Do/Will Your Children Believe in Santa?

Do your kids believe in Santa?

If you don't have kids yet, do you plan on telling your children about Santa Claus?

If your children are already grown, did they believe in Santa?

Also did you believe in Santa, and if so, when did you find out the real truth?

My daughter, 8, still believes in Santa, along with the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. I see no harm in it, and think it is all good-natured fun. However, my boyfriend's brother and wife have 4 kids, and have told them all there is no Santa, ect. from day one. Their reasoning is "because we don't want our kids thinking some stranger is bringing them gifts, we want them to know it is us", which seems like a selfish reason to me. I mean when they get older and know the truth, I don't think they would appreciate it any less. Their son even got in trouble in Kindergarden for telling all the other kids there is no santa.

I didn't find out until I was about 12 or something, and it was because the neighborhood kids told me, some even younger than I, and I remember being disappointed about it, and mad my mom hadn't told me before, but I got over it, and the excitement of the "Santa-watches" on the news made up for it. When they said "all children should be in the bed, santa is on the east coast"--we had to leave my grandmother's house then, because I could not bear the thought of not being in bed and missing out on Christmas, lol.

i'm sure he will.... but don't look at me to tell him... i don't like lying... lol...

i found out he wasn't real at about 6 (somewhere in there, i was really young)... i've told the story here a few times, but it's been awhile so i'll post it again...

it was one week before christmas and i was playing in my grandparents room, and i stumbled across a toy truck... i knew christmas was coming up so i expected it was just a present from them... so i didn't say shit, cuz i ddin't wanna ruin it for them...

so christmas day comes, and i of course, being the naive little kid, expect santa to of brought me something absolutely amazing... so i rip open the package that says from santa on it, and what do i see... that same truck...

didn't take me long at all to put two and two together

oh but i wasn't stupid about it... THEY didn't know i knew he wasn't real... i milked 'santa' for more presents for another 3-4 years... lol i even remember writing santa a letter and asking my grandma to send it to him for me asking for a pretty damn expensive erector set...

Yeah, I was not happy when I found out Santa was not real, I did not get over it till I was 39 LOL however I can look back and smile at the years before my illusion was shattered it was fun, there is no harm in believing in Santa.
Let kids believe its all part of growing up.
I certainly had no issue about my parents "lying" to me.

Cheers

NCM

sadly...i don't remember ever actually believing in him... thats kinda weird now that i think about it...hmmm.....

I don't think I ever believed in Santa, but my memory isn't exactly good. Any future children I may have - I don't think I'll tell them there is a Santa, but if my wife tells them there is, then I'll probably play along till they're about 6 or 7.

I did, my children did, and it wasn't until early teens that it was discovered that there was no Santa.

However, my kids still believe in a much more powerful force..... Daddy Magic!! They still believe in Daddy Magic to this day. When they have something they can't figure out, or they can't make something work, then its time to get Daddy to fix it and make it work.

I would not tell that lie to my kids if I had any.
I still hate my parents for all the lies they told me and Santa and XMAS are included in the lies they told. I was so embarrassed at school when I found out the hard way that Santa was a lie, that 40 years later I am still pissed off at my parents for that lie.
The tooth fairy and the easter bunny just faded away after I found out the truth about Santa.

I told my daughters as soon as they could understand that there was no santa, no easter bunny, no tooth fairy...they were the only kids in their class that knew..I told them that parents lie to their kids about it and that I dont want to lie to them..they are now 14 and 11 and I think it made a real positive impact on my relationship with them because they know i always tell the truth to them.

I believed. But one christmas I found my parents playing the roll of santa and it was gone from there....I think i was about 6 years old.

In my opinion....let 'em believe...it's not like they'll believe in that stuff the rest of their life. they'll find out eventually. as for wanting their kids to know the presents were from them is odd, because little kids can't comprehend such meanings as giving and care and kindness. whats even the point

I dont know if i ever beleived it - or if i did i was told the truth at a very young age. It didnt bother me though. As long as i got gifts i was happy haha!

I wont tell my children the truth for the first few years - there no real need, and it's nice for them. But when they're 4 or 5 and starting school they'll find out the sad truth haha! But they'll be like me - as long as they still get the presants they'll be happy.

wow i believed the shit out of all of that. i totally bought it, made it to 2nd grade before my asshole friend RJ ruined it for me. i was pissed for like, a day. my mom cried when i told her i found out and we talked about it in her room because i was grounded at the time for something unrelated, haha. im definitely going to lie to my kids about it. i already lie like hell to my lil cousins. believing in santa was awesome! im 22 i remember it clear as day.


we do the whole nine yards in my family we even leaved little ripped santa suit pieces in the chimney for the kids to find. life is full of disappointment, man, but i still dont wanna deny that magic of christmas that i had to my cousins or my kids. christmas gradually got more and more beat after i found out there was no santa. i wish i still believed! my family is not religious so i was not brought up to have faith in anything else imaginary :D

I think i will tell my kids about Santa, even though it is kinda of an introduction into capitalism and it is lying to your children. Through my own experience however, i feel it makes Christmas a whole lot more special and however cheesy it sounds 'magical' at that age...

I was about 8 when i knew for certain that Santa didn't exist but i'd had my suspicions for a while :wtf: I think i asked too many questions as a kid haha :D. I remember asking: if Santa could get down our chimney didn't that mean that robbers could? + If its from you then why does Santa deliver it here? My parents are pretty honest so they couldn't lie their way out of my q's very well so i eventually just asked if he was real or not which made christmas a little less special but it was nice to know the truth and made me feel more aware + grown up

If my kids are as inquisitive as me they will probably find out on their own anyway :)

Finding out there is no Santa may well be one of the greatest disappointments of childhood. In many ways it feels like the death of magic when you finally come to that realization. If I had children I would probably tell them all of the xmas related legends including ones featuring Santa Claus, but would stress the fact that they are fantasy. I would put out their special gifts for morning discovery as my parents did, but my kids would know that it was merely a tradition.

When I believed in santa it was all gravy, when i found out he was not real, it was still all gravy.. I think I just slowly figured it out. Too many santas everywhere for one, every mall had a santa with different looks? ya right..lol I took it well i guess..

I would go along with the santa thing for my kids, I cant deny it was fun at the time believing..lol Im sure it wont ruin their lives..

I'm surprised so many people were "dissapointed when I found out". For me it was just a gradual realization, as my brain developed I started to look at the world more logically, and thus eventually figured it out for myself.
I can't say for sure when I really stopped believing in Santa Clause; I sorta held the belief for a few years just for the fun of it. I offically declared him not real at 11 or 12, but I think I had my "denial"(lol) period starting at 8.


As for the whole story, I see no harm in it. I remember when we had this same argument in my 11th grade English class; our teacher was saying she didn't feel it was right to "lie to her kids". But really, I never looked at my parents one day and said "Oh how could you do it!? How could you lie to me!?!?". As soon as I realized he didn't exist I knew it was just for fun.


I mean damn, I wish I could still believe in Santa! Christmas was the most magical time of my life as a kid, when the world became this magical, peaceful, happy place. Like the best kind of shroom trip, but frankly better!

my son Believes in Santa he's 5

Santa and all those other things that are "real" to children, it just gives them false hope for something that isnt there and is not real. I will not have presents from "santa" for my children.

I don't intend to breed, but if I do, I'm going to raise my kids to be scrooges like me. I want to get a note from the preschool teacher that my kid is making fun of his classmates for their bizarre belief in a fat man in a red suit who slides down billions of chimneys in one night and only gives gifts to Christian kids, and only gives fancy gifts to Christian kids whose parents make a lot of money. :D

(See why I don't intend to breed? The world is better off with no lil' Stinkys running around)

That would/did make me so proud..my daughters broke it to a lot of their friends.

I have to disagree with you Stinky, we need more little intellectual cinics running around to counter the exploding dumbass population!

i plan on letting my kids believe in santa until they reach an age where i deem it is appropriate to tell them.

i will by NO means be the type of parent that raises insecure weird children who at the age of 16 still believe in santa. i have already promised myself that i will expose my children to everything i have been exposed to (not in a bad way). any questions regarding sexual\drug related\whatever it may be i will answer to the best of my ability. i am not going to promote that my children go out and smoke and drink but i know they will.

just as my mom does\did for me, i will tolerate this unless things start to get out of control. as long as my kids are still obeying me, leading a healthy life, and keeping their school work up, in my opinion, they are free to have fun as children.

I believed in Santa till I figured it out on my own. Also, some older kids were running around the elementary school telling us little ones there was no such thing as Santa. I asked my parents over and over, "C'mon, but seriously, is he real?" and they said "Sure, he's the spirit of Christmas." Eventually I had to abandon that belief, but it wasn't upsetting to me and I never felt anyone had lied to me.

Kids are naturally imaginative, spiritual beings who like to believe in fantastic things (meaning things that are based on fantasy). Our son very much believed in Santa but, as I had done in the previous generation, also wanted to give him a wide berth in places like malls or department stores. I had no desire to sit in the lap of a fat, bearded, red-suited stranger, and neither did he. When he began to doubt, he asked the same thing and we answered the same way my parents had because that's what Santa's about--the spirit of giving at Christmastime. He gradually outgrew his belief but still enjoyed playing along because he wanted to ensure that the gifts kept coming.

If it's handled in the right way, I don't have a problem at all with the concept of Santa. I had fun with it, and so did my son. I'm sure he'll carry on the tradition with his kids. That's part of the fun of having kids--the magic and the imagination.

my sons dont have anything to do with pagan festivals like christmas and the like, my sons names are lucifer, jesus and mohammad, gave them those names as a social experiment, what do you think of that?

i will definetly tell my kids that theres a santa and easter bunny and stuff. as a kid that was some of the funnest things growing up and im soooo glad that my parents did that. i remember being so excited on x-mas morning and stuff it was great!

and it wasnt even bad when i found out that it wasnt true, by that point i was old enough to figure it out for myself and able to appreciate how much fun my parents made the holidays for me.

I'll tell them they don't exist. I want my kid to use logic and rationality. It's up to them if they believe it though. I assume they'll come to me and say something about santa or easter bunny, i'll say they don't really exist, they'll cry, i'll cry, but progress will have been made.

When I have kids i'll make sure they know santa doesnt exist so that they understand they'll have to buy me presents and not rely on some obese, alcoholic burglar who eats all the mince pies.

Has anyone seen the Curb your Enthuiasm episode where Larry David is wearing this things in his shoes that squeak really loud when he walks and he walks by his buddy's daughter's room where her mother is secretly placing some tooth ferry money under the child's pillow. Needless to say, the squeaking wakes the child up while the mother is putting the money under her pillow and starts calling her mother a liar and everything.

Classic Larry David awkward human interaction humor. Gotta love it.

Nah, I'm not going to tell my kids (if I ever have them) My fiance and I have already decided on that.
I think all that shit is kinda dumb to lie about, plus I know a lot of kids who are scared of santa and the easter bunny. I just don't want to lie to my kids plus the whole thing about them finding out... I was so disappointed!

i am far away from having kids, i think, but i would tell them there is a santa because it makes the time more magical i guess you can say and anyways they will find out very early in life anyways i always kind of knew santa wasnt real even at maybe age 4 because it didnt make sense to me how he could do all this crazy flyin around going down chimneys etc but there was always this little part in my mind that said hmm what if he is real and that always made it more fun. i highly doubt your kids will hate you over such a stupid thing like this but i know i appreciate my parents tricking me into kind of believing it because that tells me that they will go out of their way to try and make life magical and more fun. i dunno i am just a very festive kind of guy

Well I always thought finding out Santa didn't exist was the most awesome shocker to my young psyche! like....psyche! My parents said....you believed that shit? we dressed up in red socks and left that sock for you, man we had you fooled. They WERE good.
Then I knew, we have to watch out for the moment when mighty OZ appears and pulls the fantasy island rug out from under your belief britches, "just keep it open(my mind)".. I said, "you never know?"...
So i just grabbed that sugary red and white peppermint candy and played with my lincoln logs, there never was a santa, just
chinese toys and dacron polyester carpet...

It seems like such an integral part of disappointment of life in America every kid should be forced to enjoy...ok, if they want.
:santasmiley:

I remember in school not knowing what to think when another kid said "you know santa is just your dad" i thought well Ok he's been lying but how cool is it that my dad is santa lol.