The Struggle to Believe in Santa
When my daughter was very young I told her that Santa was not a real person, but rather a nice idea to sum up the spirit of giving at Christmastime. It was a well-meaning act on my part; an attempt to instill complete honesty into my communication with my daughter.
As she got older and started school, she became surrounded by children who all believed in Santa Claus. I did not want to back-pedal on what I had told her, so I said that it was completely up to her whether or not to believe in Santa.
What a struggle she had with the concept. For a long time she would say that she knew he was not real, but that she did believe in him and knew she needed to write him letters and go see him at the mall. She was essentially concerned that if she did not believe in Santa and it ended up that he was indeed real, she might not be covering all of her bases.
I think she has converted over to full belief at this point. I just make sure I am supportive and just a little vague in my reactions. 
Posted on December 23rd, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Uncategorized
My brother and sister-in-law plan to raise their kids without Santa or the Easter Bunny for religious reasons. They want the major religious holidays to be about God. While I can see where they are coming from, I don’t think it is that simple. My experience leads me to believe in not making kids the oddball when you have the choice.