Do your kids believe in Father Christmas?

holnrew

I grew up not celebrating christmas, and I just don't understand why parents lie to their kids like that. 

Drew_TNBD

I remember my presents as a kid would have love mum and dad written on them, and at some point I thought "wait a fucking seccccooonnddd...."

Mum and dad made me not tell my sisters, because they were a bit younger and still under the illusion.

Hertz32

Inb4 what do you mean father christmas isn't real?

Grunfeld

holnrew said:

I grew up not celebrating christmas, and I just don't understand why parents lie to their kids like that. 

Because the world of imagination and "what if...?" is a powerful place, and it can be wonderful, and I think it may even be necessary.

Why do authors "lie" to us?  Why do film makers "lie" to us?

There is something about being human which makes us love, and maybe even "need" stories and beliefs.  If you don't have these "lies" in your life you would be like Mr Spock from Star Trek -- i.e. non-human.  (Yep, I know he's a made-up lie too.)

randomhandclaps

My kids believe in Father Christmas.  I don't mind lying to them, as @Grunfeld says the joy of believing the impossible is one of the greatest things about childhood.  I lie to them a lot.  For instance I don't tell them that the reason they are not allowed to play out on their own is that percentage-wise there is likely to be a least 3 child sex offender in our road alone.

ThePrettyDamned

I did when I was a kid, blew my mind when I discovered it wasn't real. My own fault though, I stayed up deliberately to catch him and heard dad go out to the garage to bring in some of the presents.

I told my little brother out of spite soon after.

He didn't believe me

CloudNine

holnrew said:

I grew up not celebrating christmas, and I just don't understand why parents lie to their kids like that. 

Because it's fun! I have a great laugh with my kids (still quite young) convincing them that Santa exists. Ripped red cloth on the fireplace etc. It's great!

Go on admit it, you secretly yearn for the idea of a cheery old man emptying his sack in your bedroom on xmas eve?

spacecadet

I find it incredibly sad that some kids are brought up without ever having that magic feeling. I still get it now. For me Christmas as a holiday, the Santa stuff, decorations etc is all about forgetting that the world is a horrible place to live and that bad people exist. Isolating yourself even for a short while to ignore everything else, forget about work/ money troubles and simply enjoy the family.

My girl is now 15 so knows whats going on but my boy is 9 and still believes. I'm sure he'll know next year but for now, I want him to have that magic feeling I remember so well for as long as possible.

Lixarto

Yes.

He's 24.

ICBM

I think my youngest one (8) just about still does, but the older ones don't. Even the youngest is aware that Santa is mostly a mythical figure and that the actual work is mostly done by humans dressed up as him, including distributing presents. I think she still thinks there is a real Santa as well though.

A few years ago when it was snowy I went to a lot of trouble to make sleigh tracks, big boot prints and reindeer hoof prints in the garden, and leave some half-eaten carrots behind, but I'm not sure they really fell for it .

We will still all be watching the Norad Santa Tracker again this year though . All good fun even if they know it isn't real.

jd0272

Two of the three yes. And our eldest is quite happy not to spoil it for the other two.

Just as a point, Sophie's world wasn't shattered when she 'clicked on'....

holnrew

I'll just have to put it down to not having experienced it.

jd0272

It's just another point of life that divides opinion. Each to their own. I'm happy for my children to be happy and share the experiences of their peers.

Bucket

Can't remember ever properly believing in it - there was no one moment my parents broke the news to me or anything, I think I just sort of realised. Wasn't exactly heartbreaking tbh, I was still getting presents and didn't give much of a toss who they were from

jonnyburgo

My youngest aged 7 does and the boy who is 9 is on the fence. Weve had video messages from santa sent to to them via https://www.portablenorthpole.com/

The world is a pretty shit place at times, I think it is great to still have that sense of innocence and wonder as a child, I loved seeing my girls face when she got the message. They grow up fast enough as it is.

Those without kids may find it sentimental and mawkish but fuck em

Hootsmon

Sir

MY kids believe in MOTHER xmas

yours

Stephanie and Bethany

xxx

mike_l

^^Does that mean Hootsmon is really named Stephanie? And is his alter ego Bethany?

viz

Grunfeld said:

holnrew said:

I grew up not celebrating christmas, and I just don't understand why parents lie to their kids like that. 

If you don't have these "lies" in your life you would be like Mr Spock from Star Trek -- i.e. non-human.  (Yep, I know he's a made-up lie too.)

PART human.

speshul91

Yep. Get told if they don't behave he's getting an email from us lol. Also for those of you that have kids the international space station is passing over the UK around 6 pm Christmas eve. Also known as Santa's sleigh

holnrew

If I'm ever lucky enough to have kids I'm going to find it difficult at christmas, I don't lie and it might cause a bit of friction with Mrs Holnrew-Dennings.

Grunfeld

viz said:

PART human.

haha, I stand corrected! 

But could you say that actually it's accurate to describe him as "non-human" because, well, he isn't human.  And that "part-human" is more like a sub-class of "non-human"?

Fuck, don't answer that!  I was going to draw a Venn diagram and then realised... I'm trying to argue about Mr Spock, from Star Trek, on an internet forum, in a thread about Father Christmas!  (And I wonder why I don't have a regular gf).