Parents wrecking the notion of Santa?

i think every child should believe in santa. whoever told that child that should be horsewhipped. thats the same as ruining a childs christmas .

It's kind of sad that those kids felt the need to kill his joy.

Anyway, yeah, I think that's going a little far. If your kid is unbelievably intelligent and realizes that Santa isn't real at a very young age, then you need to tell them NOT to tell other kids. If they're that smart they can understand your directions to not say anything about the subject.

If your parents tell you about Santa kindergarten is a bit early to take it away! I mean, kids don't understand the concept until about 3 so ... what, kids only get TWO magical Christmases per lifetime nowadays? That's not right.

However, keep in mind that maybe these are less fortunate kids. If that's the case it might have been easier for their parents to come out and tell them the truth, rather than have them get one dollar store present and be disappointed in Santa for the next 4 years. But they still should have been told not to spoil it for others.

See if you can rekindle his interest, though ... have him write Santa a letter and print out a customized reply (you can find templates online) and mail it to him. Try to get the one present he really wants this year and put a special note from Santa on it. Etc. This is assuming you haven't told him yet that they're right.

At 5 he's entitled to a few more Christmases full of magic and wonder. It's sad that some kid was mean enough to spoil it for him.

It disappoints me to see parents not push the Santa issue. I have five children and I absolutely love watching the reaction of my 6, 4, and 3 year old twins when they see Santa. Or even getting excited talking about it.

I have friends who have a 7 and 4 year old. They told their kids right from the start that Santa wasn't real. It wasn't even an issue that was brought up by the children. But their reasoning is pathetic. They want the credit of buying all the right gifts. They are just like that. Don't want to give Santa the credit of buying things.

We are teaching our daughter that Santa is not real right from the start. She's 2. We are teaching him as a fun story but he only leaves presents in the story, not in real life. I don't think there's any reason you have to teach your kids about Santa. Why should I lie to my kid? Just because our culture believes in staging an elaborate lie for kids doesn't mean I have to play along. However I do believe in teaching kids not to spoil it for the kids who do believe in Santa.

I do believe in allowing a little magic in a kid's life but there's a big difference between "allowing" it and "forcing" it. If she decided she had an imaginary friend or something I would play along and it would be fun- then it's her imagination, not mine. Kids are gullible and parents should not exploit that just so the parents can enjoy Christmas more. I didn't believe in Santa as a kid (my parents respected me enough to tell me the truth) but I still LOVED Christmas. We had a tree and presents and all of that. Sometimes my mom would sign gifts from Santa but it was a fun game because we all knew the truth.

Sure we don't tell our daughter about all the bad things in the world but we don't go out of our way to tell her lies, either. It's one thing just not to bring up bad stuff that happens. It's entirely another to make up a lie (or borrow one from our culture) and go out of our way to teach it to kids and convince them it's true.

Children do this. They talk just like adults do--only on their own emotionally immature level. Personally, I wouldn't make too much of it.

If you don't make a fuss out of this "information" your nephew won't either. What do his parents think?

If he is looking for answers then say what you want to say in one sentence like, "I believe in santa" and leave it at that. You aren't lying or anything, because you have a right to believe whatever you want.

I'm a parent of 4 children, 12,9,8, 7yrsold. I don't teach my children that santa is real. He was a man that lived many, many years ago that gave to poor children from the kindness of his heart due to they either didn't have food, clothing or anything. The true meaning of Christmas is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think about this, we teach our children not to lie, but yet many parents tell their children a really big lie, do you know what that is? That a man in a red suit with flying reindeers that lives in the north pole with his wife and elves that makes presents delieves presents on Christmas Eve to the good boys and girls. Do you want to lie to your children, then you should tell the true Christmas story to your child, not a lie, a man from the north pole doesn't bring them present for being good and if they're bad he doesn't leave a bag of coal. Be realistic, you know the trueth theirs no santa, but years ago there was a man named St. Nick, Kris Kringle or whatever you'd like to call him that did give presents to the poor children. The trueth of the matter don't lie to them for you don't want them lieing do you? We give presents for the fact of the birth of Jesus on this special day, for the 3wisemen gave presents to Jesus and that's why we exchange presents at this time of year. To show our love for one another.

I didn't lose respect for my parents when I cuahgt "santa" One night, if anything I wish I could have kept on believing. All the fun seemed to go out of christmas after I knew the real thruth.

I'm going to let my daughter believe as long as she wants to.

Well I was one of the kids that knew Santa was not real!!!!! I remember telling someone at five (1st grade) that Santa was not real and she started crying. At that time I didn't understand why she was crying b/c I thought everyone knew he was fake!!!! However, when I do have kids I will not be telling them about Santa!!!

You are all for telling your child the truth but actually telling the santa isnt real is going too far?? Why is it some people think santa or the tooth fairy or the easter bunny are harmless lies? A LIE IS A LIE. There are no two ways about that. My son knows the truth about all of them and respects me and knows I would NEVER lie to him. Santa is a lie. Don't lie to your children.

Would you tell a five year old that people are dying every day due to poverty, would you tell them many politicians are self serving bureaucrats,would you tell them that life is so hard some days you just want to give up, would you tell them that animals are used for research. These are all truths too but we wouldn't dream of telling a child those facts of life. Why not let children enjoy a little magic in their life.Life and all its' harsh realities will be revealed far too soon. Let children remain innocent for a little while .Merry Christmas to you all.

different people differnt ideas. Tell him this. My kids know some people don't believe in Santa but it doesn't stop them from believing. They know that once you utter the words "I don't believe" then he stops coming as there are so many kids being born he has to stop coming to kids at a certain point.

Sometimes the truth is overrated