Telling your kids about Santa

[TXRams86]

this "issue" came up this year as me and the fiancee try to ween our kids off the belief of Santa Claus.
my girls are 8 and 9 years old. the 9 year old has made no mention of Santa all year except for today.
she wants to leave Santa milk and cookies out but, being all-knowing, we know she isn't getting any gifts from Santa.
all the gifts our girls are getting are from us, not a single one from Santa.
my 8 year old has been vocal about her belief in Santa; she even wants a sleigh bell from Santa's sled ala Polar Express.
so fellas, as parents do we just let them figure it out? i don't ever remember being told "the truth," i think i figured it out on my own.
of course, if we tell my 9 year old, she'll tell the 8 year old so it's a slippery slope.
we're thinking of just telling our 9 year old (we won't have the 8 year old until Sunday) that we didn't make enough cookies this year or something..
i just don't want her putting cookies and milk out and being disappointed to find Santa didn't come.

thoughts?

 

[LesBaker]

this "issue" came up this year as me and the fiancee try to ween our kids off the belief of Santa Claus.
my girls are 8 and 9 years old. the 9 year old has made no mention of Santa all year except for today.
she wants to leave Santa milk and cookies out but, being all-knowing, we know she isn't getting any gifts from Santa.
all the gifts our girls are getting are from us, not a single one from Santa.
my 8 year old has been vocal about her belief in Santa; she even wants a sleigh bell from Santa's sled ala Polar Express.
so fellas, as parents do we just let them figure it out? i don't ever remember being told "the truth," i think i figured it out on my own.
of course, if we tell my 9 year old, she'll tell the 8 year old so it's a slippery slope.
we're thinking of just telling our 9 year old (we won't have the 8 year old until Sunday) that we didn't make enough cookies this year or something..
i just don't want her putting cookies and milk out and being disappointed to find Santa didn't come.

thoughts?

Interesting stuff..........and close to home for me. I am dating a woman that has an 11 year old and a 5 year old. Most certainly, though I don't know 100% for sure, the 11 year old understand that Santa isn't real simply because most kids that age know but are cool enough not to ruin it for younger siblings, and the 5 year old of course believes he is.

So to help out I wrapped a bunch of the presents that she and her parents got them, and I wrapped a bunch of stuff that was from Santa. So the whole conversation about this topic came up and I got some insight and that prompted memories. She said that none of her friends, all of whom have kids older than hers because she is 45 and had kids a bit later than most, told any of their children that Santa isn't real, they figure it out from their friends and school mates on their own. There isn't any reason for you to tell them and I realized after she and I talked that I learned from people at school.

If you want to tell them yourself I came up with a plan. Put out the cookies..........and then share/eat them and tell the child "I'm Santa, it's been me all along getting you the stuff you like because I love you". Not the worst way to break the news right?

 

[TXRams86]

Interesting stuff..........and close to home for me. I am dating a woman that has an 11 year old and a 5 year old. Most certainly, though I don't know 100% for sure, the 11 year old understand that Santa isn't real simply because most kids that age know but are cool enough not to ruin it for younger siblings, and the 5 year old of course believes he is.

So to help out I wrapped a bunch of the presents that she and her parents got them, and I wrapped a bunch of stuff that was from Santa. So the whole conversation about this topic came up and I got some insight and that prompted memories. She said that none of her friends, all of whom have kids older than hers because she is 45 and had kids a bit later than most, told any of their children that Santa isn't real, they figure it out from their friends and school mates on their own. There isn't any reason for you to tell them and I realized after she and I talked that I learned from people at school.

If you want to tell them yourself I came up with a plan. Put out the cookies..........and then share/eat them and tell the child "I'm Santa, it's been me all along getting you the stuff you like because I love you". Not the worst way to break the news right?

that isn't a bad idea at all and i think it would be more meaningful hearing it from your parents.
the fiancee is all for telling our girls but i'm telling her we should let them figure it out on their own.
if they still believe, who are we to take that away from them? that's my mentality.
i guess you can say i like the idea that they're preserving some form of childlike innocence by believing.
there will be a day when they don't believe, just like there will be a day we have to have the "birds and the bees" talk.
by not receiving any gifts from Santa (but still getting what they asked Santa for from us), i think they'll learn not to expect stuff from Santa.
instead, they'll be asking us for things they want and being grateful when we deliver.

side note: our 9 year old has been ESPECIALLY sweet this week. she's even asked us "am i behaving?"
i think she's realizing that Christmas is near and she's trying to get on the GOOD list lol.
she's a bit of a handful at times and gets into trouble...enough to get on the NAUGHTY list.
the 8 year old is usually a good kid so we rarely have problems with her. she's always on the GOOD list.

 

[Selassie I]

What the Hell do you mean "there's no Santa" ?!!


I never told my boys... the oldest is 21 and the twins are 18. I had fun with it for as long as they played along which was around 13 I think. Those times when little ones believe in magic are special,,, don't rush out of it.

 

[Ramhusker]

Life has less and less magic in it like Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny etc. as you get older so my vote would be to never tell kids otherwise. They all figure it out before they are teens anyway. Funny, my daughter is 14 and the wife and I just mentioned Santa while shopping the other night. She can't remember how old she was when she figured out that Santa and Mrs Clause lived at her house. Of course. I tell everyone in my house, " the day you don't believe in Santa is the day the gifts stop coming".

 

[Dodgersrf]

Let them come to you.
It's a fun time for a kid. I know I enjoyed Santa when I was a child.

My kids are 4 now. I don't even want to teach them how to tell time yet.
I'm teaching g them to read and write, but time is something they don't need to worry about at this point.
I enjoy the fact they they care about little, other than what's going on at the moment.

 

[LesBaker]

What the Hell do you mean "there's no Santa" ?!!


I never told my boys... the oldest is 21 and the twins are 18. I had fun with it for as long as they played along which was around 13 I think. Those times when little ones believe in magic are special,,, don't rush out of it.

I'd bet money that at about 10 they would talk between themselves and say "So do you think Dad still believes in Santa? Should we tell him or what?"

Merry Christmas

 

[ozarkram]

My 11 year old has figured it out on her own. My 9 year old still believes. I say let them believe as long as they want. Real life will rear its ugly head soon enough. These years go by so fast. Once the innocents is lost its gone forever.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Wait for them to question it or be saddened by ridicule in school. My mother told me after constant teasing on the bus.

We have the elf on the shelf. Those of you familiar with it will get this. My 8 year old was skeptical about Santa and we had to tell him the truth. After we were finished he said that he thought that Santa wasn't real for a few years now. Then he left the room only to turn around and say, "But the elf on the shelf is real, right?"

 

[fearsomefour]

What the Hell do you mean "there's no Santa" ?!!


I never told my boys... the oldest is 21 and the twins are 18. I had fun with it for as long as they played along which was around 13 I think. Those times when little ones believe in magic are special,,, don't rush out of it.

I have twin nephew and niece who are 11 and another niece who is 6. The fun part this year is watching the 11 year olds being so careful and making a real effort to keep it alive for the 6 year old.