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I hear from parents all the time “what do I about the Santa thing?”
Do I tell my children he is not real?
I could just tell you what we do….
From the very beginning we told our kids there was NO Santa. I know there will be an outrage among parents and put us on the level of the demonic or the fallen angels. We have even had our kids literally unnerve students in their earlier grades telling them “you know there is no Santa.” We have had to tell them to be careful with their conviction of truth.
I tell them all the time, the big red guy is not getting any glory for the hard work mom and dad has put in to get you these presents. I know it’s sounds prideful and like a glory hog, but no bearded guy is getting the glory for what we did.
One year, Anna left cookies and milk by our chimney even though she knew the presents came from us. So I ate the cookies and left a note back signed DAD.
Why is it important to start TRUTH talks with your children at an early age?
I think CS Lewis captures it best.
This is so powerful from CS Lewis on combining the fairy tales of holidays with the real reason why we celebrate that day. Though Lewis is speaking of Easter, you can insert Santa into this piece. Really , really worth reading parents:
“There is a stage in a child’s life at which it cannot separate the religious from the merely festal character of Christmas or Easter. I have been told of a very small and very devout boy who was heard murmuring to himself on Easter morning a poem of his own composition which began ‘Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen.’ This seems to me, for his age, both admirable poetry and admirable piety. But of course the time will soon come when such a child can no longer effortlessly and spontaneously enjoy that unity. He will become able to distinguish the spiritual from the ritual and festal aspect of Easter; chocolate eggs will no longer seem sacramental. And once he has distinguished he must put one or the other first. If he puts the spiritual first he can still taste something of Easter in the chocolate eggs; if he puts the eggs first they will soon be no more than any other sweetmeat. They will have taken on an independent, and therefore a soon withering, life.” ~C. S. Lewis
Just to be clear….I am not telling you to do what Cindy and I did. But I am telling you that the children will hit that moment where , like Lewis said, “when the child can no longer effortlessly and spontaneously enjoy that unity” of having the fairy tale world and the real world be combined.
I want my children (and the parents) to eat chocolate eggs and cookies at the fireplace but celebrating the real reason for the holiday ALL AT THE EXPENSE of the bunny or the big red guy. so tell them the truth and eat the food. Watch Rudolph and Santa Claus is coming to town and take the glory.
Thanks for this perspective. I grew up with truth-telling parents. In fact, I can remember my little sister (about age 4 or 5) telling a friend, “I don’t know why, but I guess some parents just like to lie to their children!” I don’t know if every child sees life in the extremes that my sister did, but I do know that neither of us ever had to wonder, “If santa is just pretend, then are the wisemen and shepherds and even Jesus just nice stories too?” As a children’s pastor, I have seen children struggle to sort out whether Bible stories are pretend like holiday stories… I am a firm believer in telling kids the truth and still having fun. As they grow, check out where each of the traditions come from and talk about them. Most of them are worth celebrating -just keep JESUS the reason for all the fun!
Parents have to decide how to handle this in their family. We always had Santa, but the most important part of Christmas was celebrating Christ’s birth and giving to others. We always felt there was a way to combine both. Talking about St. Nick and giving selflessly and talking about the ultimate gift, Jesus coming to earth as a baby. There’s no problem with not having fun with Santa at Christmas, but I do not believe there is harm either, if done in the right way. It’s funny, we have friends that would never mention the word “Santa” but have the tooth fairy come on a regular basis….hmmm
Amen .I am so glad to see that there are other Christians who think like me and my husband.For many Christians, its so easy to slip into silly stories, observing idolatrous traditions, and instead to raise up JESUS , they put HIM in second place without even realizing it, giving glory and thanks to an idol.My husband and i we have three kids,and since they was baby we teach them the every gift comes from GOD.So on CHRISTMAS morning all the thanks go to GOD,who provides the money to Mom and Dad to buy gifts…..lets be wise in everything we do and be very careful to what we teach our kids. Christian people don’t go with the flow, but they always fight for the truth. Let’s pray to God to give us strength in everything we do and say so His name will be exalted and glorified. GOD BLESS YOU!
Amen. We are to instruct and admonish our children in the way of the Lord. How can they trust us if we teach them to believe in the false. I want my home to always be one of truth.
I am with you Pastor I work mighty hard to get my three kids everything that they ask for then to pass on the credit to “Santa”. From the time that they could understand I told them there was no “Santa” and by the way I live in an apartment building therefore I have no chimney so my son ask me “mommy does Santa ride on the elevator?” I answered him “no he does not fit”. My son laughed but understood what I was trying to say. I told everyone at work that they can call it “holiday” because I am calling it “Christmas” because a Savior was born. I received funny looks but I told them not to try to change me since they do not know what the Lord has done for me. Of course I tried to smile but it was not easy.
Major thankies for the blog.Thanks Again. Really Great.