kid Christmas ?

[jenbengen]

I shall speak in code for this one:

What age did your kids/you move on from the imaginative being of Christmas?

2nd grader with issues here.

 

[nomoney]

Having issues? Questioning it or just done believing?

 

[clevalley]

My boy had questions around that time - we had him believing all the way through Elementary School. Each year it took more and more convincing but we had him believing.

He is now in middle school (6th grade) and knows, but still wants to believe....

It is sad to see them grow up.

 

[jenbengen]

Having issues? Questioning it or just done believing?

Questioning. The whole mall thing. Nothing we say works for her. Oh, and she says she feels like a baby going to the mall now.
She acts like she is afraid to hurt our feelings.

 

[latinamomma]

i know my youngest still believes right now, but is questioning it...she is in 5th grade. I know next year I will not be so lucky.....I think you have two real choices here....explain to him/her that not everyone believes in the magic of Christmas and that's alright...but he/she doesn't have to believe what they say. Or, you can tell the child the truth. I know when my youngest asked about Santa for the first time (real or not), I told her that how could mommy and daddy buy all those things that he brings for them (3 kids) that it was taking tons of money to buy for the whole family and to pay some of the bills...that we couldn't buy all that as well. I really wish you luck.

 

[smilin]

Questioning. The whole mall thing. Nothing we say works for her. Oh, and she says she feels like a baby going to the mall now.
She acts like she is afraid to hurt our feelings.

We hit that same thing at the same age.
I didn't answer it directly I deflected it with " it's the idea of Christmas that counts " and went on from there. My kids sort of accepted they were being let in on an adult secret that it feels good to give and Christmas is all about feeling good.
Good luck with all the commercialism, I haven't been able to come up with an answer to that yet.

 

[(((echo)))]

Instead of leaving a half eatn cookie and some milk behind...try this (note....help from a fiend may be needed)

Items required....
glitter.....the bigger the better (shows up more)
chalk line.....
broom handle....
pet hair.....go to any dog groomer and just ask for it, they should be happy to give it to you

It;s easier to do this to the back of the house, so you can do it in steps litle by little and the tot will never see untill you take them out back and show them.

with the chalk line, mark out 2 lines the length of the roof (if there is no snow the chalk lines will still be visible to suggest sleigh marks) if there is snow then follow the chalk line with the broom handle to suggest sleigh marks

spread the glitter along the sleigh marks....

the pet hair will suggest that the reindeer are shedding (best when snow is present)

Viola! just when the tot doesnt believe in santa anymore, take em out back....point to the roof...and show em proof that he was there

 

[nomoney]

Instead of leaving a half eatn cookie and some milk behind...try this (note....help from a fiend may be needed)

Items required....
glitter.....the bigger the better (shows up more)
chalk line.....
broom handle....
pet hair.....go to any dog groomer and just ask for it, they should be happy to give it to you

It;s easier to do this to the back of the house, so you can do it in steps litle by little and the tot will never see untill you take them out back and show them.

with the chalk line, mark out 2 lines the length of the roof (if there is no snow the chalk lines will still be visible to suggest sleigh marks) if there is snow then follow the chalk line with the broom handle to suggest sleigh marks

spread the glitter along the sleigh marks....

the pet hair will suggest that the reindeer are shedding (best when snow is present)

Viola! just when the tot doesnt believe in santa anymore, take em out back....point to the roof...and show em proof that he was there

or just make it simpler, just get a big ol' pair of boots and have "santa" track some mud around the tree, act all upset that because of santa you gotta wash the floors.

 

[carolinagirl]

Well, I told my kids just what my momma and daddy told me. When you stop believing, Santa stops bringing presents.

My 2nd grader told me earlier this week that kids in her class said there is no Santa, but she believes! I have a 15 yr old, 7 yr old and 3 yr old and they all beleive.

 

[(((echo)))]

or just make it simpler, just get a big ol' pair of boots and have "santa" track some mud around the tree, act all upset that because of santa you gotta wash the floors.

true...but then you run the risk of staining a carpet

 

[clevalley]

Instead of leaving a half eatn cookie and some milk behind...try this (note....help from a fiend may be needed)

Items required....
glitter.....the bigger the better (shows up more)
chalk line.....
broom handle....
pet hair.....go to any dog groomer and just ask for it, they should be happy to give it to you

It;s easier to do this to the back of the house, so you can do it in steps litle by little and the tot will never see untill you take them out back and show them.

with the chalk line, mark out 2 lines the length of the roof (if there is no snow the chalk lines will still be visible to suggest sleigh marks) if there is snow then follow the chalk line with the broom handle to suggest sleigh marks

spread the glitter along the sleigh marks....

the pet hair will suggest that the reindeer are shedding (best when snow is present)

Viola! just when the tot doesnt believe in santa anymore, take em out back....point to the roof...and show em proof that he was there

Awesome Idea!!! Don't think I can squeeze another year out of him, but I am going to pass this to my brother who has litle girls to keep the magic alive!

When my Mom was a little girl, her dad ran a garage. He took empty oil cans and placed them on the roof of the house with some type of contraption to keep them from rolling down with a trip string. When he was tryign to get the excited kids to bed he would have his wife go outside and pull the trip string. The cans rolled down the roof and it sounded like something was landing on/around the house. All the kids SCRAMBLED to bed knowing Santa's reigndeer just landed!

Maybe do something like this with aluminum cans in these days? Makes for a good story either way.

 

[jenbengen]

true...but then you run the risk of staining a carpet

I just steam cleaned my carpets. There were some good suggestions.
I deflected the questioning until Daddy gets home. Yes, it's a delay tactic, but I wanted to make sure I did the right thing. I was trying to figure out if she WANTED to believe. If I knew that she did (I'm not so sure that's the case), I'd work extra hard to make her. Hmmmmm.

 

[(((echo)))]

a friend of mines dad was actually on the roof pretending to be santa stomping around......and broke his leg in the fall

 

[aps45819]

2nd grader with issues here.

Read them this:

Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Clause. Papa says "If you see it in the Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Clause?

Virginia O'Hanlon


Dear Virginia,
Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little.
In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Clause. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.
There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not to believe in Santa Clause! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Clause, but even if you did not see Santa Clause coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Clause, but that is no sign there is no Santa Clause.
The most real things in the world are those that neither children or men see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in this world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle to see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart.
Only faith, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Clause? Thank God he lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Francis P. Church
Editor of the New York Sun
1897

 

[clevalley]

I just steam cleaned my carpets. There were some good suggestions.
I deflected the questioning until Daddy gets home. Yes, it's a delay tactic, but I wanted to make sure I did the right thing. I was trying to figure out if she WANTED to believe. If I knew that she did (I'm not so sure that's the case), I'd work extra hard to make her. Hmmmmm.

One thing I did one year was get a friend to pretend it was Santa and let them know what was going on... I even gave them the Christmas list. I talked with the boy and said "Look - let's call Santa right now" - I pulled out the phone book and proceded to dial the phone - ask for Santa, chit-chat for a bit - explain the situation and put the boy on the phone!

That one thing convinced him from about 2nd grade until about 4th grade!

 

[jenbengen]

I'm sending a letter in the mail today to her...no return address...simple words on it... "I am real. Believe." Maybe something on it that makes it obvious who it is supposed to be from. She'd totally fall for that. I'll hand her the mail and act like it's no big deal she received a letter and walk away. Then I'll see how she reacts. If she runs to me excited, I'm good for another year. If she doesn't, then I cry. LOL.

 

[(((echo)))]

I'm sending a letter in the mail today to her...no return address...simple words on it... "I am real. Believe." Maybe something on it that makes it obvious who it is supposed to be from. She'd totally fall for that. I'll hand her the mail and act like it's no big deal she received a letter and walk away. Then I'll see how she reacts. If she runs to me excited, I'm good for another year. If she doesn't, then I cry. LOL.

takin the lazy way out huh

 

[jenbengen]

takin the lazy way out huh

Oh shoosh! I can't do the intricate reindeer stuff until Christmas Eve. I need something to make her believe UNTIL then. Big meanie.

 

[Cowgirl]

Has she seen or read The Polar Express?

 

[sanchezf]

My boy is in 5th grade and has asked several times in the last few weeks if Santa is real? He says mom tell me the truth is Santa real? I've always used the line "If you don't believe, you don't get any presents". So now he asks well if I don't believe I still get presents from you right just not Santa? I almost feel bad for lieing to him, a couple times when he's asked I have hesitated and almost told himthe truth?

What do you think, is time to sit him down and tell him and let him help me with the santa for the girls ???