My 10 year old daughter found out that Santa was not real this year. She asked me in such a way that it was time to explain...
My answer was that while the person Santa as she knows is not real, the spirit of Santa is very real and lives in all of us and to look around at Christmas and she would see. I explained that now she was older it is her responsibility to join in and help to protect the spirit of Christmas and Santa And to see and enjoy the joy of the younger kids who still believe. She has embraced this as a right of passage in growing up and is now enjoying her younger nephews excitement about Santa.
She feels special to be part of the myth, does she think it was all a lie? Not in the slightest...
Select to expand quoteSmithy said..
My 10 year old daughter found out that Santa was not real this year. She asked me in such a way that it was time to explain...
My answer was that while the person Santa as she knows is not real, the spirit of Santa is very real and lives in all of us and to look around at Christmas and she would see. I explained that now she was older it is her responsibility to join in and help to protect the spirit of Christmas and Santa And to see and enjoy the joy of the younger kids who still believe. She has embraced this as a right of passage in growing up and is now enjoying her younger nephews excitement about Santa.
She feels special to be part of the myth, does she think it was all a lie? Not in the slightest...
That is just how it went for me.. Its almost like a coming of age for kids and they now can carry the torch..
In Australia when we discover that Santa is not real we start to believe in the beer fairy . we dream of the day that we turn 18 and finally we can all get smashed legally for the first time in our lives and just like Christmas our whole family celebrates the occasion . We then celebrate the beer fairy most Wednesday nights and weekends and then we have another massive party in honour of the beer fairy when we are 21 .after a hole we start to grow out of this and find a partner ,settle down and dream of the day of having kids and the joy of Christmas again.
I find it hard to comprehend at a ten year old has only just learnt the difference between reality and legend. Are kids banned from talking to each other at school?
Santa is real, in the sense that Santa is a legend, surely kids can safely and happily get that.
Select to expand quoteelbeau said..
By posting this I don't expect anymore than the entrenched attitudes of either side to take issue or give credence. It is just a
statement by myself and doesn't need to be debated. Whatever you post as a response will probably only incite someone that
has an alternate view and will achieve next to nothing. Having said that, out there somewhere, is a father or mother that is
contemplating lying to their children. Maybe this will influence their decision to tell the truth.
I didn’t ever teach my children that Santa was real. However I also impressed upon them, that they did not need to divulge that
reality to those that had contrary views. In return I never had a sense that they regretted knowing that truth. Conversely they
indicated to me that as they walked amongst the deluded they felt a sense of empowerment. As one who walks with insight and
knowledge they carried themselves through the throngs of the deceived knowing in time that their truth would be revealed.
You post your opinion on an open forum with instruction that it doesn't need to be debated. Are you talking down to me/us. This reeks of superiority complex. It is you that believes you walk among the deluded isn't it? If I want to teach my kids that money grows on trees, I will and quite frankly, I couldn't give a toss what you and your high and mighty opinion think of it. Just in case your not to sure how this works, once you post on the interweb thingy, it is others who decide if they will debate or not. Merry Christmas.
Select to expand quoteCal said..
I find it hard to comprehend at a ten year old has only just learnt the difference between reality and legend. Are kids banned from talking to each other at school?
Of course they are talking, why do you think she asked the questions in the first place...
A little story to start your Christmas season in the right spirit.
When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.
Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more. When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.
Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered. Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a glass of cider and a shot of rum.When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the rum.
In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor.
He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom. Just then the doorbell rang, and an irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.
The angel said, cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you.
Where would you like me to stick it?'...And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.
[Not a lot of people know this.]
Select to expand quoteCal said..
I don't think you have to lie to your kids about these things, but just because you're not diving deep into the lie doesn't mean you're denying them the joy of the spirit of something. Seems some folk have very hard line interpretations of the options in life. Ease up, what we call Christmas has been celebrated in lots of guises and by many cultures totally unrelated to Christianity, Santa etc. We have snippets of a few of these in our current traditions. What is wrong with celebrating a tradition for tradition sake, that allows for knowledge of the truth, enjoyment of the event and a damp tasty feed of various things.
Now, help please; I was never taught about steak day, when is it?
Steak day ?
Mon day
Tues day
Wednes day
Thurs day
Fri day
Satur day
Sun day
You just have to inform the cook/sandwich maker
( side note, spell checker only picked me up on Wednes. Are all the others real words ?)
Theres also April 18th.
Re Santa an elbeaus original sentiment..
We still lie to them about the birds and the bees so Santa's just a little extra fib
Select to expand quoteSmithy said..Cal said..
I find it hard to comprehend at a ten year old has only just learnt the difference between reality and legend. Are kids banned from talking to each other at school?
Of course they are talking, why do you think she asked the questions in the first place...
My daughter (at the time she was 10) was one of the last to find out of her friends. AT school she was holding her own in belief and that was why we thought it was time to let her in on the secret. She was, at first devastated. In fact she came out a short time latter and said i guess that mean the Easter bunny and tooth fairly also aren't real? She later told my wife, she wished she hadn't been told, but once she thought some more, she digested our original discussion about the spirit and she felt happy from that point on. Kids can ask her today if she think Santa is real and she will answer yes, in a very round about way by re explaining it. She is now 13.
My son is 10, honestly i don't think he really cares. As long as he gets what he wants.. For some kids its important, but other not
Huey is the only god that matters and any one who doubts this will feel the wrath of Huey with multitudes of windless days when fit and available and windy days when injured or family commitments such as Christmas with the in laws within full view of 20 kts and empty 4 ft clean swell
Select to expand quoteCal said..
Better fill me in, what do we say about the birds and the bees?
Unfortunately because of all the explicit content out there on the Internet and in the media kids are having to have age appropriate sex ed at an earlier age to ensure they are getting the right information and do not form a distorted idea based on what they see online. Even something as simple and innocent for a young girl as googling pictures of fairys can be frought with danger.
Once something has been seen it cannot be unseen...
I told my daughter about this thread today and asked her if she would have preferred to know that Santa wasn't real all along.
She answered by saying that the kids would not know any different so would not feel they had missed anything. Later she came back and had changed her mind and said that the kids involved would have seen all the other children getting so excited and would have felt left out and maybe even as though they were different and that no kid she knows would like that. She is glad to have believed.
Very smart girl my daughter...
I hate Christmas. I work in retail (typical uni student job). Yet the glimmer I see in the eyes of kids during Christmas time - particularly when a shopping center Santa walks past or I weave a Santa story to a customers child, I would do nothing to take that away from them. Children should be allowed to dream, to imagine, to believe. They should be allowed to have their innocence and fun while they still can. How many of us wish we could go back to when Christmas was simply following mum around the shops or wondering what presents Santa got us Christmas morning?
I come from a migrant family of a different culture. Parents never understood Santa and the Christmas stuff (they told us once we were adults) but the joy they saw in us as we celebrated it, learnt about it in school, they withheld their own views and joined in with the festive celebrations themselves; never a mention that Santa was not real nor enforcing their cultural/ religious views of this stuff onto us. I will always be forever grateful for that. We were allowed to grow and in time figure out the meaning of Santa by ourselves and form our own understanding of the gift of giving (I still believe in the old man in red... even though my presents were always on the educational side amusingly).
Remembering back, I always felt sorry for this girl in class who's parents were atheists. We all loved (never bullied) her but it always seemed she was left out come Christmas time when class mates were talking about presents, decorations, festive cheer and holidays etc.
Reading all the comments, I feel everyone lays in one of two camps; either pretend it is all real, or totally ruin it by saying it is all fake and of no worth. I stand in the middle, I fully support celebrating the tradition whilst recognising it is all tradition. Remember, most traditions stem from something real, but with legend surrounding and altering that original reality. Nothing wrong with allowing for all the joy of these traditions and in my opinion the wonderment of which bits are real adds to the excitement.
An unintended consequence of the kitesurfing Santas fun at nobbys in Newcastle yesterday was as i was setting up a little girl and her mum were walking up the beach ,the little girl started crying pulling a sopping wet santa hat out of the water saying "mummy santas drowned " .Her mum tried to console her by saying its was ok it was just one of Santas helpers.
Select to expand quote
Mr float said..
An unintended consequence of the kitesurfing Santas fun at nobbys in Newcastle yesterday was as i was setting up a little girl and her mum were walking up the beach ,the little girl started crying pulling a sopping wet santa hat out of the water saying "mummy santas drowned " .Her mum tried to console her by saying its was ok it was just one of Santas helpers.
this guy ?
seriously, the man got a sick sense of humor.
ffs do not deliver me clean waves in the morning and 25-30 knts winds in the arvo !
i have the family commitments because of farken xristmas day !
faaark ! there was even massive chemtrail over my place
Select to expand quotedmitri said..
seriously, the man got a sick sense of humor.
ffs do not deliver me clean waves in the morning and 25-30 knts winds in the arvo !
i have the family commitments because of farken xristmas day !
faaark ! there was even massive chemtrail over my place
Cool hedge 
A friend posted this on bookface today. I thought it might be appropriate here...
