Telling Kids The Truth About Santa & Easter Bunny!

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Bob67

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**1st We LIE to our Kids about:
The Tooth Fairy
Easter Bunny &
Santa Claus

Then we try to tell them the TRUTH about:
God
Satan
Jesus
Angels
Heaven & Hell

& We Wonder WHY they don’t have the Faith to Believe!**

What Our Your Thoughts On This?
 
It isn’t about realness of the figures. It’s about tradition, and creating joy for young children. Christ and Paul taught that doing good deeds for other is better to be done in mystery rather gloating about it. Children like the joy of being able to wake up and see the presents left behind a mysterious man of whom they know little about. Come on. Did you not enjoy it as a young child?

And 2nd I don’t know why you say they have no faith. Christ taught it is they who will inherit the kingdom.

I dunno. I’m some1 else can explain this better than I can, but it isn’t about lying. Instead it is about creating joy for the children.
 
Bob,
Just to jump in here, I agree we do it to bring joy to the children all over the world…But…Wasn’t their a real Saint Nicolas? Warmly, LynneMarie P.S.Mele Kalikimaka(Merry Christmas) in Hawaiian
 
I hear what your saying but, couldn’t they get the same enjoyment
knowing Mom & Dad got them the presents?

And isn’t it just our own egos we want to satisfy?
🤷
 
Hi Bob,
I think they will have way more years to know Dad & Mom got them the gifts ,then anything else ,but again their was a real St.Nicolas and he is recognized by the Roman Catholic church, he was actually a bishop way back when ,and a very spiritual man, protector of children, also his feast day is Dec 6 but it is not an obligatory day for catholics…reading of the things he did though, makes you feel like it should be…As for the Easter bunny Bob well let’s just say i would like to hop on by that issue…lol excuse the pun…Aloha, LynneMarie…P.S. Bob how long , really how many years do kids get to be innocent anymore, just those few short years, why not?
 
OK
When a little kid starts questioning the whole thing
do we tell them the truth or
do we do Say & Do anything we can just to make sure they keep believe the lie? & up to what age 3, 5, 7, 10, 12 & why?
 
Bob, I would simply point out that the true faith did just fine for centuries without these fairy tales destroying anyone’s faith. Trace the current falling away back in time and you will find the true source of this apostasy. (Hint: you’ve got the wrong fairy tale!)
 
I grew up believing in santa and the easter bunny, and yeah it stunk to find out the truth (around age 8) but I survived. I never equated the brief fun of the holiday seasons with the daily reality of God. And I like to think I have a strong faith now to boot. To each his own. I let my kids believe the fairytale.
 
Your problem is that you think of it as a lie. It’s not a lie, it’s a myth. Catholicism is a profundly mythological religion. We are blessed with the ability to see God in the everyday and create mystery in the simple things of life. Santa or St. Nicholas is just a part of all that. It is a myth that reminds us of the overwhelming generosity of God and the magic of His birth.

It’s hard to see sometimes because we live in a very protestant nation and the culture of our country is one of enlightenment protestantism, so the magic of Catholicism gets lost sometimes because we’ve assimilated somewhat into the mentality of the US.

Our children receive gifts from St. Nikolas on his feast day and a gift from the Christ Child each day of Christmas, they also run through the yard before midnight mass knocking on trees and waking them, to prepare for His coming. We do this because it’s fun for them (and us) and because it creates a sense of the power and mystery of this night and this season. I think it would be awful to raise my children without the mystery and magic of our Catholic myths.

(I don’t know how clear an explination this was, it seems to be one of those things that refuses to be explained, but read C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien on the importance of mythology, they explain so much better than I do.)🙂

Masha
 
Bob67 said:
OK
When a little kid starts questioning the whole thing
do we tell them the truth or
do we do Say & Do anything we can just to make sure they keep believe the lie? & up to what age 3, 5, 7, 10, 12 & why?
Click to expand...
one - there was a santa and there is a santa.
there was a st. Nick. now we take up his bag and continue his example with our own kids and become santas ourselves.

two - when the kid starts questioning, I let them question. “Is there really a tooth fairy?” “What do you think?” “I think a real fairy wouldn’t have left me an IOW.” “You don’t think a tooth fairy has to use a bank? Well I guess there might not be one then.” (this after I had 5 dc loose teeth in one weekend and zero cash on hand.😃 )

three - letting them dream as young children should is no more lying than letting my little girl call herself a princess when she plays dress up. she’ll know soon enough that she doesn’t really live in a castle. I don’t have to lie to her at all.

then again, maybe I should ban all pretending in their lives because it’s all just a lie?
 
I often find that parents who want the children to know Mom and Dad bought the presents, for some reason, want the credit for it. Many (not all) can’t enjoy the surprise and joy when the children open the gifts on Christmas morning. Many (not all) have a rough way to go with the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny, and some would also have a hard time with the Christ Child bringing presents on His birthday. Many of these adults seem to have a hard time with any imagery play or imagination games. Just my observation.

However, as Martha points out, there was a St. Nicholas, and there is a Santa Claus. He is important to the spirit of generosity and encouragement of giving in secret, something Jesus encouraged.

When my children find out who Santa Claus is, they are taken into the Order of St. Nicholas, whose feast day is Saturday. IT IS A BIG DEAL.Those of us old enough to take up St. Nicholas’ pack will be leaving anonymous gifts throughout our area, with only a sticker or card bearing the good saint’s image. It is a great opportunity for young and old to practice unseen charity, :rolleyes: and a really great time to play “Ding, Dong, Ditch” when leaving presents.

:thumbsup:BTW, I am Santa’s network tech. And he carries a Blackberry and an iPhone, also has several email blade servers. He uses a JIT business model, in fact pioneered it, and has branch locations throughout the world. So, be careful what you say and do- Santa Claus, he’s watching you (he’s everywhere).
 
OutinChgoburbs said:
When my children find out who Santa Claus is, they are taken into the Order of St. Nicholas, whose feast day is Saturday. IT IS A BIG DEAL.
Click to expand...
**This is what we plan to do when our children officially decide they are too old for santa. We’ll recruit them to assist with santa gifts for their young siblings and others.👍 **
 
Bob67 said:
I hear what your saying but, couldn’t they get the same enjoyment
knowing Mom & Dad got them the presents?

And isn’t it just our own egos we want to satisfy?
🤷
Click to expand...
You know, it’s funny you should say that. Everyone I’ve ever known who has made it a point to tell their children that Mom/Dad buy all their gifts, and that there is no Santa Claus has done it to stroke their own ego.

The worst was a young lady I used to work with who made absolutely certain from the time her son was a toddler to drive home the “fact” that there was no such thing as some guy who left you presents “just because”. She made it known that she worked darn hard to earn the money to buy him all those gifts he got at Christmas. How very sad. For her, it was about her ego and about thanking Mommy for how generous she was.
 
Friends of ours don’t “do” Santa at their house. My youngest daughter is in the same class as their son. She came home last week with a letter for Santa, from their son, for us to put out with our letters on Christmas Eve. He just wanted to let Santa know that even though his mom and dad don’t believe in him, he does.
I’m not telling her about it. I don’t want to get him into trouble. She prides herself on their family not doing these things, but I am going to keep the letter and when he is all grown up, I’ll give it back to him.
 
In addition to believing in Santa, my young children also believe that people are good and kind, mommy and daddy know everything, families stay together forever, their grandpa whom they loved dearly is in heaven even though he didn’t go to church, wishes when you blow out all of your candles will come true, a kiss will make what hurts feel better, and when you grow up you can be anything you want to be inculding a Princess.

Would you have me tell them the truth? Or like me, do you wish you still believed all of that also?
 
Bob67 said:
**1st We LIE to our Kids about:
The Tooth Fairy
Easter Bunny &
Santa Claus

Then we try to tell them the TRUTH about:
God
Satan
Jesus
Angels
Heaven & Hell**

& We Wonder WHY they don’t have the Faith to Believe!

What Our Your Thoughts On This?
Click to expand...
Leave Santa alone.
 
Bob67 said:
**1st We LIE to our Kids about:
The Tooth Fairy
Easter Bunny &
Santa Claus

Then we try to tell them the TRUTH about:
God
Satan
Jesus
Angels
Heaven & Hell**

& We Wonder WHY they don’t have the Faith to Believe!

What Our Your Thoughts On This?
Click to expand...
Somebody hasn’t been a very good boy this year.
 
Believing in things unseen is as essential to children as breathing. There is a reason all of us stopped believing in the fairy tales at about the same age – eight ususally. Notice that this is about the same age that the Church allows children to make their first confession and receive their first Holy Communion.

Scientists (e.g., Piaget) have documented the enormous cognitive shift that takes place in children around the age of seven or eight.

As Catholics, we can direct our children’s thoughts about the magical world (Santa, fairies, etc.) with a growing understanding of their faith. My son knows about St. Nicholas, that he somehow is now Santa Claus, and that his leaving gifts has to do with honoring the birth of Jesus. And Santa only leaves one main gift and a stocking with little things like stickers and candies.

Trying to keep children from believing in this magical world, many scientists would argue, makes it very difficult for them to believe in anything they can’t experience with their senses later in life. And yes, I could cite some of them, but no readily and I’m not willing to take the time to look that stuff up. (Ask me about school reform, and I will cite away!)

Gertie
 
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