New Weekly "off Topic" Topic No.17 (28/05/12)

[Ludwig Venter]

This week we talk about the little white lies which parents tell...... do your kids (or did you) ever believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, the boogey man or any of these other fantasy figures parents tell their kids about.....

(If so) At what age should they be told (or at what age did you find out)that it is only a myth (sorry if this is a revelation to some of you who still believe in them).... and also.... should kids not be told the truth from scratch??....

I was already at school when I discovered that Santa was an imposter..... a piece of his beard fell off so I stood on it and when he left,.... all the kids followed him and I stayed behind...... when everyone was gone, I picked up this piece of beard and proved my own suspicions..... it was cottonwool....

 

[CezzaXV]

I think there's no harm in them believing these fairy tales because of the magic they bring.

I have worked as an elf in a Santa's Grotto (I'm not embarrassed because it was awesome!) and for many of the younger kids it is a really magical experience for them. How can that be a bad thing? Of course, you do also get the kids in there who say it's not the real Santa and Santa's not real, but then you tell them if they think that they won't wake up to any presents on Christmas morning - shuts them up pretty quickly!

I personally do not remember when I discovered things like Santa and the tooth fairy and such were not real. I dont know whether this means that it had no impact on me or I knew from the start, but I don't see a problem with these "lies" because I don't even see them as lies, they're just lovely fairy stories for children.

 

[Salam]

Are you telling me Santa doesn't exist? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[coldcazzie]

Are you telling me Santa doesn't exist? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

It's not really answering the question asked but my little brother came home from school one day near Christmas and asked mom if Santa was real, because of things he'd been hearing at school. Mom decided he was old enough to know the truth and told him there was no Santa, there were tears but Christmas carried on as normal. The following Christmas, by some miracle, Cody said something to mom which gave her the clue that he'd forgotten Santa wasn't real so she quickly informed the rest of us and the ruse continued for another year! We were all pretty happy about that though because it made it more fun for everyone to have a little person around still beliving in the magic!

 

[Man of fish]

I figured out that they weren't real around 10. My parents still think I believe though.......... Last time I asked they said most definately.......

 

[ZoddyZod]

I think I was fairly old when Santa became fake.....maybe 10 or 11? When I confessed to knowing the truth my mother simply said "well that's good, we don't need to buy you as many presents this year"

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

We still get presents from Santa in our house! I'm 28!!

 

[Man of fish]

I think I was fairly old when Santa became fake.....maybe 10 or 11? When I confessed to knowing the truth my mother simply said "well that's good, we don't need to buy you as many presents this year"

That's why I'm not admitting it! lol!

 

[HannahBear77]

Growing up in a chirsitian home we never did the whole Santa clause Easter bunny thing partly cus my mom didn't want to have to try explain it wasn't real later on specially after she saw this one girl in her school she worked at completely break down and cried her eyes out cus she found out Santa wasn't real

But out of fun my grandma still puts from Santa claus on my 42 yr old uncles gift lol and we still get Easter baskets

 

[Baccus]

I would have been around 6 when I knew there was no such thing as Santa Claus, I remember telling my firend the "truth" her getting all upset and me getting in trouble from my Mum. But at least Mum explained to me that just becuase I knew the truth it wasn't up to me to "correct" everyone else. From memory I did explain to my friend that there was a St Nick who did give gifts to the poor but he was only human and died many years ago. My Mum and Dad used to pretty much only give my sister and I a Santa sack of small gifts, lollies, crayons, colouring in books, comic books and small toys, the real presents she always put on the tag as being from her and Dad. Mum didn't want us kids giving credit to the really cool expensive toys to an imaginary person. We never left milk or cookies out for Santa in our house.... the dog would have eaten it any way just like she scoffed the easter eggs when one year we tried having an Easter egg hunt in the yard.

I am sorry to say I am getting rather anti- Santi like my Mum, and I hate the commercialism of Christmas. I love Christmas, I espceially love hunting down the perfect gift to give somebody and get a real kick out of seeing thier faces when they open something I know they will love. But I hate going to shopping centres and seeing a Santa in every centre (we have 5 shopping centres all in a 5-20min radius) let alone all the pictures of various Santas plastered every where. But then it also annoys me when people put out 5 or more Navtivity scenes in the one display. Pick one good one and go with that I figure.

To me Christmas and Easter is a time of Family, giving and remembering the real reasons behind the celebrations.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

This week we talk about the little white lies which parents tell...... do your kids (or did you) ever believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, the boogey man or any of these other fantasy figures parents tell their kids about.....

We are now stuck around Santa, (which is interesting) but what about those other imaginary characters like the Boogey man, tooth fairy, Easter Bunny..... etc.... Did you ever get any cash for your tooth?.... What did your Boogey man look like?.... etc.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

The boogie man doesn't exist??? Thank god I can finally sleep, thanks Ludwig.

 

[Salam]

Ok, now on a serious note

I don't remember when I stopped believing or so, but my son definitely believes in Santa and the sandman. I use them as my tools to keep my sanity. Yesterday for example my son was climbing all the furniture and he didn't want to stop it. So I made a fake call to Santa. Something in the lines of "Santa, can you see him? Yes, he is very naughty... Ok, I will tell him to be a good boy now, otherwise no presents..." My son straight stopped climbing and said sorry I know it is summer, but it works throughout the year.

Sandman wise, well if he refuses to sleep I pretend I hear the sandman. Only grown-ups can hear him, you know And I tell him he has to close his eyes so the sandman can swish over him, drop some sand into his eyes and he will have sweet dreams. Works 99% of the time. I rarely have any bedtime quarrels.

Honestly, those fantasy figures keep me sane otherwise I'd have lost the will to live with an over-active child.

 

[Baccus]

Dont know if it was the Boogie man so much but I used to be terrified of going to the toilet at night in the dark, always imagined something was going to grab me and pull me into the toilet, (evil minded older sisters don't help with childish imagination either ), I also couldnt sleep with an arm or leg hanging over the side of my bed (again probably something of my sisters doing that was so traumatic I have whipped the cause from my memory). Never really got into the whole tooth fairy deal in our house either. And the Easter Bunny (or now days the Easter Bilby) was never a huge concern in our house either. I guess my parents just couldn't be bothered lying to my sister and I.


But when my older sister was around 3 or 4 she had a whole troupe of imaginary monsters that where her friends, she used to make mum hold the car door open until all the "monsters" where inside the car, when ever they went some where .