Why do people lie to kids about Santa Claus?

It just seems silly and dishonest to me.

Childhood is a time of wonder and magic. I don’t see the harm in making that time special for children. They’ve got all the time in the world to see the harshness of reality.

6 Likes

parents do it because their parents did it to them

5 Likes

I think it’s kinda weird myself.

I mean my parents did it to me (I BELIEVED that guy was real man) and then we did it to my niece who took the revelation of his non-existence way better than I did. Though it’s weird it really is harmless enough, I think it just depends on what age you tell them you know?

'Cause I was like 17 when I found out he didn’t exist!!! :sob:

1 Like

It prepares them for listening to politicians.

Pixel.

5 Likes

Overheard in our home…

Kid’s friend: “Do you believe in Santa?”
My kid: “I do.”
Kid’s friend: “I don’t! I busted my parents and they 'fessed up.”
My kid: “I get extra Santa presents each year I believe. I like the prezzies.”
Kid’s friend: “Okay, now I feel stupid. I could have had extra presents.”
My kid: “Ding.”

They didn’t realize I was in the next room listening.

Pixel.

7 Likes

In no particular order:

Tradition

Makes Christmas more magical for children

It is fun for adults to give children weird but cute beliefs

1 Like

I think the parents come out of this feeling hypocritical and slightly ashamed at lying.

1 Like

Oh, hell no. Zero guilt, baby. Back on the farm I used to have fun telling the kid that roosters laid square eggs and had her looking for them. Messing with young minds is one of the few fringe benefits of parenthood. And, let’s be honest, we deserve some sort of compensation for the sleepless nights, puke detail, and changing extra narsty diapers.

Pixel.

1 Like

My sister and I had a conference about it, we figured it out early but were afraid the present pipeline would run dry if we said anything. So we made a sacred pact to never let on that we knew :smile_cat:

We weren’t upset, I guess I really never understood why some kids were. We thought it was nice that our parents got us all those presents.

2 Likes

If i have a kid, i will do all of it! Santa clause, easter bunny, tooth fairy, grumpy cat =^o^= kidding! But imagination snd fairytales are very important to kids!

1 Like

My sis posted this one a while ago…

I like it… so this is what I’m going to tell my niece and nephew about Santa

2 Likes

I wanted my son to be bolstered for the realities to come with as much happy fantasy and magic as possible! When he started asking if Santa was real, I told him what my mom had told me, that as long as he believed then Santa would be real. This allowed him to keep Santa as long as he liked, and let go when he was ready.

2 Likes

I was reading a Joseph Campbell book (the power of myth)

He wrote about that exact idea… In the past… many Gods and Demagogues and other anthropomorphic personifications faded away due to lack of belief…

He even went into something as physically intangible but as real as HOPE… if you believe in hope… hope exist.

2 Likes

didnt do me any harm, if our parents wished to give santa the credit for their goodwill then thats fine by me,

i can’t remember my reaction to finding out santa was a lie, but i do remember flipping out after going to meet spiderman at the grocery store. He couldn’t climb walls or shoot webs like on tv LOL

Because that’s the way it is. it doesn’t harm them, it’s a white lie. Childhood is a time of innocence and make believe. Fairy tales, Pinnochio, Let kids enjoy a fantasy world while they can. Like someone else said, they will learn reality soon enough. Let them believe in ghosts and goblins and fairy princesses. It is tradition. It can’t be anaylized, some things are just what they are and it has been passed down from many hundreds of years ago. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

1 Like

The way you phrase the question, you make it seem like people are doing something wrong by telling kids there’s a Santa Claus. It is not wrong. They are not deceiving kids to hurt them in any way. It is just a tradition. They are not lying in a bad way they are lying in a good way.

1 Like

I found out about Santa when I was like in kindergarden or so, somewhere between 4 and 6 years old. As soon as I found out about Santa that night I lied in wait to find him come down the chimney, with my sister, only to see my parents wrapping presents and talking about santa. I was remember before finding out about that that I was sad that I got more presents from santa than from my parents, since santa had never met me and I thought presents meant love and that my parents should love me more than santa. I know, I was materialistic and emo even then.

i still like to believe in santa, got to believe in something right lol, i just think ‘why not’ haha some people are so serious and i just say ‘it is what it is’ can’t be a bad thing though, since when has giving kids gifts a bad thing, lots of happy faces today ‘spoiled faces’ but happy lol