We asked for your opinions on spinning the legend of Father Christmas. Here’s what you said!
“Believing in Santa – is it honest?”
“With Christmas just around the corner (again!) I was just wondering what you will all tell your kids about Santa Claus? My son is only 19 months old so I don’t really need to worry about it too much this year but I know a lot of people feel quite strongly about being totally honest with their kids even when it comes to things like Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. I will have my son believe in Santa for as long as possible, I believed in Santa until I was about 8 and after I found out he wasn’t real Christmas was never the same! It was more about pestering my mum to see how many toys I could get instead of being good so Santa would come.”
Sandie
“My husband made reindeer poo!”
“Lily will be 9 in February and has started asking if Father Christmas really is real because some of her friends say he isn’t. I convinced her he is because not only is it fun and magical to believe in things like that, I don’t want her telling Harry he isn’t real either.
“A few years ago, my husband made some Reindeer poo by making a flour and water dough and colouring it with gravy browning – he left dollops in the living room. I made Father Christmas footprints by cutting out a shoe shape in paper and sprinkling flour over it on the floor. I also made gift tags for the presents by printing photos of them so they could recognise which ones were theirs.
“The kids still talk about it to this day, although Lily has always questioned why the snow is around the outside edge of the footprint rather than the whole footprint itself, and how did Father Christmas get hold of those photos of her and Harry, sigh, the trials of having an intellectual child, she was only 4 at the time!”
Anna
“Seeing their faces makes it all worthwhile”
“I don’t see it as a lie! Just a wonderful story to get their imagination flowing with wonder, magic and excitement. We do the whole lot in our house, letters to Santa, stockings, mince pie and sherry for Santa, carrots for the reindeer, sacks at the end of the bed, pretend snowy footprints all over the house! I love seeing their faces on Xmas morning – it makes it all worthwhile!”
Faye
“Fantasy is an important part of childhood”
“I do think it is important to teach children the difference between right and wrong and to my mind it is wrong to lie. That said, I will be telling my son fantasy stories about tooth fairies and Santa Claus. I think fantasy is an important part of childhood. There is a difference between this and lying. If my son came in to tell me about the monster in the garden then I would be interested to hear where his imagination had taken him. If he came in to say that a friend had stolen something and they hadn’t then I would frown upon it and explain why he shouldn’t make these things up. Perhaps the difference is subtle but the moral is very different and I would hope that with my guidance he will understand this.”
Samantha
“The vicar told my kids Santa didn’t exist”
“This came up last year when the vicar told the kids that Santa didn’t exist. I went mad! I had two kids; the 6-year-old came back telling his little brother (4) that Father Christmas was not real. They asked me in tears, my response was, when the vicar could prove to me that God was real, I would prove that Santa was real. I told them honestly that I believe in the spirit of Xmas and that the spirit of giving is Father Christmas. They know that I don’t believe in God the way school portrays him. I believe bible stories teach the children (in general) good morals but at the end of the day what proof do we have of them? So is that lying too? How about the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny and all the other ‘magical’ things we tell our kids – would you have wanted not to have these things in your life as a child? I want them for my kids, I love the innocent belief – I wish I could have some of it back!”
Tass
“Michael Palin went to see Santa!”
“No, it isn’t lying. Santa really does exist and he really does live in the North Pole. Michael Palin (Monty Python) even went to see him on his Pole to Pole expedition and there were elves there with letters that children had written to him!”
Andrea
“The red outfit was invented by Coca Cola”
“Santa’s a fairytale here. He couldn’t be much else with teens around. Last year, I found a legends book in the library that included Woden, where the fur-trimmed clothing (originally green) and the sleigh were adapted from. I think it’s nice for children to learn about the background to legends. St Nicholas, by the way, was a Turk and would not have dressed like an colourful Inuit. The red outfit was invented by Coca Cola. Santa is a good part of ‘let’s pretend’ and I have no problem with parents who want to add a bit of magic to Christmas, Yule or whatever they celebrate.”
Debbieann
“There’s plenty of time for children to be ruled by truth and facts”
“It’s no more lying than making up a fairy story for them or telling them about fairies and pixies. There’s plenty of time for children to be ruled by truth and facts; while they’re children they should be allowed as much magic and fantasy as they like.
And as for threatening children with Santa not coming – so long as you’re prepared to carry out the threat I see nothing wrong with it!”
Sandra
“Stay away PC Brigade!”
“I don’t think Santa Claus/Father Christmas is a ‘lie’. The belief in Santa enhances the magic of Christmas. Did believing in Santa damage us in anyway? No! I personally started to question his existence gradually so it wasn’t a shock to find out Santa wasn’t real and I think it would be a great shame for the PC Brigade to keep Santa away from children at Christmas. After all, if he is real to children then in my opinion he is real. So yes, I will be perpetuating the ‘lie’ in years to come.”
Allyson
“In life you have to get used to being disappointed”
“Yes it is one big lie! I remember the disappointment I felt when I found out Santa wasn’t for real! However I did let my boys think he existed until they were at that age (can’t really remember what age that was) when they started to think I was telling them porkies so I owned up! It’s all part of the excitement of Christmas for little ones, plus, nearer the time, you can start the threat of ‘naughty boys and girls get bugger all from Santa – so BEHAVE!’ which if it works is a bonus in itself! I also think that in this life you have to get used to being disappointed on occasion so it helps them to learn this (in a sad, mean sort of way).”
Paula
“My daughter was looking for Father Christmas”
“Santa is well and truly alive in our house (or will be when he calls on Christmas eve!). My daughter was 2 years and 7 months last December and didn’t have a clue who Santa was until I told her. Her speech is delayed so she didn’t have many words to tell us what she understood, but she could sign ‘Father Christmas’ and soon learnt to recognise pictures of him. On Christmas Eve, my partner found her gazing out of the window – when he asked her what she was looking at she said/signed ‘looking for Father Christmas’. Her face the next morning when she saw all the presents under the tree was a picture – I so regret not videoing it.
“My son will be 2 years 5 months this December and I am going to do the same with him – read him The Night Before Christmas poem (we’ve got it in a lovely illustrated book) and explain to him all about Father Christmas. I am really looking forward to seeing both their faces on Christmas morning (well actually it will be Christmas Eve morning in our house this year because my partner is working on Christmas day, but they are too young to know the difference yet!).”
Suzy
