You know what...it's my right to tell my children there is a Santa. It is not the right of any teacher, or other self proclaimed "good citizen" to tell my children otherwise.
My children know the reason for the season is the birth of Jesus. If they want to find joy in believing in Santa Claus, that is my family's choice and NOBODY better decide to take it on themselves to tell MY children otherwise.
Unfortunately, the law seems to be evolving towards the principle that, once we allow our children to walk through the doors of the public school, they state can decide entirely for itself what to teach them, and that we have no right to object.
"NOBODY better decide to take it on themselves to tell MY children otherwise.
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Nobody? What about little Billy? He's in your kid's class, and he KNOWS that Santa is a "pretend" character. What will you do when Billy tells your precious little one? Go beat him up?
No kid gets through Christmas in 1st Grade in any public school without hearing that Santa is bogus. There's always a kid, or several kids, who blow that myth.
If I had a kid that age, I'd introduce him or her to the concept of Santa as a "pretend" character before they went off to school. Better the explanation is made by parents than some snotty-nosed kid.
Bottom line is that belief in Santa ends about then. It must end about then. We send our kids to school at age 6 to begin learning about the real world and what's in it. And learn they will, one way or another.
If parents want a choice about how kids learn about Santa, then they have to act in advance of the kids learning about it in another way, because I guarantee you that in every 1st grade class there are kids who already have that information and who won't be bashful about sharing it with the kids who don't.
Of course it's your right to lie to your children. But you shouldn't pretend that doing so is a hallmark of a good Christian or somehow represents a tribute to Christ.