Strange question about Santa Claus - Page 3

[SeekingJoy]

I heard DD telling DS this today, and I swooped in to straighten them both out. She heard it at school, but it really rubbed me the wrong way to see her try to hurt him by telling him he wouldn't get any presents from Santa.

I did, however, tell both my kids that they had to actually be asleep for Santa and the magic of Christmas to happen. No surprise that they have been over-excited lately and had trouble sleeping.

[Belia]

When my mother and her brothers / sisters were little, my grandmother would do the whole, "You had better behave because Santa is watching you!" thing.  She even had a picture of Santa's face attached to a broomstick, and she would sneak outside and hold it up in the window so it would look like Santa was peeking in.  (They lived in a Chicago bungalow so their main living area was half a flight up from street level.)

I kind of think its hilarious, and kind of think its awful.

[PoppyMama]

I can't help myself...that's really funny.  

[maamaB]

We don't do that.  Good or bad behavior is not linked to the holidays, nor to how many present a child shall receive.  Good, respectful behavior is part of daily life.

[eepster]

I haven't gotten through through the whole thread yet, so forgive me if I'm repeating, but wanted to post about this.

Originally Posted by Smokering 

There is this horrible Dora episode that DS watched about the naughty list but we just explained that was just a cartoon, Santa brings gifts to everyone, etc.

I wouldn't teach a kid that. It's just not true. (Well, yes, the whole Santa thing isn't true, but!) Santa doesn't bring gifts to everyone. He doesn't bring gifts to (some) Jewish kids, (some) Muslim kids, (some) conservative Christian kids, kids whose parents don't "do" Santa, kids whose parents don't do Christmas at all, kids whose parents are too poor to afford gifts, kids in cultures in which Santa isn't known...

I dunno, it just seems like huge misunderstandings could arise if your child assumes every child gets gifts. What will he think when the next-door neighbor kid says "No, I didn't get anything from Santa"?

We do stockings, but not from Santa - in fact, the checkout lady asked DD about what Santa would bring her the other day and DD had no idea what she was talking about. I'm not anti- the concept of Santa exactly, I'd just never thought to bring it up! And I prefer to get the credit for my hard work of gift-buying, thankyouverymuch. :p

OP: I don't think it would be hard to eliminate the "naughty or nice" aspect of the Santa myth if you don't like it. The original "Santa gift" was based on charity, not merit, anyway. And there are plenty of "versions" of Santa, so it's not like you're messing with the plot of Gone with the Wind.

bold mine

This is a really big part of why the naughty/nice thing is a huge issue for me.  We live in a very diverse area, and many of DS's friends and classmates won't be getting any Christmas presents from Santa or anyone else.  Yes, some will bet getting Hanuka gelt or something (actually have gotten since Hanuka is long past now,) but it isn't exactly the same and some will just be not celebrating anything that involves gifts at this time of year.  These kids are not being put on Santa's "naughty list," they just don't celebrate Christmas or they celebrate it differently.

[Honey693]

We're doing Elf on a Shelf next year.  With all the stress the holidays bring I'm using every tool I can to keep DD reasonably well behaved.  My parents said Santa didn't come one year b/c my brother and I were holy terrors (not her words) and it didn't screw us up for life. Santa only filled our stockings though so we had otehr gifts from family.  We knew we'd been awful, we knew we'd stressed my parents out and that made us realize how awful we had been.  Never happened again and I still feel bad for being so horrible that year, especially now that I'm a parent.  If saying Santa won't come to kids who have massive tantrums in the middle of Target will help me get through a trip (not my only tool) then I'm using it.

[Petie1104]

Originally Posted by eepster 

I haven't gotten through through the whole thread yet, so forgive me if I'm repeating, but wanted to post about this.

Originally Posted by Smokering 

There is this horrible Dora episode that DS watched about the naughty list but we just explained that was just a cartoon, Santa brings gifts to everyone, etc.

I wouldn't teach a kid that. It's just not true. (Well, yes, the whole Santa thing isn't true, but!) Santa doesn't bring gifts to everyone. He doesn't bring gifts to (some) Jewish kids, (some) Muslim kids, (some) conservative Christian kids, kids whose parents don't "do" Santa, kids whose parents don't do Christmas at all, kids whose parents are too poor to afford gifts, kids in cultures in which Santa isn't known...

I dunno, it just seems like huge misunderstandings could arise if your child assumes every child gets gifts. What will he think when the next-door neighbor kid says "No, I didn't get anything from Santa"?

We do stockings, but not from Santa - in fact, the checkout lady asked DD about what Santa would bring her the other day and DD had no idea what she was talking about. I'm not anti- the concept of Santa exactly, I'd just never thought to bring it up! And I prefer to get the credit for my hard work of gift-buying, thankyouverymuch. :p

OP: I don't think it would be hard to eliminate the "naughty or nice" aspect of the Santa myth if you don't like it. The original "Santa gift" was based on charity, not merit, anyway. And there are plenty of "versions" of Santa, so it's not like you're messing with the plot of Gone with the Wind.

bold mine

This is a really big part of why the naughty/nice thing is a huge issue for me.  We live in a very diverse area, and many of DS's friends and classmates won't be getting any Christmas presents from Santa or anyone else.  Yes, some will bet getting Hanuka gelt or something (actually have gotten since Hanuka is long past now,) but it isn't exactly the same and some will just be not celebrating anything that involves gifts at this time of year.  These kids are not being put on Santa's "naughty list," they just don't celebrate Christmas or they celebrate it differently.

Oh good point.  I wonder if some kids who do grow grow up with the naughty/nice thing might then assume that kids who don't celebrate Christmas (hence don't get presents from Santa) are all naughty.  I would hate for that to happen, I mean we are Jewish, most my kids friends know we don't celebrate Christmas and understand why, but that could be really uncomfortable if a child walked up to them and said, "oh you don't get gifts from Santa, you must be naughty".  I don't think this would happen here, or on a large scale anywhere (thank goodness) but it is a scary thought.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by Honey693 

We're doing Elf on a Shelf next year.  With all the stress the holidays bring I'm using every tool I can to keep DD reasonably well behaved.  My parents said Santa didn't come one year b/c my brother and I were holy terrors (not her words) and it didn't screw us up for life. Santa only filled our stockings though so we had otehr gifts from family.  We knew we'd been awful, we knew we'd stressed my parents out and that made us realize how awful we had been.  Never happened again and I still feel bad for being so horrible that year, especially now that I'm a parent.  If saying Santa won't come to kids who have massive tantrums in the middle of Target will help me get through a trip (not my only tool) then I'm using it.

Are you serious?

[Honey693]

Yup.
 

Originally Posted by eepster 

Originally Posted by Honey693 

We're doing Elf on a Shelf next year.  With all the stress the holidays bring I'm using every tool I can to keep DD reasonably well behaved.  My parents said Santa didn't come one year b/c my brother and I were holy terrors (not her words) and it didn't screw us up for life. Santa only filled our stockings though so we had otehr gifts from family.  We knew we'd been awful, we knew we'd stressed my parents out and that made us realize how awful we had been.  Never happened again and I still feel bad for being so horrible that year, especially now that I'm a parent.  If saying Santa won't come to kids who have massive tantrums in the middle of Target will help me get through a trip (not my only tool) then I'm using it.

Are you serious?

[staceychev]

Originally Posted by hopefulfaith 
That being said, anybody want to buy an "Elf on the Shelf" doll/book? 

It's new in the box and never opened.  Given to us a few years ago.  I couldn't bring myself to even go there.

Yeah, we've got the stalker elf--got it as a gift. Our daughter named "her" Flowers. She's less of a "report back to Santa" elf and more of a "get messages to Santa" elf... like when we suddenly decided, 10 days before Christmas, that all we wanted was the Littlest Petshop. Anyway, we actually enjoy it. DD talks to it and it's become part of her imaginary Christmas world.