Posted on 12/19/2009 9:12:00 PM PST by joesbucks
Found this on a web site I frequent.
I’m a 44 year old Marine and I still believe.
God was the first Santa, He gave the entire world the most precious gift we could ever receive.
The “real” meaning. I am sure the teacher will say Jesus isn’t real either. They do that these days.
In the Communist countries, they used to ask the children to ask Jesus for candy. And of course no candy would come. Then they would tell the children to ask whoever the leader du jour for candy and it would fall from the ceiling.
by the time they are in 6th grade, they ought to know... i homeschool my kids—they are pretty protected in many ways, and even they knew by 4th grade... that’s when they actually admitted to me that they knew... my youngest—a 9-year old—is still pretending to believe in the tooth fairy only because he wants to keep getting the dollar for each tooth he loses...
One might expect a self proclaimed “LawDoc” to know the difference between “your” and “you’re.” Grammar lends to credibility, like or not, “’doc.”
If a child asks you a straight question, you should give them a straight answer that’s appropriate for their age. Perhaps she could’ve been more tactful, but sixth grade is past time for both parent and child not to have discussed Saint Nicholas, a real person, and how the celebration of his giving gifts to children has endured many centuries in many countries. Your son can feel good about being old enough to know that he can still enjoy the idea of Santa while knowing the truth.
I’m amazed that his classmates haven’t told him a few grades back. When I figured it out in first grade, I was heartbroken that my parents had lied to me. Every person is different on how they receive the news.
Now, I would be in a furious rage if teacher said God wasn’t real, so plan on such things and save yourself some emotional anguish whilst preparing your children for people with beliefs contrary to yours.
I caught onto it when I was 7, too, but there was no single incident..... more just thinking about the impossibility of anyone visiting so many homes in one night. It all really started to bother me.... It just came to seem so implausible, and when I asked the question in a way that really put my parents on the spot, their looks to each other (as in “are we really going to have to lie about this”) gave it away.
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 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 they 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 may 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, fancy, 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 he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Santa Claus is a nice myth for the kids. If they still believe past the age of 8 or 9, that’s a little weird.
Of course up to that point parents can use Santa to their advantage....”If you don’t stop hitting your sister, I’m going to call Santa and tell him not to get your GI Joe with Kung Fu Grip.”
I had this same discussion with my class of 6th graders two days ago. They were talking about Christmas, gifts, Santa, etc. One student made the comment that there wasn’t any Santa. You could hear a pin drop in the room after that. A couple of kids chimed in that Santa was real. All I said was “I don’t know about anyone else but Santa is coming to my house.” Then I changed the topic to the countdown for Christmas vacation and then got on with the lesson.
My own 6th grader doesn’t believe in Santa this year :( Last year was her last year for believing. I’m glad she made it that far. I told her, as I did with all my kids once they realized Santa wasn’t real, not to say anything just in case her classmates still believed.
Typing in the dark. Lighten up Frances.
I remember the day I told my father there was no such a thing as Santa and he told me that if I didn’t believe in Santa, Santa would not bring me any toys.....I am 70 and still believe in Santa and every year I still get presents so he must be true...
Give me what you owe me suckah!
(Boondocks!)
It’s a no win situation, imo so I always just redirect, lol.
We have a rule in our home. No one tells mom there is no Santa. It would break her heart. All the kids (age 14 to 27) agree to protect mom from the truth.
Broad brush there, lol.
My granddaughter is in the 6th grade, and her dad told her he wasn’t real several years ago. It really ticked me off, as his whole deal is to push her to grow up. So, when she is at his house, she can be logical and non-magical. At *MY* house we still believe in Santa, and there is still magic in Christmas.... and those who believe get gifts from him. Those who don’t... don’t.
*I* still get gifts from him.
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