Agnostic/Atheist Parents
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Santa Claus?

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OfeliaShuttz wrote:

Wondering if other atheist family's welcome the idea of Santa at home and how is that explained to the children?

My only child is 4 months I struggle with the idea of Santa because I don't want to promote the belief of fictional character, however I don't want him to miss out this part of childhood.


How do others handle the idea of Santa?

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I'm pregnant with my first and always just assumed we do santa/Easter bunny/tooth fairy because it's fun. I always enjoyed those characters and they don't do any harm (and really what better way to get kids to question things).

After talking to hubby we're not going to indulge in Santa. Apparently his family made a HUGE deal about it (a fake radio report with updates of the towns he was going to and all kinds of stuff) so he lost a lot of respect for his parents/grandparents once he figured it out. He feels really strongly about not doing Santa so I'm going to go along with what he wants.



Yes on Santa!! It's magical-- our guy is 5 now, and we live Santa!



We are doing Santa. I loved it so much as a child and I just want my son to have those same memories. I will probably explain the truth to him the same way my mom did to me - that it's a fun way to express the joy of giving.



We do Santa and I don't feel one bit bad about it. My parents did and their parents and their parents, and as far as I can tell every single person in my family still loves Christmas and their parents. We also do the Easter Bunny on a rather small scale, and I'm undecided about the tooth fairy, but my older son is only 4, so we are still a little bit away from needing to make up our minds on that.

I also like this idea of "becoming" a Santa, which seems to be a gentle and giving way out of saying Santa is a complete fabrication.



We do Santa but it's not a hard sell. Our older two stopped believing pretty young but they played Santa for many years after. If they asked questions, I'd just turn it back on then... "what is important is what you think." It was fun for us and we will do again with this LO but I understand families that choose not to. We never did the Easter bunny. Well, that's not true... we did talk about the waster bunny but the kids always looked at us like lunatics and so we dropped it lol.



I personally never liked the idea of Santa or any other fairy tale being taught in my house. We want to encourage her thinking for herself. 



I know this is a little late, but we do Santa as well. My daughter is 11 and still "believes". While I'm pretty sure she doesn't actually she goes with it at the very least to keep up the idea and magic of Christmas. We just had a baby this summer so it will continue on for her.

She has asked us if Santa is real before, we just ask what she thinks and why. So we never tell her she's wrong or right. We encourage imagination and if we can provide a little magic for her I don't want to pull that curtain back. It seems like harmless fun to me, my husband and I both believed in Santa and we turned out fine. In fact, it was a bigger deal to me that Christmas changed completely when my little brother stopped believing.



The link doesn't work but if it's what I think it is (telling the child that everyone becomes a santa eventually) I love the idea and plan to do it with my child.



My son still isn't due for another 3 months but my bf and I have already talked about the Santa thing. And have decided that stuff like that is fun and part of childhood. As long as we don't go overboard like my mom did.



We feel the same way. My husband thought about it and wants to do it. When he's old enough he'll understand that it's all fun and games.



Also I will let him figure it out and encourage higher thinking



I never believed in Santa my parents told my siblings and i from the very beginning that he was a fictional character. They believe by telling your children Santa, tooth fairy etc. Are real That your lying to your child and shouldn't if you expect them to always tell you the truth. I totally agree with their ideas on this because i have seen so many kids get upset with their parents over thinking Santa is real.