Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's sad that some people feel a personal insult to "having" to pretend Santa is real. Think about the last time you had real, true magic in your life. Or even breathless anticipation and excitement. Think about the next time you'll have it. For most of us as adults, we almost never experience these things anymore. But for a brief time, kids still get to and Christmas/Santa is one of those times. Why take it away from them just to prove you are intellectually superior and too pragmatic to continue an illusion? Why not just let them have it while they're little and still can? They have a lifetime of bills and worry and job stress and taxes and reality ahead of them. Why not just let them have the fun and magic that little kids should have? It doesn't hurt you one bit to just keep your mouth shut and let them believe.

OP here and I want to say one thing - life as it is takes my breath away very often. I'm truly sorry you're so buried in worries that you can't see it.
I don't have to lie to my kids to make their life interesting and worth living. We stop to stare at the stars, I answer their questions about the sun and the moon (today the whole 40 min drive to school was a discussion on how come the sun and the moon were up in the sky at the same time). We don't lack imagination and wonder and it's all about real life.

We stop the car too look at rainbows, we stop our walk to the bus stop to watch bugs and watching my children learning about their surroundings warms my heart every day. I'm so sorry you can't feel it. It's amazing! You should try.

That said, we like to give credit to those who work hard to give them presents and the feelings behind it.

I want my children to be sensitive to others beliefs but I don't want them to be shamed and criticized by telling the truth.

Anonymous wrote:Oh, please. First of all, Christmas is a secular holiday in the United States.

Second, why on earth would you cater to someone else's child, who believe in a made up story. 8-10 years old and still believing in Santa is one of the saddest things I've ever heard in my life.

Anonymous wrote:That other person was completely out of line.

Guess what? My Christian child has Jewish friends who tell her that Santa is not real. I tell her if you believe in Santa then he is real to you.

People need to get over themselves, if their children are that fragile that they can't hear a contrary opinion and you as a parent can't talk to your child, then a stocking full of coal for you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh how nice. So do you regularly discuss other "real life" things in front of other peoples' little kids? Like cancer, kids dying, genocide? Because really your attitude that no one should think about the feelings of the children around them makes you sound pretty awful.

There is a distinction between talking to your child in public, and talking to your child in front of other people's little kids. If everybody limited their public conversation to topics that would be ok if little kids were listening, public conversation would be very, very different.

Anonymous wrote:Are you people out of your freaking minds? No, I'm not going to self-censor in public just because you're still riding the Santa Train with your kids. I'm not going to go on about it at daycare, or in line to see Santa at the mall, but just generally, in public, out in the street? Absolutely not. I'm not going to devote the mental bandwidth to being a bit player in your children's Christmas Story. You guys have some messed-up entitlement issues.