

[nmmetsfan]

The Herald runs "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" as its only editorial on Christmas Day every year. Best editorial they run, and it still works for me.

That's awesome. The Globe's editorial is probably, "No, there's no Santa, and you should never forgive your parents for lying to you."

Meanwhile the New York Times centerpiece is on how two kids in Wisconsin believe Santa is real and since their parents happen to trick them each year the national trend is that belief in Santa is making a comeback.