Why We Didn't Teach Our Children to Believe in Santa

It Didn't Spoil Christmas for Them

Pat Burroughs, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Dec 16, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

When I was growing up, my parents didn't teach me to believe in Santa Claus. My sister, who was four years my senior and who had a vivid imagination, taught me to believe in Santa Claus and my parents allowed it. I don't know where they were when my sister told me Santa had been killed in a car wreck and that our parents would now supply the gifts. I was four at the time and she was eight. I don't remember being especially sad about it, as long as the loot would still be coming. After all, Santa was not a person I knew personally, and at that age, I had no real concept of death anyway.

My mother had told us that when she was growing up, in a destitute family, I might add, children in her class would come to school after Christmas showing and telling about the things they had received from Santa. My mother had never received a single gift from him or anyone else. She felt that if Santa existed, he must be the cruelest person in the world to make that much difference between children.

When our children came along, we decided to get back to basics and celebrate Christmas as the birthday of Jesus. We were aware that nobody knows the exact date when He was born, but Christmas is the time chosen to celebrate His birth. We wanted our children to realize that Christmas was about Jesus and not about Santa Claus. If other people choose to teach their children about him, that's their business and we would never stoop so low as to be the ones to tell them different.

We always had great Christmases with family and plenty of gifts, and if our kids ever felt deprived of anything because they didn't believe in Santa Claus, they never mentioned it. In fact, when our daughter started to school and her classmates were talking about what Santa had brought them, she came home with the following observation, "I'm glad you never taught me to believe in Santa Claus because when I learned he isn't real, I would think you had lied to me."

We had told our kids never to tell other kids that Santa isn't real, because if their parents wanted to teach them about him, it was none of our business. And as far as we ever knew, neither of them ever chose to enlighten their friends on that subject.

Recently I saw a tiny boy about to have his picture made with Santa. Seeing the joy on his face I couldn't help but think it must be exciting to believe in Santa and actually get to sit on his lap and tell him what you want. But I also wondered how his parents would handle the issue farther down the road.

I still feel it's each family's decision how to handle the Santa Claus issue. And I'm convinced we made the right decision for us, but it might not be right for everybody. But however your family feels on this issue, my family wishes each and every one of you a "Very Merry Christmas."

Published by Pat Burroughs

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