Jon and I have gone round and round about whether to play along with the whole Santa thing at Christmastime. On the one hand, I think the fantasy can be lots of fun. However, personally, I’d much rather my children learn the joy of giving than further reinforce the expectation of receiving (especially when we have so much already). So many children around the world have no idea who Santa is, and no hopes of receiving a gift from some magical guy in a red suit. The lack of equity in Santa's giving is a tough one to explain when you're trying to raise your children with global awareness.
So here's what we've decided do:
We've explained to E & I that Santa is a story about a real person named Nicholas who lived a long time ago and was very generous to others during the holiday season. He had a lot of things and chose to give some of those things to others who didn't have as much. We also tie in our own acts of giving to encourage generousity in our kids (and that includes, but isn't limited to, giving back to Ethiopia).And we’ve told our kids that if they’re good and kind and generous all year long, perhaps they’ll receive a special gift in the spirit of Santa Claus come Christmas morning. The twins will receive one big gift from Santa that they have to share. That way, they can enjoy some of the "magic" of the Christmas season, but it will be firmly rooted in giving back.
My feeling is that they don't have to believe that the mall Santa is "real", to get into the spirit of the season. We’ve explained that there are lots of people who dress up as Santa who try to emulate the characteristics that Nicholas is famous for. Hopefully that helps to account for the many different "Santas" that we see throughout our community, and perhaps it will soften the "letdown" if/when they realize that there is no "real" Santa Claus (at least in person form!)
How does your family treat Santa?
6 comments:
i think you handled that very well!!!! because we celebrate that christmas is the birth of christ, that comes first. we also teach our kids that "santa" is just for fun but we won't spoil the surprise for other kids if they believe his magical powers are real. don't forget to tell your kids that. all you need is some angry mom assaulting you at the playgroung because one of your kiddos explained that santa (in today's sense of the world) isn't true. my kids get a lot of gifts. not so much from us, but from extended family. i can't do much about that. but my kids also see david and i giving a LOT to others at this time of year. the heifer catalog came in the mail yesterday and the kids were so excited to pick and animal to give to another family. i always love hearing how other families handle this time of year--and i think most parents are in agreement that they want thier children to learn it's better to give than to recieve.
I am not very profound. I teach lucy about santa (he comes on Christmas Eve and brings gifts). He also BTW happens to live in our neighborhood, and we have dined beside him and the mrs at Jakeenos (Cathy). The Mall of America Santa lives on 36th street (the north pole is a fable). I teach her about him so i have another thing to hold over her head in December (i hope it works i hope it works) when the going gets tought (behaviorly). I am VERY lucky to have a little girl who could give a rats a** about material things, so i am not worried about making her all stuff orientated.
stacy--have you seen heather's "elf" perched up high in her hosue? she tells charlie it's one of santa's spies so charlie will behave. works great for her.
We have the "elf on a shelf" too. he'll be making an appearance post thanksgiving...
So far we haven't really done anything other than point to the guy in the red suit and say, Hey, look, it's Santa Clause! (My little people are not very language/concept sophisticated yet!) But I have given it some thought and I'm not thrilled about totally nixing him or telling the tale. (I am at this point, however, totally against doing the sitting on Santa's lap thing -- yech!) We'll probably do something accidently and they'll soak it up and then we'll be stuck with it. Again, you are way to mindful, mama. Sickening! :)
BTW, you're making me spend too much money and spoiling myself with consumerism since I have bought things because of your last couple of posts! So much for helping others at the holidays . . . :P
Haven't decided yet...guess we need to get on that. Like you, I have mixed emotions about it. Thanks for giving me some food for thought!
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