Ideas to make them believe Santa really came

Nevyn

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except 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 Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! 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 eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! 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 Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and 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 supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! 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.

kippy

planetX wrote: »

My 9 year old still believes without any doubt, and it's starting to worry me a bit. I'd kind of like the opposite to the OP - suggestions on how to gently make Santa less real. I'm planning to tell him towards next summer, just to avoid it happening at Christmas, and I don't want it to be a shock, or for him to be the last kid in the class to know.
So how did people break the news???

I havent been in the position of " breaking the news".
To be honest I found out when my dad "accidently" made a very bad job of "hiding" toys one year before Xmas.
I didnt really have to ask after that.

EraseAndRewind

planetX wrote: »

My 9 year old still believes without any doubt, and it's starting to worry me a bit. I'd kind of like the opposite to the OP - suggestions on how to gently make Santa less real. I'm planning to tell him towards next summer, just to avoid it happening at Christmas, and I don't want it to be a shock, or for him to be the last kid in the class to know.
So how did people break the news???

im baffled as to why you would want to tell him tbh?Why is it worrying -i think its fantastic and a sign that your child is acting his age and not growing up too fast

who cares if he is the last kid in the class to know-why are people always so afraid of what everyone else will say or think?!Teach your son to be himself and believe in whatever he wants to believe in...theres plenty of time for him to grow up let him enjoy being a child

littlebitdull

planetX wrote: »

My 9 year old still believes without any doubt, and it's starting to worry me a bit. I'd kind of like the opposite to the OP - suggestions on how to gently make Santa less real. I'm planning to tell him towards next summer, just to avoid it happening at Christmas, and I don't want it to be a shock, or for him to be the last kid in the class to know.
So how did people break the news???

This time last year I was feeling exactly how you are now. And I had fully intended to tell my daughter over the summer, but never quite got around to it!

So here I am doing santa again this year, and you can be full sure it will be our last one.

She is our youngest and with my eldest he asked me - one summer while I was hanging out the washing! ... As I felt he was old enought to know (I am pretty sure he was heading into 5th class) I told him the truth. He must have spent the whole of the summer asking me about it :rolleyes: he was just curious to know how we had managed over the years. But he was not disappointed.

My middle child we never actually told - and she never actually asked - we all just came to the knowledge that she knew on a gradual basis.

With this one - my last child - I am ready for it all to stop. I have enjoyed Santa over the years - and did not realise I would feel this ready for it to end, but can honestly say I am not disappointed or upset at the idea.

I would just let it go this year - see how you feel around Easter time - and make your decision then. What class they are in school will make a big difference - my daughter will be going into 6th class next sept and I feel it would be silly for her to still profecess to believe at that age.

Its called allowing them to grow up - and you have to allow them to do that - and sometimes you have to help them too.

littlebitdull

To get back on topic - slightly !! - we have bought some of those sky lanterns we saw at halloween and my daughter is going to write her santa letter onto one ...and send it off up to him that way.

planetX

EraseAndRewind wrote: »

im baffled as to why you would want to tell him tbh?Why is it worrying -i think its fantastic and a sign that your child is acting his age and not growing up too fast

who cares if he is the last kid in the class to know-why are people always so afraid of what everyone else will say or think?!Teach your son to be himself and believe in whatever he wants to believe in...theres plenty of time for him to grow up let him enjoy being a child

It's nothing to do with what other people think. I just feel that leaving it much longer will make it so much more of a let-down. A few in my family were very upset when they found out - mostly because of the idea of an adult lying to them. I've loved doing Santa, and would love to keep it going forever, but I just feel in my child's case that by 10 it's becoming more of a deception than a fantasy.

magentas

santa stopped coming to my little brother at 11 (he's 13 now and the baby of the family) and Christmas wasn't the same last year
Having kids for santa really makes Christmas magic

Love some of the ideas here, the reindeer poo on the car is brilliant!

My parents used to leave half eaten carrot, crumbs from the minced pie and a tumbler with a trace of brandy in the bottom!
Dad would complain about how much of the bottle santa had drank and say he hoped he didn't get pulled over by the flying squad!

littlebug

I was told there was no santa when I was 8 and I remember I wasn't in the slightest bit bothered about it . I never understood how people could keep it going any longer than that but I have to say my 8 year old seems so young now That said as soon as the question is asked outright the truth will be told. The fact that their best present comes from us every year while the santa present is the B present will soften the blow.


edited to add..... and that's completely off topic isn't it?! sorry! We've never done any of the extra stuff to make them believe.

CK2010

i love all the ideas on here! my girl is three so this is her first year with a bit of proper understanding re santa and christmas so im looking forward to making it special, shes still too young to even notice some suggestions on here but i will be using some!