does your child believe in santa clause?

my boyfriend and I were just talking about if we were going to have our kids believe in santa clause and everything else and so i was just curious how you feel about santa clause, the easter bunny or the toothfairy?? how old were your kids when they stopped believing?

we both had it growing up but a lot of parents now seem to be against it...
I know a lot of kids who get really mad at their parents for lying and decieving them when they find out that its not real. we both just kind of gradually stopped believing and it wasnt really a big deal to either one of us... actually to this day my mom still writes "from santa" on all our presents. so i never really had any traumatizing experiences... I think it's all good just for the sake of fun, imagination, and tradition.

i am curious though how you would explain it to your child when they do realize it's not real? I never really questioned my parents about it, so they never had to explain to me. I guess I eventually learned all about it from the kids at school after I had already figured it out for myself anyways... for some reason I never even brought it up to my parents... I just let them believe that I still believed bc i thought it was fun and I didnt want to hurt their feelings.

someone must have some funny stories to share...

 

We won't be teaching Moire that Santa is real. Yes, she will have access to a typical Christmas, and yes, she will learn about the legend of Santa and the origin of that legend. But to me, complete honesty from a parent leads to complete trust from that child.

So, no santa gifts for Moire.

 

I wasn't going to do Santa with my children, but of course you can never say never....Something happens when they are older, and they want to believe themselves.

So this year he did receive some gifts from Santa, and I don't regret it like I thought I would. I don't feel like I am lying to him at all. I grew up with Santa, but knew that he wasn't real by the time I was like 7, and it wasn't traumatic or anything when I found out. I believe that part of being a child is having fantasies and using your imagination. I will never forget how excited I was when I was 5 and wondered if I'd get to catch Santa in the act, plus the magic when I woke up to find a a special surprise. As for the tooth fairy, we are not there yet, but we do also do the Easter Bunny. Hey, you're only a kid once right, why take away these things that can be so much fun for them?

 

yes jgirl i agree. I still miss that magical feeling waking up on christmas morning, and i still love looking back and watching all the old home videos of my sister and I sneaking down the stairs at the crack of dawn to see if santa had come... you can just see the magic in our eyes.

it never made me mistrust my parents, but i can definitely see how some children would feel like that. Which is why i was questioning it , i'm sure how they react competely depends on the child. for some reason i guess i just understood even when i was that little that it was just for fun.

 

I'm a child that was raised with the knowledge of the legend of Santa Claus, but not made to believe in him.

Christmas was still magical for me. I woke up, as every other child, ripe with anticipation to see what was left for me on Christmas morning. Maybe sneaking for a peek of my gifts earlier.

But now, because I always knew what the meaning behind Saint Nick was (charity), that feeling isn't lost. I get it back everytime I give a gift to someone less fortunate. Or hug a person that needs it.

Just a perspective.

 

My boys caught on early that Santa is all of us. I'll never forget when we got some of their little toys in our stockings. They still enjoy the concept.

 

No, they don't believe, but Mommy does and they humor me.

I don't know when they stopped believing, my youngest 3 are 7, 11, and 12, but it's been a looooong time. When you have a big family, the little ones stop believing early on.

Even my older kids (15, 17, 21, and 24) indulge me in my Santa beliefs:xmas:. I don't think they are mad at me, or feel betrayed. They think I'm hysterically funny and will say, "Oh! Look at the time! I'd better get to bed, or Santa won't come!"
To which I reply, "That's right, you better not pout, either."

 

We do not tell our kids santa is real. We tell them that he is pretend and that they can pretend he, or the snow fairy, comes to leave us gifts on Solstice eve. I also mention at least a few times that really when they go to bed that it is in fact me and papa that will lay out all the gifts. Most of the gifts we exchange in our home are home made and I'm not giving some non-existent stranger credit for some kick ass gift I make my child. It is still completely magical as we add a touch of magic to everything we do. We do not ever do the easter bunny simply because we do not celebrate Easter. We do give little gifts on the Spring Equinox and we have a spring egg hunt. we really get into celebrating all the seasons in our house. It's super fun.

 

No, my son doesn't believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny. However, he's 28.

 

I still believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy...
Y would I let my baby miss out on all the fun?

 

My kids still believe but dont know how much longer that will last. My opinion is that they will deal with all the harsh, no one gives you a damn thing, facts of life soon enough already. I have fond memories of it all as a kid and no resentment here.

 

I believed until I was 11. I was a very naive child, and even though other kids told me it wasn't real, I insisted. I wanted to believe as long as possiable.

When I asked my Mom is Santa was real I never felt betrayed or lied to. Santa was always just a part of Christmas, so I never remembered my parents introducing the idea to me.

I imagine it will be much the same with my son. As a family, we all still do stockings... parents are in their 50's, my husband and I are in our late 20s and my sisters are in their early 20s... we all still open our stockings as a family and remark about how Santa knew we hadn't read this certain book, or our bra sizes, or that Dad needed a new fishing tackle box. I can't imagine that changing any time soon, and my Aunt made Mandred a stocking this past year in time for his first Christmas.

I like Santa... I like the idea of Santa... I like the whole reindeer flying, elves and Mrs. Clause thing. Having the ablitly to believe in Santa went hand in hand with my ability to believe in fairies and space aliens, and I think it enriched my childhood.

But to each their own, eh?

 

I have always been hesitant to push the santa myth, but my wife insists. So far none of the almost grown kids have had any serious life issues figuring out he wasn't real. My 7 year old still believes in Santa, but she doesn't seem to buy it when I tell her santa and I used to go to dead shows together.

 

My 8 yo doesn't believe. She never really did. I taught her the story of Santa, and told her that it was her choice to believe it or not. She would pretend that he was real, knowing that he really wasn't. Though, it's hard to keep her from telling her sister and cousins that it's not.

 

I thought a bit about this before I had Leane, but this past Christmas i realized how much the Santa thing matters to me.
When I was younger...mind you, we still do this with some parts of the family, but we would all celebrate chistmas on chistmas eve. After eating a big supper, all the men would send the women and children downstairs while they "helped Santa" with putting out all the gifts. We would all look out the window to watch for Santa.
When they were done, and santa was gone, a bell would be rung, and that was the sign for us to come upstairs...or downstairs....which ever hosue we were at, lol.
When we got up there, there would be candles lit everywhere, presents covering the whole floor, these trays of candy and marzipan (I can't spell what the trays are actually called....something like butentellas...it's german)...it just was awesome!

I stopped believing in him when I was about 10 or so. I was at school one day in grade 5, and I told the kids a story about something that happened when I was 5 and why I still believed in him: I was up really late on Christmas eve and no one could get me to go to bed. At about midnight, there was this massive "thud" on the roof! I freak right out...my uncle looked at me and said, "It's Santa, Kirsten. If he sees you up, he's going to leave and you won't get your gifts!" So I ran crying to my room with him and fought to go to sleep. The first thing I asked in the morning was if Santa still came, lol. Later on my dad told me that it was a fluke snow bank thingy that fell off the roof.
But that still made me believe in him....until that one day at school....everyone laughed at me....
Christmas to me is more about tradition and imagination and being around all the people you care about. I don't care if part of it is not true...sometimes it's just more fun to pretend.
But I still have tons of fun with the idea of Santa, and those years that we did believe in him were awesome. I loved Christmas...still do...cuz it's always just seemed so magical for that reason.

 

Ostera, the spring equinox, was always represented by rabbits and eggs to symbolize the birth of spring.
"Known also by the ancient Celtic name of Ostera, the Spring or Vernal Equinox of late March is next on the Wiccan calendar. Fertility images of flowers, eggs and rabbits are associated with this ..."

I have no problems with decorating with eggs and rabbits and flowers, while celebrating my solstice. And the Christians are none the wiser. It's all good.

 

That's stupid. If I ever have kids, I'll just say: It's a Christian-based holiday, and there really isn't a Santa. Don't treat your kid's like morons!

 

I'd never brainwash "Santa" into my childrens' heads. Plus, we will be celebrating Yule and not Christmas.

 

Scramble santa all around what does it spell?



Satan

 

It pissed me off when I found out he wasn't real. I hated being "stupid" and hate lying and I took santa clause as a lie. I'd ask my dad if he was real and he would say yes, so I got sorta mad when I found it that it was bullshit. I'm unsure if I ever have a kid that I'll tell him the santa myth, I'm pretty sure I'll just tell about how its just a myth and that people need things to believe in to make them feel sure about it. That time hasn't come so I can't be certain.