What to tell 4yr old, SANTA!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Older ones are usually quite happy to continue with the belief so that they don't take the magic away for their younger siblings.

My eldest did, anyway.

System

jenhug wrote: »

ok, in our house santa fills the stockings and under the tree, me n hubby buy they girls either something expensive but joint (ie a wii one year) or a mixture of smaller gifts. santa uses special paper that is different to the stuff i use, as he is clever like that.

The rule in our house is Santa brings presents to children until the christmas after their 10th birthday. He has to stop then so he makes time for all the new babies coming into the world. This has worked well for us as they don't still wait for santa now they are in secondary school but they still get to live with the magic for a little while longer.

Its my youngests last Christmas this year. I know I'm going to cry!

Is it bad i got stuff from santa till i was 17

To be fair i had younger siblings...had to keep the magic alive!

purple.sarah

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

I think it's the last year for the eldest here too :(:( And what do you do when an older sibling doesn't believe but two younger ones do because there's still a few years with my DDs??By the time bump is old enough to know about Santa the other three will have outgrown all that.How confusing!:p

My brother is 5 years younger than me so when I'd sussed the whole Santa thing he still believed. Mum asked me what I knew about it, I said I'd worked out her and dad bought the presents and she agreed but asked me not to tell Tom. I was happy to play along. So if you have a mature conversation with your eldest when they work it out you can still keep things going for the two younger ones.

I also wasn't traumatised by figuring out Santa wasn't real, I just remember it as part of growing up. I didn't feel lied to, it was like a fairytale.

purple.sarah

My mum told me Santa brought the presents but that the relative they were from asked Santa specially to give me that gift. I always imagined them whispering orders up the chimney but I suppose she meant writing letters to the North Pole! It worked for me because I believed in the magic of Santa but also felt grateful to the gift giver for thinking of me. She also told me Santa did not have unlimited resources, which made sense to me since he has to make toys for all the children in the world, so I wouldn't demand expensive things. I think it is a delicate balance so that children are still grateful for the gifts they get and don't expect everything.

These parents saying if you don't believe in Santa you don't get anything, would you really not buy them anything if they insisted they don't believe?

tankgirl1

In our house Santa brings most of the pressies - we watch him on NORAD (http://www.noradsanta.org/)
I buy one present - usually only worth a tenner or so - Santa gets all the credit! Lol

mrssmiff_2

Have you thought about thank you cards ? Presumably she will be at the age when she writes thank you cards to grandparents and aunties/uncles, so perhaps she could also write one to Santa?

Spendless

JC9297 wrote: »

I think my son is destined for a career in logistics because at 5 he told us Santa couldn't be real because it wouldn't be possible for him to get to everybody. We used the old "oh but Santa is magic" and all that, but I think he'd sussed it out. We did the "if you don't believe he won't come for a couple of years", I think he sort of went along with it just in case (and to humour us).

It always amazes me when people say their older children still believe, they obviously don't question everything like the kids I know.

That's why I could never have the story that we send to santa and he delivers, which is the one my sister used, as my son would have asked me what was the point If I was buying them and giving them to him anyway, he'd have suggested I just miss out the middle-man and let him have them preferably early! At 3 he also told me reindeers couldn't fly as he'd watched Discovery kids and learnt animals need wings to be able to.

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

I think it's the last year for the eldest here too :(:( And what do you do when an older sibling doesn't believe but two younger ones do because there's still a few years with my DDs??By the time bump is old enough to know about Santa the other three will have outgrown all that.How confusing!:p

How big a gap is it? IME though the younger one (3 year gap)knows earlier from the older siblings. They don't totally go along with it and will 'hedge' their bets, just in case big brother/sister is winding them up. If it's a bigger gap. I'm 7 years older than my sibling, that was a big enough age difference for me to know not to say anything to her.

Lotus-eater

How old are they, when you tell them the truth?

Spendless

Lotus-eater wrote: »

How old are they, when you tell them the truth?

I never told mine. DS worked it out when he was around 7 or 8 though he now claims he knew earlier than he let on and DD who is 8 has flitted between belief and non-belief for the past couple of years. (depending on how close to Christmas it is -lol) The children I know in RL have always worked it out rather than having to be told, as logic kicks in and friends/older siblings confirm their suspisions. I wouldn't however let my kids go up to Secondary school believing if they hadn't worked it out by themselves by then.

MariaKaria

I have 2 girls (ages 6 and 9) and a couple of years ago mine questioned this too, I have told them that santa makes and brings all the presents but its parents that give him the money, the money we give him pays for everything they need to make toys, pay the elves for their work and for reindeer food It seems to work because the santa magic is still there but they appreciate what I'm doing for them and understand that I will do my best financially and don't expect to get everything on their (sometimes huge) list!

As for presents from family...I prefer their nan & grandad, aunts & uncles etc give them the gift themselves and my daughters thank them for it anyway, my children are aware that it is that relative that got them the gift, we've never led them to believe that santa brought those ones.