OT: Telling Children About Santa Claus ** Was: Banning Christmas

[Guest guest]

Hey Karen.

 

Where you been lady? Ain't heard from you in a long time .. good to see

you are still alive and ornery .. we missed you. :-P

 

> Lie to the kids. Tell them there is a Santa Claus, JC , Allah, and all the

> rest of 'em.

 

That is a tricky one for sure but its something parents must decide for

themselves .. if gummit tried to regulate they would fail. I have given a

lot of thought to how I need to deal with the introduction of religion(s) to

my son .. and though I have a degree in Psychology .. earned way back in

1972 or so .. I believe that this old discipline is as useless as it would

be if I had just graduated. I don't care what others (including the

so-called experts) think. My son is not a statistic .. he's a little man

who will probably have a different outlook on life than the child

next door. I'm leaning toward introducing him to the three monotheistic

religions and trying to dodge questions about my own personal beliefs until

he is old enough to begin to develop his own. Meantime, we will go to

certain functions at a Christian church and at the Orthodox churches when we

visit Russia .. and we will participate in Ramadan and such if we happen to

visit Turkey during one of those holidays.

 

As for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy and such .. not as

tricky as religion but it requires a bit of spin on the truth that is thrown

in with the fiction. Might be good to concentrate on the real St. Nicholas

and such .. emphasize that the spirit of giving is how some folks created

Santa Claus from St. Nick .. and that the spirit of Santa Claus really

should exist in all of us but it might mean something different to many of

us. Again .. its a matter for parents to decide .. check this out

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23378895-details/'Santa+Claus+does+no\

t+exist'+school+tells+stunned+kids/article.do

 

And .. http://www.elainegibson.net/parenting/santa.html

 

> They will respect you for it in the morning.

 

Depends on whether they respected you the night before. ;-) I think the

main thing I must pay attention to is keeping my promises to my son and not

doing things that I tell him not to do.

 

I had no problems with my parents not telling me about Santa Claus or their

avoiding the truth on how children were created .. another truth where

parents must decide when and how to lay out the facts. I learned the truth

on both points early .. from kids in school and when I asked my parents they

fessed up .. but I think I might still believe in Santa Claus a little bit

... it makes me feel good to see the Jolly Old Dude in Christmas programs.

I feel good at Christmas .. I like the lights and the atmosphere even though

its commercialized. Everything is commercialized today.

 

It is also a matter of age. When should we level with them and tell them

that children's fantasy is phony and Hollywood is real? ;-) There is a

balance needed and each parent must decide when and where to put their

finger on the scales .. because if we fail in this mission then nothing will

be real .. for sure the evening news is rarely real.

 

If I tell my pre-school child there is no Santa Claus should I also tell him

that the Grinch is not real and there are no flying elephants so Dumbo is

not worth watching and Bambi, Thumper, Flower and all those critters really

have no personality .. they are just wild creatures .. and the critters on

Sesame Street are phony so their message is not worth listening to? Not a

smart move this.

 

I still like Popeye and Bugs Bunny and the Roadrunner .. and the Grinch. I

missed seeing the Christmas stories on TV for the last 19 Christmases so I

plan to catch them all this year.

 

> Karen

 

Y'all have a good one .. and keep smiling. :-) Butch