How would you respond to eight-year-old Virginia's question: "Is there a Santa Claus"?

Question

The original response printed in the New York Sun, September 21, 1897.
http://www.stormfax.com/virginia.htm

I'm a Humanist, but my grandchildren are being reared as Christians. Yes, they believe in Santa. I did when I was a tot, and I don't have a lingering resentment toward my parents for encouraging me to believe. It's a harmless, fun tradition.

Answer 1

Well, she won't get into the right high schools with a crippling belief in fantasy.

Answer 2

Well, Santa Claus is more of an idea than a person, so I would say that yes, Santa Claus exists, and that he is a feeling, a spirit, not a physical entity that can be seen.

But - if I get my way - my children will be raised with Yule, not Christmas, so the subject may never come up.

Happy Solstice!
)O(

Answer 3

I don't think you can top the original answer. I think that is the absolutely best answer you could give. The person who wrote the original had an extremely brilliant mind. It wonderful that he wrote that. I think it's wonderful for children to believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy. I think that's what's wrong with adults, we have no imagination and no belief in anything.

Answer 4

I consistently % to ask my childrens what they think of. they often answer their own question. additionally in specific circumstances when I attempt to respond to it creates extra questions. I agree on the Santa Claus action picture! different than Santa does not devour wholesome all the time interior the action picture. undergo in ideas whilst he is going to artwork and orders warm chocolate and cookies? p.s. They deserve cookies a minimum of as quickly as a 365 days, they have worked very no longer difficulty-free to make others satisfied.

Answer 5

When I was young and asked my parents if there was a Santa Clause, they came up with a clever response. You see, they made a committment never to lie to their children, so they would respond "What do you think?". This satisfied me for awhile, and then one day I pushed the issue, that day they told me. The point is that response allowed me to find out when I was ready, if I wasn't willing to push issue, I wasn't ready to hear the truth.

Answer 6

Of course there's a Santa Claus. He remains invisible and works in mysterious ways. He exists outside of man's ability to comprehend him. No one can prove that there ISN'T a Santa, which is proof of a Santa, right?

Answer 7

Depends on how well I knew Virginia and her parents, and why she's asking the question.

If her parents have built up this entire elaborate fantasy for Virginia, and she enjoys it, I'm not about to spoil it for her. She'll have plenty of time for disillusionment and demolishing of innocence and imagination when she grows up.

If she was asking because she's beginning to get the feeling that her parents and others are lying to her, and the mythology is beginning to become a gnawing doubt about the trustworthiness of adults, I'd explain to her about why adults have tried to build this sense of wonder and imagination into her world, and that it's really a huge game of make-believe and it's more fun if you pretend it's real, and please don't spoil it for her parents, because it's one of the few chances adults get to play pretend anymore.

Answer 8

The lie about Santa is a small one that most kids figure out for them selves by the age of eight. It's the lie about a god that's evil.
Tammi Dee

Answer 9

There is a Santa in everyone who wants to give out of the love of there hearts.

Answer 10

I would explain to her that santa is a made up character. It was influenced from paganism and that he has nothing to do with Christmas.