first please state your belief system (Christian, Jewish, Atheist, etc)
do you let your children believe in santa, easter bunny, tooth fairy?
why or why not?
2006-08-13 12:09:51 · 13 answers · asked by ppunk71 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
(13 answers) when i found out the truth, i was mad at my mom for telling lies (she taught me not to do that afterall) i am now a Christian, but not a parent, but i was curious how others approached this... i like the celebrating but doing it in truth... thankyou for all your responses :)
2006-08-13 13:49:40 · update #1
I am Pagan. I allowed my child to believe in anything he chose. This included being able to choose his own spiritual path.
Blessings )O(
2006-08-13 12:15:29 · answer #1 · answered by Epona Willow 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am a Christian and my daughter believes in all those guys. But she also knows the religious meanings of Christmas and Easter and that is the real reason to celebrate. I want her to have fun and have the innocence of childhood. Before I know it she will be old enough to know better than to believe in santa, etc. Plus, as an adult it is alot of fun being santa, bunny and the tooth fairy! So we both win!
2006-08-13 19:13:08 · answer #2 · answered by luvnlvn 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hi, my family is Muslim. We have "Santa" but we call him Baba Noel. We just don't have him for Christmas, we have the Eid! Makes costume rental simple because there is no waiting. We do the bunny thing bcuz we live in the U.S. but we just don't call him the Easter bunny, and we don't celebrate "Easter" we have a spring picnic thing because my husband is Kurdish and they have a holiday then, so it works out well and keeps my girls from feeling left out by the holidays the other kids celebrate. We definitely do the tooth fairy, she is not religious at all to me, so she is fairly easy to explain. We tell my daughter that the tooth fairy wants her teeth because only a certain number were made. If she doesn't keep the ones she got clean, then the tooth fairy can't use them for the babies when they are supposed to grow teeth, and if she can't then the people end up like her grandfather (he wears dentures and the toothless look scares her)! I tell her that the cleaner her teeth are the more the tooth fairy gives her for her allowance fund! It all works out well for us, but I'd love to know how others handle it!!!
2006-08-13 19:28:37 · answer #3 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I am Catholic.
Yes, i do let my children believe in those things. I know it's not right to "lie" to them(if you want to call it that) Childhood is about innocence and imagination. I think Santa, The Easter bunny, and Tooth fairy are positive things they can believe in and get excited about during the Holidays and what not. I think it's a happy time for them and eventually they will grow up. When they reach the age of knowing that they are not real they will be old enough that the truth won't devastate them.
2006-08-13 19:23:57 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
We are Christian.
Our child was raised to believe in Jesus. "Santa" was only a joke at Christmastime...someone we left the fire going for (so he could toast his hiney coming down the chimney) and put cookies and pop out for (the kid knew Mom was really eating the cookie!).
We did relate the real story of St. Nickolas, though. He was a really cool guy, and deserved his own press.
Mom and Dad are also the EB and the "tooth fairy". No false expectations have ever been foisted on our child, just fun and games!
We watch all the Christmasy cartoons every year, too. Our fav is the "Charlie Brown Christmas Special".
We did not want to raise our child with lies, even holiday lies. Fun can be fun and true at the same time, so we have kept it real.
2006-08-13 19:17:49 · answer #5 · answered by MamaBear 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hmm supposed to be Christian. Don't care for the commercially manipulated people. Holidays are enough without it getting so personal like that. Kids need love everyday not just on special occasions. Halloween used to be safer but now I wouldn't let my kids do it. They aren't with me now anyway and they're grown so.I would prefer they didn't believe in things that will confuse them like that. That's where religion can cross the line too. Honesty is important to teach children about trust issues.
2006-08-13 19:22:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm an atheist and a mother of two. Leading kids to believe in fantasies (like the ones you mention) is a big mistake, unless of course you want them to fear other things like ghost and the boogie man. It just sends kids mixed messages. They're supposed to trust their parents. But lying to them gets kids into the pattern of blind faith, where they loose independence, and trust the word of people rather than think for themselves. What I do encourage is telling kids the truth about everything. You know how they say ...Truth is stranger than fiction.
2006-08-13 20:38:42 · answer #7 · answered by Deloused-In-The-Comatorium 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Christian.
Yes, a little. We "play" Santa, not the Easter Bunny and we "play" tooth fairy too. I mean play as in, they know its not real, but they know about it, and we say "Sanats not coming unless you go to bed". They know there is no Santa, but its a way to warn them Moms not going to put anything under the tree till your asleep. That way, other kids who talk about it, they can feel like they fit in, are in the know, but they have the truth.
2006-08-13 19:15:30 · answer #8 · answered by sweetie_baby 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Fantasies are a healthy outlet for childrens' creative minds, and explains things around them that they cannot understand, especially about the mystery of good, or being good.
I feel sorry for parents who have no spiritual nourishment to give their children. It's like having plants and saying, "When the plant is old enough to make their own decisions, they can get their own water."
What most people fail to notice, including my fellow Catholics, is that everything we believe is natural and normal and compatable to what we are as human beings, The problem is one of ignorance or propaganda and the redefinition of what a human being is.
2006-08-13 19:26:41 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Christian, Yes, because Santa was a historical figure
2006-08-13 19:13:09 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Catholic
yes i do...
First of all.. sanata comes from Saint Nicholas which expresses catholic beliefs..
the easter bunny and the toothfairy are for funn :] my children figured out they didnt exist on theri own.. but sonner or later i woul of told them... i rememebr when i was little and found out they werent real. i was devastated because i really believed.. but i sat to let them believe. its a part of growing up. you can never get it back : ]
2006-08-13 19:15:19 · answer #11 · answered by missJMAC 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋