Imaginary characters

[WebLady]

Will you/do you teach your kids about Santa, The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and all?

Some people may and others may not and everyone may have different reasons for why they do or do not; lets not get into all that ... lets just share if you are/do and leave it at that ;)

*Poll coming*

[gwenshack]

I don't plan on having kids, but if I did I think I'd play along with that stuff for a little while. I think I'd cut it off pretty early though - I wouldn't want them to think that the stuff they want barrels down the chimney that easily...:rofl: I'd want them to realize that mommy and daddy had to work for it...;)

[FFC]

I'm going to tell my kids about them because if it doesn't come from me, it'll come from someone else. I'd like to do it for fun - you know, Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc, but I am going to tell them from the beginning they're just for fun.

[FFC]

I'd want them to realize that mommy and daddy had to work for it...;)

AGREED!!! :drunk:

[WebLady]

I don't have children myself, but I don't/won't participate in these sorts of things with my nieces. I have my own personal reasons for this that I don't care to get into here, but I am not going to tell anyone what they should do; I just won't be a part of it. So far with my 5 year old niece, it has not been a big problem for me. I just smile and nod or tell her to go ask her mother ;) The twins are just about 8 mos old now so I have time with them, but I am sure that they will be taught all that stuff and I will do the same with them.

My sister was trying to teach her (the 5 year old) that Santa is a character and not a real person that comes to your house; but of course even this is hard with other kids at school believe otherwise ... and our parents keep pushing Santa too.

There is another question for those of you that don't or don't want to teach your kids about this sort of thing; how do you teach them that other kids may believe otherwise and that they shouldn't tell them they are wrong?

Now my oldest niece just lost her 1st tooth, so everyone is all about the Tooth Fairy now. And my Mom said everyone was giving her a dollar; when did all this happen? I thought it was only one dollar (or whatever amount) that the parents put under the kid's pillow in place of the tooth?! My Mom swears that our grandparents gave us money too, but I don't remember that.

[gwenshack]

Now my oldest niece just lost her 1st tooth, so everyone is all about the Tooth Fairy now. And my Mom said everyone was giving her a dollar; when did all this happen? I thought it was only one dollar (or whatever amount) that the parents put under the kid's pillow in place of the tooth?! My Mom swears that our grandparents gave us money too, but I don't remember that.

Huh. Nope. I've never heard of other people giving money for a lost tooth. My mom pulled the whole tooth fairy thing and came in and snagged the tooth and left behind a buck. It definitely wasn't a money grab time by any means...

[Jacklynn]

I grew up believing in Santa and the Easter bunny and tooth fairy. I am sooo glad to have those memories. I LOVED it. I want my kids to have the same memories. I figured out/was told the truth when I was like 8 or 9. The thought of a "santa" make me giddy because of the great memories I have about it. So I will do the whole Sanda/Easter Bunny/Tooth fairy thing with our kids, but at the same time we will not let those characters take away from the real reason for Christmas and Easter.

And yeah, $1 for a tooth?! We got like 50 cents if we were lucky :)

[gwenshack]

I grew up believing in Santa and the Easter bunny and tooth fairy. I am sooo glad to have those memories. I LOVED it. I want my kids to have the same memories.

That's super cute. :soppy:

[WBandMe]

I grew up with these things and got to go see them at the mall and stuff, and I plan to do that for my kids too. I LOVE Christmas still.. but it used to be so magical... I remember sitting under the desk with my brother waiting for Santa to come... I want my kids to have experiences like that. But I'll probably tell them while they're still pretty young, maybe 7 or 8.

[Brian's Bride]

I also participated in all of the characters growing up, but with two older brothers it didn't last too long. I was probably 5 or 6 when I found out it wasn't real. Fortunately, my son got to believe longer. 2nd grade was the first year he questioned Santa, and in 3rd grade when he asked AGAIN I told him the truth with the stipulation, "Do not tell your GRANDMA I told you the truth!" Or his friends that still believed. But by then it was like "our little secret" so it was still fun. And from Santa, it dawned on him that the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy weren't real, either. I plan on doing the same thing with the little one on the way.

I forgot to mention that Santa only brings ONE present on Christmas morning. The rest of the presents we open on Christmas Eve, so that DH and I get the proper recognition for the gifts! :)

[Ninedays9]

I will let them believe in the characters for a little while. I remember believing as a kid, and it really did make things seem more magical. I always pictured Santa coming in as everyone was sleeping, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I think it's part of childhood innocence. (That's why my favorite Christmas ornament is children sleeping in bed, which happens to be a Campbell's soup bowl on the night before Christmas.)

I remember my dad telling me the truth, and I also remember not minding a whole lot because it made me feel mature to know. Then the next year when I lost a tooth, I pretended to believe that Santa and the Tooth Fairy were both coming that night (for the sake of my younger second cousin). I also remember that we only had one gift from Santa plus a stocking, which is how I plan to do it when we have kids.

[ChristineLS]

I'm torn. On one hand, there is letting kids be kids, and the other hand is letting them getting into the habit of believing things that aren't real. It's different to me than an imaginary friend, which is of the child's creation, and a myth imposed by an elder. I don't know what we'd do. I'm not inclined to follow it though.

[dizy1j62881]

We always had the "santa, tooth fairy, etc" in our house growing...with 8 kids you learned early on, like 8ish that was real and what wasnt, but secretly held on little bit longer...We did do the whole santa with Nicholas, but because of circumstances I still kinda do believe in santa...Each year we donate toys for underprivalged kids, or kids in hospitals..this year I'm actually helping with toy drive for hospital that was our 2nd home. To those kids and Parents too it brings back the hope for which Santa...a.k.a St Nick for what was started so many years ago. I look at its a giving thing over a recieving thing.

[WBandMe]

I like what some of you have posted about how Santa only brings one or two gifts. In my house, I think they were split pretty evenly between what was from Mom or Santa. If Santa only brings one gift, not only do parents get their due, but it also saves the trouble of the child wanting some crazy expensive thing and not being able to understand why Santa brought everything else he wanted but that one thing. That just might be the way to go when we have kids... although I'll have to talk to DH, of course.

[SkippyNXC]

I think i believed in santa n all that til like 8 or 9... I really want my kids to have the same magical experiences...

My mom went all out too, we would right all of them letters when they came (santa, easter bunny, etc.) and my mother would always respond to them (in appropriate handwriting mind u! the easter bunny had poor penmenship lol!) and i would get SO excited to see what they wrote to us!

My siblings are 5 and 6 yrs younger than me so I had to pretend to believe for a LONG time

santa still comes to our house believe it or not ;) and my mother says once we stop "believing" we'll only get 1 present from her n dad from then on LOL

in our house santa n parents presents were split in half... and we convinced my mom to let us open one present the night before and it was almost always x-mas pj's to be worn to bed LOL
My mom was also smart n would fill the stockings w/"busy" toys that we could play w/so they wouldn't have to get up at 6am with us! She some how managed to get them on the foot of our beds w/o us knowing

[kgvettegirl]

Man, I must be older than dirt, the most I ever got for a tooth was a quarter. Usually it was a nickle or a dime.

[savepaws]

I picked yes, I plan on doing them all.

I have the best memories of Christmases when I was a kid. Santa treated me very well!! I don't think Santa will be that generous with our kids though.

I remember hearing that he wasn't real from kids at school and I was pretty crushed. Once I heard from kids at school that he wasn't real, I thought maybe if I believed hard enough he would be "real" again. Part of me still doesn't want to completely stop believing in him. I mean, I know better but I love the magic of it all. :star: I think once our kids start going to school, they'll learn from kids that they aren't real, so the magic won't last as long for them as it did when I was a kid.

I was able to have these imaginary characters in my life, yet I was still raised to understand the real meaning of Christmas and Easter and think that we can do that with our kids, as well as giving them wonderful childhood memories.

[NOTKT]

I think its fun to have a little fairy tale but only for a short amount of time.

[ikkin510]

I voted no to all of them.
My husband and I were never into the characters growing up. And now we have decided that our kids will be raised to know (In out opinion) the real meaning to the holidays. Christmas-christ's birthday, season of giving, etc. Easter-Christ's death/and rising again.
We plan on telling them that Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc are just fictional charactors like Mickey Mouse. But to respect other people's decision to talk/ believe in them.
Both of our parents were disappointed to find out what are plans were last year when we told them with our son. But they understand and support our decision.

[KMS]

I still get teary eyed remembering how magical Christmas was waiting for Santa Clause and just knowing that I heard hooves and bells on the roof. I get chills! They are some of my most vivid memories of childhood. I loved the Easter bunny too, but the tooth fairy wasn't that big of a deal to me. I wasn't very upset when I found that they weren't real. By that time I guess it kinda made sense that it was make believe.

Sometimes I feel like I don't want to mislead my kids, but I also want to give them all of the magic that I felt. I have a few years. We'll just say I'm undecided!

[ksherlin]

I want my kids to know. I think it strikes up their imagination. The only bad part is when the kids at school tell them it is not true and then you either have to lie more or tell them the hard truth. Even still, I enjoyed believing in Santa and the Tooth Fairy and trying to figure them out as I got older. It was just one of the experiences that I will never forget with many many memories! I want my children to be the same.

[Jacklynn]

santa still comes to our house believe it or not ;) and my mother says once we stop "believing" we'll only get 1 present from her n dad from then on LOL

in our house santa n parents presents were split in half... and we convinced my mom to let us open one present the night before and it was almost always x-mas pj's to be worn to bed LOL
My mom was also smart n would fill the stockings w/"busy" toys that we could play w/so they wouldn't have to get up at 6am with us! She some how managed to get them on the foot of our beds w/o us knowing

That is basically my same experience. We got one gift a piece from mom and dad the night before, which like yours was always PJ's to wear that night. Christmas eve was also when my sister and I exchanged gifts from each other, and where we gave our parents our gifts to them. They also filled our stockings with stuff we could entertain ourselves with until it was no longer 3am haha We were always waking up and 3-4am and they would make us wait - which was torture.

They did this thing where Santa gives a special stuffed toy to the first house of children who fell asleep on that street, to encourage us to fall asleep. We somehow ALWAYS managed to get it :)

My parent's still write from Santa on all of the gifts except the one the night before. They always said that when I stopped believing in Santa we would only get the one gift from "them".

The Christmas morning experience was a huge thing in my family. That is when we got everything, we didn't get spontaneous gifts throughout the year - we got them at Christmas. So as a child it would take 2 hours or so to open gifts, with a breakfast break (always the same yummy casserole) in there somewhere.

Thinking about all this isn't helping me any... I already listened to Christmas music the other day :)

Somehow my parents were able to do the whole Santa/Easter Bunny thing in such a way that I always still knew the real reason for the holiday and Christ rnever got over shadowed. It was more of a Santa has so much joy because of Christ's birth that he gives out of joy, that type of thing.

[Dani]

oh yeah! My child will know all the characters! I grew up having them all, and my dad still teases my sister that there is a Santa (she's 38).

When we were kids, we would get to open 1 present on Christmas Eve and then have to wait till after Santa arrived to open the rest with family. We would be so excited, trying to get my dad up was just nuts. Coming down the stairs and seeing the Christmas tree lights on and there was always the gift from Santa..which was the unwrapped on. Then it would be paper flying from our other gits and over in minutes but playing with the new stuff all day. However, I do remember ONE Christmas I was not a happy camper. My sister got a new stereo from the big guy..and I got book shelves. Come on. I swear one night I was laying in bed, I could hear the bells on the reindeer as they flew over our house.


Easter was always fun trying to find the Easter baskets in the house.

[Nekochanpurr]

Heck yes they will know!!! I remember having so much fun with that. :) I didn't realize till i woke up one Christmas eve to see my parents dragging a garbage bag to the front room. LOL

[sandy03]

I will probably do characters with my kids, but put my own little twist on them - Santa will probably only bring one "big" gift and fill their stocking and the other gifts will come from other family. I'm sure I'll come up with a modification for the Easter Bunny, but I'll cross that bridge later. I may modify the tooth fairy so that he/she comes each time the kid(s) have a good checkup at the dentist with no cavities or some other sort of positive reinforcement thing!

[FFC]

I will probably do characters with my kids, but put my own little twist on them - Santa will probably only bring one "big" gift and fill their stocking and the other gifts will come from other family.

This is how we do it with Sierra...