Parents Face Tough Questions When Santa's Magic Fades

Dark Knight

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TUESDAY, Dec. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Every Christmas season, there's that question parents dread.


"Is Santa Claus real?"


According to experts, beginning at age 5 or 6, children begin to wonder if the Jolly Old Gent with the reindeer isn't quite what he seems.


"They are beginning to ask a lot of questions, they start seeing the inconsistencies -- 'Hey, we don't have a chimney, how does Santa get in here?' or 'the Santa at one department store looks different than the Santa I saw over there,' " said Bruce Henderson, a professor of psychology at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C.


Worse still, some party-pooper sibling or school friend pulls the child aside to whisper, "Santa isn't real."


What to do?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20071225/hl_hsn/parentsfacetoughquestionswhensantasmagicfades
 
oh man....how I remember the dreaded day that my now 18 year old asked that very question...Is Santa real After a long thought out answer, she called her dad and I liars for months....my daughter wasn't being disrespectful, she was devastated at our answer.
Our oldest handled this much better.
 
Whats this:eek: ..theres no Santa:eek: :eek: :eek: and heres me thinking I havent been getting presents from Santa cause I,d been bad:crazy:
 
My 8 year old son was starting to ask me this question after his schoolmates told him that Santa wasn't real. I told him that as long as he believes in Santa, then Santa will visit on Christmas Eve and leave him gifts.

After tracking Santa on Google Earth, he stated that now he has PROOF that Santa really exists ! :rolleyes: I can tell you that he is much happier now than he was a few days ago !
 
My 8 year old son was starting to ask me this question after his schoolmates told him that Santa wasn't real. I told him that as long as he believes in Santa, then Santa will visit on Christmas Eve and leave him gifts.


I think that may be what my mom told me, IIRC. As long as I believed in him, he would bring presents. (I'm now 35, so far so good!) :crazy:
 
Whats this:eek: ..theres no Santa:eek: :eek: :eek: and heres me thinking I havent been getting presents from Santa cause I,d been bad:crazy:

Oh noooozzzze. I guess that person I heard on my roof was some neighbor trying to go through the skylights to burglarize people. Hey, it happens. In all sincerety, I'd say just keep telling the kid lies. OR break it to them real early before they even ask so they don't expect anything. My friend actually knows somebody that did that to their six year old. Kind of cruel.
 
My 10 year old pretty much knows the truth, but all I tell him is: "if you do not believe, you do not recieve..."
He believes!!! lol
 
You know what's funny? Last year my now 10 year old DIDN'T believe...but suddenly this year she does again. My 8 yr old is a firm believer.
I stopped believing when I was 10 and realized that the note Santa wrote back to me was written in my mom's handwriting!
 
You know what's funny? Last year my now 10 year old DIDN'T believe...but suddenly this year she does again. My 8 yr old is a firm believer.
I stopped believing when I was 10 and realized that the note Santa wrote back to me was written in my mom's handwriting!

I had my doubts when "Santa" misspelled his last name on his note back to me, lol!
 
You know what's funny? Last year my now 10 year old DIDN'T believe...but suddenly this year she does again. My 8 yr old is a firm believer.
I stopped believing when I was 10 and realized that the note Santa wrote back to me was written in my mom's handwriting!

I was 9/10 when I stopped believing and I thought I was hot stuff for figuring out the truth!
 
A friend of mine played Mrs. Claus at Macy's Herald Square a few years back. The kids only have a second with Santa, but the wait can be an hour or longer, giving them plennnnnty of time to come up with questions. And who's standing there but Mrs. C?! Macy's didn't give her any script, so she had to wing it. Being NYC, the kids were a bit hard-edged, and came from all different cultures and backgrounds. Some came on school trips. But, she said, as jaded as they were, they WANTED so bad to believe! They just didn't want to be taken. When she told me some of their questions, and her answers, I said, You've gotta do a magazine article! She did one better, she did a book. It is called "Mrs. Claus Explains It All," and it comes out Christmas '08!
 
totally o/t here but WHO besides me loves the movie "Bad Santa..."
So freakin' hilarious....
so many quotes I love from this movie!
Also "A Christmas Story..."
 
Please do not flame and/or sizzle me for this post. Zap my husband instead. DK, this is for you and anyone else that cares to comment. Along the lines of this thread, my hubby said something very thought-provoking. Actually made me go "hmmm".

(I'm pro-Santa, my husband thinks anything of the sort is "lying". Thank goodness we don't have kids together, or else it would be a constant battle.)

This woman that he works with told him on Christmas Eve that she had to get her kiddos to the mall to see Santa. This woman is VERY religious, so it kinda floored him. He asked her if she did the Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy thing too and she said yes. And at the same time you're teaching them stories from that?, and pointed to her Bible. She said yes.

His point is. . . . You teach kids about fantasy stories/characters like Santa and the Tooth Fairy, then teach them Biblical stories. At some point you tell them that, nahhhh, I was lying about Santa and the other things, but OH NOOOO, the Bible thing is real. . . . and you wonder why more young adults are athiest or agnostic. :waitasec:

I felt like he actually had a point. Thoughts?
 
Please do not flame and/or sizzle me for this post. Zap my husband instead. DK, this is for you and anyone else that cares to comment. Along the lines of this thread, my hubby said something very thought-provoking. Actually made me go "hmmm".

(I'm pro-Santa, my husband thinks anything of the sort is "lying". Thank goodness we don't have kids together, or else it would be a constant battle.)

This woman that he works with told him on Christmas Eve that she had to get her kiddos to the mall to see Santa. This woman is VERY religious, so it kinda floored him. He asked her if she did the Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy thing too and she said yes. And at the same time you're teaching them stories from that?, and pointed to her Bible. She said yes.

His point is. . . . You teach kids about fantasy stories/characters like Santa and the Tooth Fairy, then teach them Biblical stories. At some point you tell them that, nahhhh, I was lying about Santa and the other things, but OH NOOOO, the Bible thing is real. . . . and you wonder why more young adults are athiest or agnostic. :waitasec:

I felt like he actually had a point. Thoughts?

As an adult atheist who grew up Methodist I don't think finding out Santa wasn't real had anything to do with my not believing in God.

My lack of faith stems from the lack of evidence that would indicate the existence of God, the myriad contradictions of the Bible and other religious texts, and my disillusionment with organized religion. (I'm not knocking anyone's beliefs here-just giving a general overview of why I don't believe)

While finding out your parents fibbed about Santa might cause you to question other things your parents have told you I don't know any atheists or agnostics who profess to feel that way because they found out Santa wasn't real. Most of the atheists and agnostics that I know have done a great deal of thinking and soul searching in making their choices about what they do and don't believe.

Becca
 
My mother had a book of Christmas lore and customs. She used it to teach in Sunday School and Girl Scouts. I have that book now.

When we were old enough and questioned Santa's existence, Mom explained that Santa was the spirit of St. Nicholas, who lived in Greece in the third century. Also Sinterklaas, the Dutch version of the Saint.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

She explained the history, and then told us the spirit of St. Nicholas lived on. It was definitely a kinder, gentler way. I also imparted the history of St. Nicholas and his deeds to my boys when they were old enough.

So, Santa Claus of today was based on a real man who did good deeds. The tradition continues both here and all over the world.
 
My 11 and 9 year old girls know the truth but my 3 and 2 year olds are having a blast. Santa still visits the older 2 of course but I think they are still mad at me for telling them the "truth" last year.

I thought they already knew!! OOOPS!
 
My 8 year old son was starting to ask me this question after his schoolmates told him that Santa wasn't real. I told him that as long as he believes in Santa, then Santa will visit on Christmas Eve and leave him gifts.

After tracking Santa on Google Earth, he stated that now he has PROOF that Santa really exists ! :rolleyes: I can tell you that he is much happier now than he was a few days ago !
This is fantastic. :) I also told my son the same thing as you did. To this day, he says that he believes in Santa. He's a grown man. ;)
 
When my youngest was in Kindergarten at 5yo, the teacher told them Santa was only their parents and did not exist! I smoothed it over with my child by saying, "In my house, if you don't believe...ya don't receive!". LOL

For a little Christmas present, I bought the teacher a candle of an upside down Santa with the wick sticking up...well....you know where. Hahahahaha! She got my message loud and clear. (So did the Principal when he got all of our calls over the incident!)
 
Your mother was a wise woman, BG. I will certainly tell my children this when they ask me about Santa Claus next time. Thanks !




My mother had a book of Christmas lore and customs. She used it to teach in Sunday School and Girl Scouts. I have that book now.

When we were old enough and questioned Santa's existence, Mom explained that Santa was the spirit of St. Nicholas, who lived in Greece in the third century. Also Sinterklaas, the Dutch version of the Saint.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

She explained the history, and then told us the spirit of St. Nicholas lived on. It was definitely a kinder, gentler way. I also imparted the history of St. Nicholas and his deeds to my boys when they were old enough.

So, Santa Claus of today was based on a real man who did good deeds. The tradition continues both here and all over the world.
 

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