• Replies 182 replies
  • Subscribers 28 subscribers
  • Views 29176 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Is Santa silly?

Arran

I'm writing this as someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas in either a religious or cultural sense. From a young age I was told that Santa doesn't exist and is just a silly hoax that parents play on their kids. It never affected me in any bad way and neither was I expecting to find wrapped presents mysteriously appear on the morning of the 25th day of December. If anybody in my family received a Christmas gift then it was usually opened on the same day. A downside to this is that even from the age of 4 or 5 I went round telling kids at school "Father Christmas isn't real, it's all made up, your parents buy Christmas presents from the shops" which often resulted in me getting into trouble whenever they got upset. I once had to report to the head teacher after completely reducing a classmate to tears.

Is the concept of Santa a silly nonsense or is it part of the joys of childhood? Do you tell your own children the truth or would you prefer to go along with the cultural norm? Is pleasing one's classmates more important than knowing the truth? What about children at school who follow different religions so do not celebrate Christmas - where do they fit in?

Parents

  • I suspect that there are lots of NAS members who propagate the Santa lie to their children but haven't got the guts to admit it here. Considering that about half the parents at my local independent AS support group lie about Santa to their children then the NAS is probably even worse in this regard. My experience of the NAS is that it's more concerned about image than the truth.

    A discussion about Santa has taken place at the local AS support group before. No consensus was reached although it was acknowledged that the increasing numbers of children who follow a religion other than Christianity and don't celebrate Christmas adds a new dimension into the argument that didn't exist in the past. It also increases the likelihood of classmates exposing the truth at a much younger age than in a school where every family celebrates Christmas and does the Santa lie. Are there any parents who have children in a school where the children who celebrate Christmas are clearly a minority? In some schools it has reached a point where Christmas is only found in RE lessons and there are no decorations installed in December, Nativity plays, Christmas themed events etc. because it has no meaning to the children. The environment a child grows up in shapes their brain. If they are surrounded by large numbers of children who don't celebrate Christmas then their views on Christmas will surely be different from a child living in an environment where everybody celebrates Christmas. I know this from personal experiences.

Reply

  • I suspect that there are lots of NAS members who propagate the Santa lie to their children but haven't got the guts to admit it here. Considering that about half the parents at my local independent AS support group lie about Santa to their children then the NAS is probably even worse in this regard. My experience of the NAS is that it's more concerned about image than the truth.

    A discussion about Santa has taken place at the local AS support group before. No consensus was reached although it was acknowledged that the increasing numbers of children who follow a religion other than Christianity and don't celebrate Christmas adds a new dimension into the argument that didn't exist in the past. It also increases the likelihood of classmates exposing the truth at a much younger age than in a school where every family celebrates Christmas and does the Santa lie. Are there any parents who have children in a school where the children who celebrate Christmas are clearly a minority? In some schools it has reached a point where Christmas is only found in RE lessons and there are no decorations installed in December, Nativity plays, Christmas themed events etc. because it has no meaning to the children. The environment a child grows up in shapes their brain. If they are surrounded by large numbers of children who don't celebrate Christmas then their views on Christmas will surely be different from a child living in an environment where everybody celebrates Christmas. I know this from personal experiences.

Children
No Data