Should children be allowed to believe in Santa Claus?

[Nici la Fey]

I'm tired......feel free to talk amongst yourselves.... Oh well, whatever, we all have our opinions. neutral Do whatever. I haven't changed my point of view. Good Night, or morning where ever you are.  

[Sanzoskitsune]

None of us are trying to get you to change your opinion hun, we're simply pointing out that some of the things you think happened didn't really happen. You want to blame Coke for Santa when its not really them who created him. You're thought about not lying to kids about Santa is separate from where Santa originated from. We just want to make sure you get all your facts straight ^_^  

[Kalstolyn]

Also: did you have a bad experience with your parents telling you that Santa wasn't real? No one EVER told me or my brothers or any of our friends that Santa wasn't real. There was some speculation and some sleuth work to figure it out, and then everyone plays along to not hurt their parents feelings, and then the parents are relieved when they accidentally let something slip (like "I'm going to get this to put in your Dad's stocking" when the family tradition is that everything in your stocking comes from Santa...) and there isn't a huge meltdown or a giant disappointment. I mean I played along with my mom's ideas while playing Barbies with her when I was littler, why wouldn't I play along with Santa?

I do agree that believing in Santa is vastly different than believing in a deity. I get angry when people cheapen faith like that. And we don't necessarily believe in the same deity or have the same image of our respective deities for our entire lives. Our faiths mature as we do.

All in all, Eve, it looks like you are making some sweepign generalisations and assuming that your personal experience applies to every child. I've never met a kid whose feelings were hurt about Santa. I know it sometimes happens, just like my friends whose parents served rabbit stew for dinner the night before Easter and then declared over dessert that the Easter Bunny was NOT coming that year...  

[Taeryyn]

Kalstolyn

No one EVER told me or my brothers or any of our friends that Santa wasn't real. There was some speculation and some sleuth work to figure it out, and then everyone plays along to not hurt their parents feelings, and then the parents are relieved when they accidentally let something slip (like "I'm going to get this to put in your Dad's stocking" when the family tradition is that everything in your stocking comes from Santa...) and there isn't a huge meltdown or a giant disappointment.

This is what happened for me and my friends. It wasn't like our parents sat us down and explained that there was no Santa, we just figured it out over time. It wasn't any big shock, it was sort of a gradual thing.



Anyway, Eve, none of us are trying to "change" your stance on the matter, we're simply posting our own opinions and making clarifications when it comes to the popular image of Santa. Were you trying to "change" our opinions? razz

To be honest, the current image of Santa is not what I grew up with. My family preferred the image of Father Christmas for stories and decorations: Average-weight older guy with a long, long grey or white beard, in a long coat that was sometimes red, but just as often green or gold.  

[iLukGud]

I really dont kids should believe in santa becuase when the time come that the parnets tell there kids the truth, the kids will be heartbroken. So why not tell them at a young age then so they could grow with it than rather telling them at an older age when they got use to the fact that Santa exist.  

[TurtIe Tracks]

The sad thing with Santa is that I think parents get under-appreciated. If my sister gets a great present, it's from Santa. She doesn't show any appreciation to my parents because she doesn't think it's from them. By the time she learns "the truth," she'll already have forgotten about those presents... it makes me sad when my mom spends a lot of time getting the perfect gift without so much as a thank you. I know they can see her all " biggrin " about the present, but it's not really like the AGGT. It's like if someone takes the credit for your present. If it's from an unknown person, you can feel all happy, but instead an imaginary figure is taking all the credit. Or maybe I'm just weird. sweatdrop  

[Nici la Fey]

I'm not applying any personal experiences here, at all. And I agree with Turtle Tracks. I may be slow, but what's AGGT? sweatdrop  

[TurtIe Tracks]

Eve of Ethrin

I'm not applying any personal experiences here, at all. And I agree with Turtle Tracks. I may be slow, but what's AGGT? sweatdrop

http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=2895834

-istoolazytoretypethetitle- biggrin  

[Shram]

The fat santa was created by Coca Cola and kids love it nothing wrong with that
Santa in general wasn't created by Coca Cola
And countries have all sorts of different santa versions
Prove to me that Santa Clause doesn't exist and you can say parents are lying
until then everything is just assumption =D  

[~DR.MOOFASA~]

Shram

The fat santa was created by Coca Cola and kids love it nothing wrong with that
Santa in general wasn't created by Coca Cola
And countries have all sorts of different santa versions
Prove to me that Santa Clause doesn't exist and you can say parents are lying
until then everything is just assumption =D

well also,
i've read that the santa claus image that's popular today (though created by the coca cola company) was actually modeled after st. Nicholas, who WAS a real guy. a real guy from Turkey, who actually did make toys for kids, and was a good man who lived a long time ago. 3nodding

also also,
many people worldwide believe in ghosts and spirits, so it'd be almost impossible to prove that the spirit of saint Nicholas isn't still around. wink

also also also:
i was informed afew minutes ago that in Norway, there are farm men who are called 'santas' and who act silly, etc. for kids around christmas. smile

EDIT:
*to kals' original comment about those 3 religions having the same origins*
...yep, pretty much. 3nodding i'm often amused at how people will get all uptight and angsty about how their religion is 'better'. rolleyes

*in response to aretoo's showing of the snopes version*
...hmm, good to know. xd i guess the coke company didn't refine santa nearly as much as i thought.

Eve of Ethrin

Okay, so everyone has the should a kid belive in Santa or not?

Personally, I don't think so because you're lying to your kid, or sibling, cousin, or whoever's younger than you are. Why try to teach kids to be honest if you're going to lie to them for 7 or 8 years or for however long. Besides, you don't need him to learn the spirit of Christmas.

Not only that, but he was created by Cocoa Cola as a profiting scheme.(It's true, I've done my research AND have heard of it from many sources)

Besides, sometime in the future, I wouldn't like my children to think it's ok for a man to sneak into our house in the middle of the night.

a) part of teaching your kids not to lie is teaching them the difference between right and wrong, and teaching them honesty in relation to people's feelings. 3nodding (well that's my take on it, atleast).
...i'll have to agree with what others have said. sure it may be 'lieing' in a sense, but it's letting kids have their immagination and all the wonderful things kids get to believe in when they're small. smile and when they get older, most likely they'll find out and not be too crushed, or atleast not for long. (and also, see what i said above... so when kids get upset, telling them the history of st. nicholas might make them feel better ^^)

b) i know you have done research and stuff, but i'm also curious to see your sources. O_o it could just be that you've stumbled across research that had some bias in it...? (happens to me quite often too).

c) yeah, that's the only thing i can honestly say creeps me out about the whole thing. sweatdrop sure, most kids would be scared about the idea of a strange man coming into the house at night. eek most kids with common sense for their age would be (especially if their parents go over safety stuff with them). i always thought that kids would think of santa coming in magically, and not breaking through the window. gonk
... but yeah, it's entirely possible. O_O some guy could break in and it's possible that they could just rub their sleepy eyes and go "santa?" .. and fall back asleep as the guy takes all of your stuff gonk .

very not likely, but possible.  

[pickle relish]

TurtIe Tracks

The sad thing with Santa is that I think parents get under-appreciated. If my sister gets a great present, it's from Santa. She doesn't show any appreciation to my parents because she doesn't think it's from them. By the time she learns "the truth," she'll already have forgotten about those presents... it makes me sad when my mom spends a lot of time getting the perfect gift without so much as a thank you. I know they can see her all " biggrin " about the present, but it's not really like the AGGT. It's like if someone takes the credit for your present. If it's from an unknown person, you can feel all happy, but instead an imaginary figure is taking all the credit. Or maybe I'm just weird. sweatdrop

I understand what you mean, about parents putting all that work into getting a present, and then someone else gets the credit for it. But, on the other side of the issue, I have to say, isn't that part of the spirit of Christmas? You don't give gifts to people because you want them to appreciate that time and effort you put into it. That's kind of a selfish motivation, although I have to admit that is part of the reasoning behind it.
The real point in giving the gifts is the joy of giving something to someone else. They don't have to know it was from you; you just want to give them something, something to make them happy. Its kind of like the Secret Santa thing for poor families. You donate, but they don't know who the items come from. People that you have never met, and will probably never meet, get something wonderful, and you get the jollies from it. That's all. Sure, they appreciate what you've done, but they don't know who you are. You don't get the recognition.
At least, that's my interpretation of it.  

[Kalstolyn]

pickle relish

TurtIe Tracks

The sad thing with Santa is that I think parents get under-appreciated. If my sister gets a great present, it's from Santa. She doesn't show any appreciation to my parents because she doesn't think it's from them. By the time she learns "the truth," she'll already have forgotten about those presents... it makes me sad when my mom spends a lot of time getting the perfect gift without so much as a thank you. I know they can see her all " biggrin " about the present, but it's not really like the AGGT. It's like if someone takes the credit for your present. If it's from an unknown person, you can feel all happy, but instead an imaginary figure is taking all the credit. Or maybe I'm just weird. sweatdrop

I understand what you mean, about parents putting all that work into getting a present, and then someone else gets the credit for it. But, on the other side of the issue, I have to say, isn't that part of the spirit of Christmas? You don't give gifts to people because you want them to appreciate that time and effort you put into it. That's kind of a selfish motivation, although I have to admit that is part of the reasoning behind it.
The real point in giving the gifts is the joy of giving something to someone else. They don't have to know it was from you; you just want to give them something, something to make them happy. Its kind of like the Secret Santa thing for poor families. You donate, but they don't know who the items come from. People that you have never met, and will probably never meet, get something wonderful, and you get the jollies from it. That's all. Sure, they appreciate what you've done, but they don't know who you are. You don't get the recognition.
At least, that's my interpretation of it.

Pickles has hit on some of what I wanted to say about this. If you're giving your kids presents so they love you more or something, you've got issues and you probably have no business having children. On the other hand, I like how my family handled Santa: he gave us small presents in our stockings. The really awesome presents were wrapped up under the tree and signed from our parents or each other, not Santa. Either way, we always shouted "thank you,, Santa!" into the fireplace after we had opened our stockings. xd That way the message would go up the chimney and Santa would get it.

I wouldn't ever have mistaken some random person breaking in for Santa because well... random people can't fit down my chimney and come in through the fireplace. Santa is obviously magic, and he doesn't need to use windows or doors. After we moved to a house without a fireplace, we started pretending he came in through the furnace flue. Since Santa came and went without disturbing any of our locked windows and doors, there was no issue with thinking it was okay for someone to break in, because he wasn't breaking in. I did work in a daycare once where a kid was afraid of the Easter Bunny coming in his house, though.  

[Nici la Fey]

Yeah, it is selfish just to give gifts in exchange for love and/or favoritism. But nothing feels better than a nice warm hug and a "thank you". heart Besides, when I was younger, we couldn't get gifts for everyone, so my parents gave a few gifts to us and we hugged them and said thank you, they appreciated their gifts from us. I didn't have a chimney...  

[Kalstolyn]

O.o I hugged my parents and said "thank you" after they fed me dinner.