How would you guys react to someone telling your 5 year old there is no Santa?

50 phonies dressed as Santas

It's good your kids learn early about reality instead of believing in fairy tales.

Children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood. There's plenty of time for them to learn about reality. My childhood got cut short due to circumstances outside my control. To this day I still wish I would've had all of it.

exactly

Well you got to think it this way... at least you don t have to lie and invent schemes for the next 3-4 years...

this.

haha...should i mention starbucks only hires fairly hot young girls who speak english over here?

Going to Starbucks and then sitting in it and enjoying a coffee watching all the students studying English or other subjects is something i like to do about once a week.

A bit pervish maybe, but i am well received.

sounds like you were never allowed to be a kid... "Santa was a fictitious tradition that evolved to enhance collective generosity in order to assuage class guilt" your parents said this to you at what age? i don't care how smart you are, no 5 year old would get that in those words.

the point is you called it a 'million calorie coffee' which is what women would say. If you just said 'coffee' it wouldn't sound as if you were Bridget Jones eating her sorrows away with an icecream bucket.

Oh I see. I am on a fairly strict diet lately as i have been focused on getting fit. I workout very hard and try to eat only healthy foods. That coffee was my cheat for the week.
My last cheat was a large pile of chocolate.

My next cheat is a large cheeseburger with an egg on it and guacamole and poutine instead of fries.

I stand by my million calorie coffee..lol

I wasn't pulling a direct quote from 30 years ago there. If I had I would have used a pair of these: "" as you did. Simply I was explaining a concept that was taught to me at an early age, in what I'm sure at the time was age-appropriate language. I was a smart kid but I doubt I knew what 'assuage' meant back then. I just assumed gfy wasn't a bunch of 5 yr olds so didn't feel the need to simplify things down to that level.

nah, I had a wicked, happy childhood. wouldn't change a thing

I can't decide if this thread has put me in the Chirstmas spirit or crushed the life out of it for me this year. What a rollercoaster ride reading it was though.

For the record I'm 52 and still believe in Santa. Or at least the spirit of the season including the all-too-rare feeling of goodwill that Santa represents. There's not a damn thing wrong with letting kids be kids and believing in Santa. Fictitious or not why the driving need to be so literal and reality-driven with 5 yr olds? Where would books, movies, the sci-fi and fantasy genres, etc be without abstract thinking?

People say the world no longer has a place for corporal punishment but a father who takes it upon himself to tell another guy's kid something he has no business opening his mouth about needs a bitchslap of teeth-rattling proportions.

Priceless. You could do so much worse when his kid is at your house...

Religion harms kids? How so?

Pretty dick move of him to do to a little kid.

Now is the perfect time to take your wife's phone and change your name on it to Santa Claus from the North Pole. Call the phone from yours and in a santa voice say you heard "Mr. Asshole" said he didn't exist. Tell your boy " Mr Asshole" that he's on Santa's naughty list and has been since he was 5 years old etc... By the time you know it your son will be telling Santa everything he wants for xmas and hopefully forget about what "Mr Asshole" said.

Then call "Mr Asshole" in a Santa voice and tell him to fuck off. Better yet post his number here and we will all call him in Santa voices

lollll____

except by using imagination it inspires creativity and allows children to raise the bar on expectations, a very healthy practice. Telling them the whole world is a horrible shitty place most of the time inspires nothing... When you take children to an art museum do you tell them its just a bunch of oil paint thrown on a canvas, that were only commissioned by the richest overlords and kings and that artists only get popular after they die? Of course not, because nobody wants their kids to turn into serial killers.

They need to be inspired, they have the rest of their lives to find out the rest.

Wrong.

Hint: read the 10+ pager about Donny

Hint: Even if Donny is found guilty that is Donny, not religion.

Hmmm, keep kids out of religion. Let them decide about it when they are old enough.

It assaults their critical thinking, makes them choose "faith" over logic, and creates patterns of thought that lead to all of us suffering: the bullshit about sin leads to ridiculous censorship, the crazy "Jesus will forgive you" thing leads to Donny situations instead of just being MORAL for the SAKE of it, and the indoctrination (brainwashing) of kids with fairly tales is just disgusting as-is. Telling them the Jesus story as a STORY is fine, but telling them it's REAL is just ... crazy.

He was brainwashed by his priest dad since birth - which is a horrible foundation for life, proven time and time again.

You can ask if it's a chicken and egg story: Does religion drive religious fanatics nuts, or is religious fanaticism a magnet for nuts?

I think it's more of a viscous cycle: Religious fanaticism goes from generation upon generation, contaminating the mind of youth since birth about what filthy is, breeding sexual frustrated freaks because they were brainwashed to repress those feelings.

It's not a coincidence so many people who do 'gods work' fiddle with kids.


Disclaimer: im not talking about donny in that last sentence, he is indeed innocent until proven guilty.

Your son's friend's father lied. There is in fact a Santa Clause. Every Christmas morning your child wakes up and like fucking magic there is Christmas presents under the tree.

YOU ARE SANTA CLAUS.

Some of my sons friends have said the same to him but he does not listen to them.

We have explained that Santa is the Spirit of giving more than anything but he seems to be happy with the idea of a fat guy in a red suit.

i suppose you weren't allowed to have imaginary friends, play space or any other things your extreme reality based parents think is illogical and a waste of time. i used to think telling kids santa was real was wrong but now i see its just letting kids be kids. no need to suck the fun out of life and be all serious when you're five. you can believe in santa, you can believe in fairies, you can believe that you an turn into a werewolf during a full moon, you can believe in ghosts. you can get scared by a story around a campfire. its all just good fun.

I guess this might be true if your kid has Downs Syndrome or something like that.

Just rework it to the guy is full of it and their really is a Santa, most 5 Y/O trust their Dad and Mom more than some clown down the street.

You're being intentionally obtuse.

If you told a kid NOTHING about religion, then told them the story of Jesus at 18, they'd laugh in your face. It's only because kids are force-fed that bullshit from birth that they accept it. It's child abuse, in my opinion.

My cousin sent me this link.
I am doing it today.
https://www.portablenorthpole.com

nah, as a kid I could do whatever I wanted. my friends and I created a whole fantasy world called Dizzon, complete with a new language we created, system of government, social norms, etc. You had to a special dance sequence to enter. Looking back I'm astonished I was popular, I think my moves on the football field saved me from the crushing judgement most of my kin in nerdom experienced.

I think there's a disconnect here, and it lies in my inability to fully articulate my position.

I'm not in any way advocating a style of child-rearing devoid of imagination, art, mystery and magic, my point is that that the real world is full of that anyways, even without the lies some parents feel the need to tell their kids.

Just a thought- maybe fewer adults would be miserable and jaded if they were raised to appreciate the beauty and magic of the real world we live in, without being taught childhood lies that they then have to grow out of as they get older. So many adults seem to lack wonder and imagination; is there a correlation? Whatever the cause, sad, that.

My parents encouraged my imagination, told me stories that I new were just that, but that didn't make them any less awesome. They also exposed me to the beauty of nature, of people, of science. To me that's a far cooler and more permanent sense of wonder.

I didn't get $$ under my pillow from the tooth fairy either as we didn't practice that ruse, I guess my childhood was diminished there as well? Wrong, I had a multi-lingual grandmother who taught me to swear in 7 languages, who paid me a dollar each time I worked one of those curses into a family dinner. That thrilled me to end as a kid, no one else at the table knowing what I was saying. Beyond that I cleaned up the $$$ far beyond what a set of baby teeth could bring. It came in handy at school too.

The above I mention only to underscore that unique family traditions/special moments can be far more meaningful to children than any of the default ish offered by our cultural norms.

I still stand by my first point though, that 15-20 years from now none of your kids will remember 'Santa' as a defining special moment in their holiday memories. Their time with you is what they'll remember. So many parents seem to think that time together isn't enough to merit being 'special'; to kids it's everything.

Every Xmas as a kid my bro and I woke up to stockings filled with toys, fruit, books, all our fav things. I remember feeling so loved, knowing my parents put all that there, just for me.

Anyways, thanks for this thread. For the first time in 36 years I was planning on spending my first Xmas away from my parents as we now live in diff countries. This thread made me realize: fuck that. I gave them a 'casual' call today to inquire about their Xmas plans, turns out they were planning to spend it solo as they're old, live in the middle of wilderness and don't want to drive down to my aunts on precarious roads. My bro is fairly close by but he'll prob be too busy acquiring his daily dose of crack to visit them. Treating them to anything is like pulling teeth so I just bought them two non-refundable tickets to visit me for Xmas week. I'm gonna surprise them tomorrow. On Xmas day I'll take them to the beach and thank them for doing such a wicked job in raising me.

I feel like I totally jacked this thread responding to posts here so I'll bow out now, but thanks gfy. I don't post here often but every time I do something cool transpires. Zoo non-withstanding, ya'll are pretty cool. Merry Xmas/Happy Holidays to everyone.

(and I promise Phoenix, you can still give your kids and amazing Xmas no matter what they believe)

that made me laugh out loud, well done

I think you should tell your 5 year old that Santa has always only existed for those who believe in him. He's magic like that.

You could also tell him that Santa's kryptonite is kimchi, but then he might be afraid to eat it.

I would bet the guy thought he was only doing you a favor by having your kids beliefs conform with what he knows as normal. In Korea Christmas is more of a couples / dating holiday anyway, right? Probably take a while for it to really catch on if ever.

Focused on getting fit? Big pile of chocolate?

You are a huge vagina.

You are extremely clever. I love how you delve deep to pull out insults by insinuating i am gay. Someone should nominate you for smartest webmaster of the year.

You must be about five years old, mentally i mean.

@ OP

An Australian news TV show got in strife last night for announcing santa was not real : https://www.facebook.com/theprojectt...52530089693441

Watch out for Donny, then ... allegedly.

Why the fuck would you work your ass off to buy presents for your kids and then let some fat old fuck with a beard get the credit? Fuck that I want my kid to know I bought the presents.

hmmm; pretty sure you can find plenty examples of adults being converted to Christianity if you looked around.


Time to walk the dogs

No disagreement, but many of these people are also desperate for an "answer" and are filling the void with whatever nonsense other people provide social proof for. If no one else believed it, and no one told you about it as a child, don't you think it'd sound just a tad ridiculous? I was indoctrinated young, and it took a lot of encounters with the truth to allow me to think for myself and decide that I am an atheist.

It sounds like you're a believer, and that's fine -- I know that YOU personally are the RIGHT kind of believer, if that's what you are, because of WHO you are. However, many Christians cause a lot of issues overall (ridiculous laws, making people feel dirty for normal things, judgment, hypocrisy, indoctrination of the young, cult-like behavior, child molestation, etc, etc). And don't even get me started on the people who blow themselves up for their religion (sigh). It's just such a damn mess, all for a fairy tale.

Those are the ones you read about; there are literally billions that don't fit that mold.

Couldn't agree with you more.

As for any adult outside of my kid's school teachers, relatives or trusted friends... they have no business telling him any of their beliefs about santa, religion or any other hot button issue.

Yeah, I'd be pissed too. I'd talk with my kid about it. Then I'd talk to the adult who did this.

most adults that 'convert' to christianity have a lot of issues. these are the people who "need" god in their lives or else they are a mess. i can't say i've ever known an adult to become religious later in life for no other reason than they suddenly believe. most do it for addiction reasons, loss of a loved one or feelings of emptiness.

I'm not even a tiny bit religious, but so what if some other grown person has a 'need'? I then 'need' to point out someone is 'worse' than me somehow, because they have a 'need' and I don't? People who feel the 'need' to infer how person xyz is a dumbass because they have a different 'need' or an issue (like there is a person on the planet without any issues whatsoever), need to get down off their high horse and take a look at why they feel they have to point out someone else's supposed shortcomings

No personal dig btw, I enjoy almost all your posts and am on the same wavelength as you when it comes to most of the stuff you post on here

I can see where you are coming from but I am not on a high horse. i just dislike how religion subverts people who have problems in their lives and offer false hope for change/happiness. i cringe when people thank god for giving them strength etc when they should be giving themselves thanks. god..is you! its mental fortitude and its unfortunate organized religion has recognized this weakness in people and exploited it. i am no better than anyone else but if people stepped back and looked at it objectively, its right there. everyone has needs but these people are just being used.

the high horse comment wasn't directed at you personally

thing is, it's like a placebo... and placebos work. If person xyz wants to thank god, thinking it is some other entity, who cares? Not me

Organized religion has a ton of faults, but that 'problem' is totally separate than any perceived problem of joe blow finding something in his life whereby he benefits from it, and chooses to thank what they believe to be an outside entity (whereas I'm the same as your example, and any 'god' is just another part of myself). Because someone perceives 'god' as something different than I do, because his mental fortitude isn't exactly the same as mine, and vice versa in other areas, who I am to judge that person, or look down on him any any way shape or form? That would just bring me to the same level of thinking as those who use religion (not everyone who is religious) to look down on others.

also, if it works, it isn't false hope. The mind is one powerful motherfucker, and if that's what it takes for an individual's mind to adapt it's inner belief system, then that's not in and of itself a bad thing, just because some other people don't need that process.

that's how I look at it, anyway

thats cool, its really not my place to judge your childhood based on one statement. i actually did something similar myself, creating a whole fantasy world. anyways, my response was based on the idea that telling a kid there is no santa when the majority of his/her peers believe there is one just seems like a way to "adultify" the kid before his/her time. just my opinion. as for why so many adults lack imagination and wonder, some have thought its because the pineal gland has calcified by adulthood but who knows. studies have shown the brains of children/teenagers are basically programmed to push limits and such. i don't believe people are any less happy in adulthood because they believed in santa or whatever other myths as a kid. you are right in that i don't specifically remember santa being a big part of anything looking back but if i focus on it i can remember it being fun to leave a snack out for santa and the reindeer, trying to peek downstairs or camping out at the top of the stairs in hopes of hearing him and running down. i think somehow i really knew all that stuff wasn't from 'santa' but it didn't really matter. christmas was fun.

I totally agree with this. I'm 51, and Jewish, and we still had a tree and Santa at Christmas time. Obviously nothing to do with Christ, but more about family, friends, peace on earth, doing good deeds for strangers and about the MAGIC of all of that. Believing in magic as a child didn't impede my intellectual growth as an adult in any way. I think that instead it widened my ability to imagine and conceive new ideas, enjoy creative arts of all kinds and grasp new concepts more quickly. My son is 3 years old, and he believes in Santa and has a wonderful time doing so. There will be plenty of time for him to deal with adult realities when he grows up, so I'm going to let him be a child for the next oh-so-few years.





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Oh, well then I stand corrected. If you don't know anyone then I guess it doesn't happen.

My apologies.

most adults that 'convert' to christianity have a lot of issues. these are the people who "need" god in their lives or else they are a mess. rarely adults become religious later in life for no other reason than they suddenly believe. most do it for addiction reasons, loss of a loved one or feelings of emptiness.

..better?