Santa - make your kids believe?

[bokiz333]

AO parents - did you at some point make your kids believe that Santa existed? If so why? Curious mind and all.

[mlschop]

Because it's fun. Stop being a scrooge/grinch/enemy of fun imo...

[glassjaws]

No parent yet, but I think we will have Santa in our house for Christmas. I don't see why you phrase it like telling it to kids is like hooking them on smack, but that's neither here nor there.

[NerdAlert]

I don't have kids, but my parents never had me believe in Santa. I never had any presents from him and at a young age I remember thinking that it was a very illogical concept. So I think I came to that conclusion on my own. My siblings also never believed, and when asked about it my parents would tell them he wasn't real...but it was never brought up by them.

We were strictly forbidden from ruining it for any of our friends, though.

If I ever have children, I'll tell them straight up how it is. It seems cruel to lie to your kids about something like that. Kids love presents, and I don't think it really matters who they're from.

[bokiz333]

Originally Posted by mlschop

Because it's fun. Stop being a scrooge/grinch/enemy of fun imo...

It's fun to lie to your kids? Hmmm

Not an enemy of fun - I'm pro presents, christmas cheer, party's and general marryment...just don't get the need to make up a fat man that likes to watch my kids while they are sleeping and all that jazz.

[Vorian Atreides]

We don't make 'em "believe". The fact that they get "more presents" is enough that they choose to believe.

And the list idea does wonders to help them develop self-control skills.

[bokiz333]

Originally Posted by NerdAlert

I don't have kids, but my parents never had me believe in Santa. I never had any presents from him and at a young age I remember thinking that it was a very illogical concept. So I think I came to that conclusion on my own. My siblings also never believed, and when asked about it my parents would tell them he wasn't real...but it was never brought up by them.

We were strictly forbidden from ruining it for any of our friends, though.

If I ever have children, I'll tell them straight up how it is. It seems cruel to lie to your kids about something like that. Kids love presents, and I don't think it really matters who they're from.

That's where I'm coming from. Aren't kids generally pretty upset when they find out he's not real? Why intentionally do that? I'm sure the kids will be just as happy with the presents, love and atmosphere without Santa imo.

[mlschop]

Are you going to not let them watch shows like Sesame Street?

"Hey Johnny, see big bird? That's just a dude in a suit. He doesn't really give a crap about you...he gets paid the big bucks just to entertain kids!"

[ActuaryGuy23]

Originally Posted by NerdAlert

If I ever have children, I'll tell them straight up how it is. It seems cruel to lie to your kids about something like that. Kids love presents, and I don't think it really matters who they're from.

We have Santa, but I agree with the quote above. I don't quite understand why we as parents exert so much energy shopping for presents, making our kids' day, and then hand the credit to some figment of the imagination that was not dreamed up by us or the kids. That probably sounds selfish (ie, I want the glory), but that's not how I intend it. It just seems like the point is to show our kids how much we love them and that Christmas is about giving... then we go and screw that up by creating a magic elf.

[Keep It Real, Yo]

I saw the line at the mall to see Santa

That's enough for me to not tell my kids that he's real

That line looked like teh suck