Teaching your kids about Santa Clause

[Losty]

I also agree with this, but I found lying about obvious things from ages 2-5 is a fun way to teach your kids to figure things out for themselves while maintaining that trust.

For example when I'm cooking dinner and my almost 3 year old asks what I'm doing I'll tell her I'm dancing ballet with a giraffe, or when she points to my cellphone and asks what it is I'll say "it's a cow, what do cows say?"
Kids think it's funny, and at the same time I thinks it's a fun way to teach them to figure out their own answers instead of believing everything other people tell them.

That is a very different sort of situation from telling your children that Santa is real.  In your example, the claim that you are dancing ballet with a giraffe does not involve any deception.  You are saying things that are obviously false, and can be immediately seen to be false.

I also wasn't talking to you. I have said several times in this thread that I did not tell my children that Santa Claus is real. The reason I didn't do so is because I will not lie to my children for such a frivolous reason. I try not to lie to them except when I feel it is absolutely necessary.

I don't count the dancing with giraffes thing as lying at all, it is a lot closer to sarcasm than a lie, but I think it helps little kids learn to think for themselves.

[Pyrrho]

That is a very different sort of situation from telling your children that Santa is real.  In your example, the claim that you are dancing ballet with a giraffe does not involve any deception.  You are saying things that are obviously false, and can be immediately seen to be false.

I also wasn't talking to you. I have said several times in this thread that I did not tell my children that Santa Claus is real. The reason I didn't do so is because I will not lie to my children for such a frivolous reason. I try not to lie to them except when I feel it is absolutely necessary.

I don't count the dancing with giraffes thing as lying at all, it is a lot closer to sarcasm than a lie, but I think it helps little kids learn to think for themselves.

Yes, it is very different from the Santa situation.  That was the whole point of my post.  You are not deceiving your children with the dancing with a giraffe story.  What you are doing is very different from telling your children that Santa is real.

What you are doing is like telling a joke, "A priest, a rabbi, and a duck walked into a bar...."  Your story amuses, and does not deceive.

It would be a very different situation if you told your children the typical story that Santa is real.  That is because the typical story involves deception.  But what you are doing is very different, because you are not deceiving your children.

I am not criticizing you, either in that post or this one, so I am a bit unsure why you seem to be taking offense.

[Losty]

Lol I'm not offended...I just don't understand your point in making your point which I already knew because it was my point when I made it

[Aroura]

We taught our kid right from the get go that santa WAS real, a long time ago. That's an oversimplification of course, but she was 2 to 3 at the time.
As she got older, we explained that he is an amalgam of different figures from different countries.
We also aught her that if she met a kid that DID believe in Santa, to let that alone. Which so far as I'm aware, has never been an issue.

She was never disappointed to learn the truth.

[Alex K]

I'm still not quite sure how we'll handle that, I know the intended outcome, but not how to get there...

Ok so first of all in our culture Santa Claus (St. Niklas or whatever you call him) does not play a major role - he's demoted to bringing small warmup gifts on Dec 6. On Christmas eve, the Christkindl brings the gifts, so the more important question for me will be, does the Christkindl bring the presents or not? I think when I was a kid we had that narrative, or should I say "Sprachregelung", but it was so tongue-in-cheek that there was never a point where there had to be a big reveal. It was just something we'd say as a fun game, kind of to keep the Christmas spirit going. This is how it's going to be with our kids. It's just a bummer that they take so long to understand sarcasm. I'm counting the days for that

[Pyrrho]

I'm still not quite sure how we'll handle that, I know the intended outcome, but not how to get there...

Ok so first of all in our culture Santa Claus (St. Niklas or whatever you call him) does not play a major role - he's demoted to bringing small warmup gifts on Dec 6. On Christmas eve, the Christkindl brings the gifts, so the more important question for me will be, does the Christkindl bring the presents or not? I think when I was a kid we had that narrative, or should I say "Sprachregelung", but it was so tongue-in-cheek that there was never a point where there had to be a big reveal. It was just something we'd say as a fun game, kind of to keep the Christmas spirit going. This is how it's going to be with our kids. It's just a bummer that they take so long to understand sarcasm. I'm counting the days for that

Don't worry, when she understands sarcasm, you may feel differently about that, as she may use it frequently.

[Alex K]

"Wow, you're so smart, daddy!"

If she got my mom's and my wife's genes, I'm doomed.

[Pyrrho]

"Wow, you're so smart, daddy!"

If she got my mom's and my wife's genes, I'm doomed.

That's the spirit!

[robvalue]

I suppose I'd have to say, if Santa is OK, why stop there? Why not make up a load of other magical stuff to tell them? It seems Santa gets special treatment for being socially acceptable/traditional.

I'm not being sarcastic or judgemental, it's a serious question that just occurred to me.

I'd say the effects of finding out that you're probably not actually going to live on after death is far greater than finding out there probably isn't a special man who brings people presents.