Giving Kids "the talk" (Warning - Holiday Spoilers)

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

I neither encourage or discourage our daughter from believing in Santa, the Easter bunny or such. Heck she has learned about both Santa and the Easter bunny from TV and movies she watches. Yeah. Santa LOVES Coca Cola!

I figured out the Santa thing on my own. I was 8 and recognized my dad's printing(very distinctive) on a to and from tag. It said "From Santa" and I remember the moment well. Kinda like the moment I stopped believing everything I had been being taught in CCD by the nuns and pastor. The light went on and there was no turning back. I am sure that a moment like that will happen with my daughter as well.

 

[sparkles2307]

From day one I was taught that Santa and the Easter Bunny and all those other mascots were connected to our religious holidays, but that they werent "real". I do not remember feeling any less excitement about holidays, I even knew it was my parents who ate the cookies and milk when i was only 5, but I still had santa toys and stuff. I feel that I am fine. It bugs me that I have co-workers with 12 year olds who still think Santa is real and cry when other kids say he isnt. I havent told my kids that these things arent real, they are only 4 and 5, but I teach them that the most important thing about those holidays is Jesus, and that works really well for us. I wont let them get to be flippin 12 and still think that Santa is real, but I will let them have a few more years of fun, so long as they can always tell me the answer when I ask what the most important thing about Easter is

 

[17roses]

I was brought up with Santa being part of Christmas however we have not raised our son with it and this is why...

Warning: Sad but true story

My mother loves children and there was a very poor family that we knew in the small town I grew up in. The youngest of the 4 children would come stay with us on weekends because she wasnt getting enough food. (She was literally starving to death). She was around 6 years old.
Well, one Christmas my mom and stepfather thought it would be great to throw the children in that family a party for Christmas with gifts and everything. It was fantastic! The kids were all lined up on the couch eating cookies when my step father snuck the sack of gifts to the front door and rang the bell. My mom told the kids to answer the door and there they found a large bag of beautifuly wrapped gifts with a tag that said From Santa. My stepfather was back before they had realized he was missing. The kids were sooooo happy! They loved every minute of it and it seemed perfect.
The weekend after the party the little girl came to stay with us again. To our suprise she seemed sullen and withdrawn. In an attempt to cheer her up, my mother said "wasn't that a great party"? Her answer has always haunted me and it taught me that the truth, though harsh, is better. She looked at my mother and through the tears she yelled "I HATE SANTA AND I HATE CHRISTMAS, SANTA DIDNT VISIT MY NEIGHBORS OR MY COUSINS OR MY MOM! SANTA HATES POOR PEOPLE! HE WONT COME TO MY HOUSE, I ONLY GOT GIFT BECAUSE I WAS IN A NICE HOUSE WHEN HE CAME"! My poor mother didnt know how to answer that. How do you explain that santa gives things to some but not others?
That little girl did not consider herself any better than anyone else living in those apartments yet she got gifts from Santa.

I dont want my son to see the world like that. I dont blame others of teaching Santa but we wont! I cant! What an unfair world that would be, that the very spirit of giving should punish those that need it most.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

*note to self* If it says sad but true story DON'T read it in the pick up line at school or I might not be able to see well enough to get the right children.

That was just heart breaking.

 

[bethandjoeync]

Quote:
well as of right now we don't have a rooster (and I personally have never witnessed the "act" in question...but once we do get one...this would be great to add! thank you!
We had our second child 10 months ago and he asked how the baby got out

that was interesting (and he was 6 then).

 

[sparkles2307]

Quote:
well as of right now we don't have a rooster (and I personally have never witnessed the "act" in question...but once we do get one...this would be great to add! thank you!
We had our second child 10 months ago and he asked how the baby got out

that was interesting (and he was 6 then).

My 5 year old "explained" to me in a very "gosh mom ur so dumb" tone that "babies come out of our tummies because God put them there, duh!"

 

[bethandjoeync]

Quote:
well as of right now we don't have a rooster (and I personally have never witnessed the "act" in question...but once we do get one...this would be great to add! thank you!
We had our second child 10 months ago and he asked how the baby got out

that was interesting (and he was 6 then).

My 5 year old "explained" to me in a very "gosh mom ur so dumb" tone that "babies come out of our tummies because God put them there, duh!"

no he wanted to know physically how the baby was going to get out of my tummy... lol I have a magically belly button to say the least lol or so he thinks.

and I wanted to add

when our son has asked us if santa is real we asked him if he believes, because not everyone does...and it's okay if you don't. I am not sure if he is just playing along with us for the fun or what.

when I figured it out I was probably 8 or so. after a while I realized santa had the same hand writing as my dad (sloppy doctor-ish scribble). I never really said anything because he seemed to have fun doing the stockings in the middle of the night and setting things up for me when I got up. I think when I was about 11 it all stopped, even though I would get a few presents with santa on them.

WE don't really to EB thing, and in the basket he gets things like swimming trunks for the summer, sidewalk chalk, cool flashlight, cool toothbrush, and things like that. he knows it is from us.
But for the tooth fairy, he believes in her. she comes in the middle of the night and much appreciates his tooth in a ziploc bag so she doesn't drop it.

we don't stress so much that they are real, we let him decide if he wants to believe or not. the grandparents are worse though, in asking what santa brought or what the EB brought.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

I sooooooo lucked out on the baby thing.

I had three c-sections! So, well yeah, the doctor cut me open.

They know not ALL babies come that way now, they watched a litter of kittens be born to a dumped stray, but it helped at the time.

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

My 6 year old knows how babies get there and how they get out.
The joys of stray animals and horses being turned out in a mixed herd.

We face things head on because I would rather her hear it from me than some kid in school, one of the college kids that hangs out in the parking lot or some of the "music" blaring from cars. I am not going to sugar coat or lie to the kid. Never have, never will.

 

[Picky Chicky]

PunkërTeçhñöRøø§ter :

My Mom still enjoys of the thought of Santa Claus bringing presents, so much so even to this day with her children being 27 (me), 24, 22 she still signs some of our presents as being from Santa.

And here I thought (at 31 years old, and my brother 21) that my Mom was the only parent left in the world to still sign a few gifts from Santa.

I notice a lot of people have negative memories of Santa and Christmas, and my husband is actually one of them. His parents were (and still are) rotten to the core. That's an entirely different thread altogether.

And I started thinking again... and realized that what made my Christmas eves and days SO exciting wasn't really so much that Santa was coming - certainly that added some excitement to my holidays, but I think it was everything else that made it so perfect:

The Christmas Eve 1 gift exchange - this would help with the excitement overload... the parents could keep the lot of us calmed with this fun little exchange.

Christmas Eve night being driven around in our PJs with my mother, grandmother and cousins to see the various Christmas decorations and lights (Christmas music playing on the radio). It was our parent's way of calming us kids before bedtime.

Christmas Eve nights..
I remember hearing my Mom and the rest of the family squeezed into the small spare bedroom cutting paper, taping up last minute gifts. If I had really thought about this - I would've wondered more about who those presents were really from.

And being tucked into bed - falling asleep to the quiet Christmas songs on one of the classical stations.

Waking up Christmas day at 4am with my cousins and I sitting atop of my grandmothers stairs - doing everything we could to will our parents awake. We were so excited. The entire family was there and sleeping in every room of my grandmother's house - and there was always someone who got the Christmas present room to sleep in - just so we couldn't sneak a peek.

Getting our first look at all of the presents. Sure we didn't always get a ton, but the entire family's combined gifts in one room was one of the most beautiful things I think I ever saw as a kid. We would always be awe struck. Shoot. I wish I had a picture scanned in so I could show you guys. It was just amazing.

Christmas day parade... playing with our toys with our cousins... and then falling to sleep that night - favorite toy in hand on the couch watching A Christmas Story.

Ahh... those were the days.

I just wish I could make DD's Christmas experiences as exciting as I remember mine being.​