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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

  • Then the cynic in you would be right.  But that's something that is obvious to everyone already, it's a commercial world we live in.  We are all annoyed at how early they start putting Christmas paraphernalia out - but that doesn't mean we all have to be bah-humbug about it.

    As for not needing stuff, I use it as an opportunity to buy my husband things he genuinely needs and are useful.  I buy him practical presents.

    I choose to laugh off how obvious and ridiculous the shops are, but I also choose to love watching my children's faces light up as they see what Father Christmas brought them, and their joy at how he knew just what they wanted.  I also choose to indulge their overall excitement and magic of the festive period, and the light relief it offers them in a world which is challenging and scary to them because of their autism.

Reply

  • Then the cynic in you would be right.  But that's something that is obvious to everyone already, it's a commercial world we live in.  We are all annoyed at how early they start putting Christmas paraphernalia out - but that doesn't mean we all have to be bah-humbug about it.

    As for not needing stuff, I use it as an opportunity to buy my husband things he genuinely needs and are useful.  I buy him practical presents.

    I choose to laugh off how obvious and ridiculous the shops are, but I also choose to love watching my children's faces light up as they see what Father Christmas brought them, and their joy at how he knew just what they wanted.  I also choose to indulge their overall excitement and magic of the festive period, and the light relief it offers them in a world which is challenging and scary to them because of their autism.

Children
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