Originally posted Dec. 11, 2016. Santa still isn’t real, and in the following years, most of Kid 2’s friends have learned this. Sending you peace, love, and joy this holiday season.
My eldest child’s teacher sends weekly emails to the class to keep us up-to-date on what is going on in the classroom. The most recent email included a section headed “What to do if your child hears that others don’t believe in Santa” as the class is learning the story of St. Nicolas (a very real man) and there has been talk of Santa.
What to do if your child hears that others don’t believe in Santa?
If your child has older siblings he or she might hear them say that they don’t believe in Santa anymore. Then your child comes to you and asks you if Santa is real. What can you do?
First of all, have a talk with your older child. Remind them of when they were young and how Santa was real for them. Ask them to be the “keeper of the magic” and not discount the imagination of the younger child….
Secondly, this is a teaching moment for tolerance. When your young one tells you that his or her friend said that there is no Santa you can share how people believe in different things and celebrate holidays in different ways. Share that “in our family we…. believe in Santa but in other families they may not and that is okay…. This phrase…”in our family we…” will become your mantra in the years to come. So many things come up where families do things in different ways. We can’t change others. We must show tolerance of other people’s believes and journeys but still hold on to what we want for our own family
This morning in the car I brought up Santa – how some children believe in him, and how in our family we know Santa is a story. The children were in full agreement – we’ve never really pushed the Santa myth, one of the grandmothers tried briefly, but it never really stuck. Silly grandma, Santa is a story.
In the car this afternoon the little one piped up:
Kid2: Everyone in my class believes in Santa, except me. I know Santa’s not real.
Me: Did you tell your friends Santa is not real?
Kid2: No. They all believe in Santa.
Kid2 then got quiet, and didn’t say much more.
I decided to use some of the teacher’s suggested language. Me: It is okay for them to believe in Santa, people believe a lot of different things, and … at this point Kid2 interrupted me, and in a super-sweet kindergarten voice, informed me:
Kid2: Soon they’ll know Santa’s not real.
I’m not sure what to say to that. I think we may have to have a conversation with the teacher.
Other Christmas/Winter Holiday adjacent posts:
kind-ism 