Keep the magic or he should grow up now

I plan to have a chat with my year 6 before she goes in to year 7.
Whether she knows the truth or not, I will still do a stocking etc for her.
We do Elf on the shelf here, and as she has a younger sister we'll still be doing it for a few more years yet - so she'll have the option of helping me create magic, or continuing to be surprised in the morning.
To be honest, I don't think she does still believe, and if she came to me tonight and asked me outright I would tell her the truth, no problem. But there's a part of me that dreads telling her, just in case.

I would never send her in to year 7 without clearing things up though.

Exactly. The situation I personally find bizarre is where families drop all Christmas activities and traditions (other than a gift frenzy and a big meal) the moment their child ‘doesn’t believe’.

I agree. We never made belief in Santa Claus a central part of our celebrations, so all of our traditions just continued as our children got older.

I wonder how forcefully they had to make their point?

To be fair, that was Constantine, and the Romans had form for appropriating and absorbing local religions and customs. That’s one of the things that made them so successful as an imperial power.

Exactly, love trumps all.

OP are you glad you asked? 🤣

There are clearly a wide range of views on this topic so I would suggest go with your gut, do it with love, and you can’t go far wrong ☺️

I was amused that the church cannily grabbed winter and spring celebration to explain Jesus birthday, death and resurrection.

Exactly. The situation I personally find bizarre is where families drop all Christmas activities and traditions (other than a gift frenzy and a big meal) the moment their child ‘doesn’t believe’.

So you all do the traditions etc, knowing that it's just a lovely pretend story and part of a wider tradition, which is fantastic.

To me (and I would imagine to most other people) those traditions and stories are a big part of what makes Xmas special, even though I know the stories are just pretend.

I do think that the total absence of any religious meaning in the cultural midwinter festival of Christmas has to an extent reinforced the (subconscious) need for ‘alternative belief’.

Like the Christians hijacked /appropriated existing midwinter festivals and traditions for their own new festival, modern secular consumers have sort of hijacked the ‘belief’ and attached it to Father Christmas.

Appreciation of and engagement with an excellent story / myth, well told, is - as the popularity of Disney films of all kinds attests - a great pleasure all of itself. Appreciating Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas does not require belief in his actual existence.

I have 2 DCs at university, and a 15 year old.

None of them have EVER questioned whether Santa is real or not.

They're not stupid, and I'm 99% sure they know, but while they continue to never ask/say anything, I most certainly won't be saying anything either!

I agree that it the conflation of 'Xmas magic' and 'belief' is far more prevalent now than it has been in the past.

I think the conflation of ‘Christmas magic’ with ‘belief in the actual existence of Father Christmas’ is

a) false - much magic can be created, over many more years, by joyful play-acting of a beloved cultural story and

b) relatively modern, and increasing in prevalence. When I started primary teaching, it was entirely possible to teach a lesson on St Nicholas and the link to the story of Father Christmas. Or to teach the ReadWritePerform unit in which KS1 children write letters to Father Christmas and upper KS2 children reply to each child in role as Santa. I would hesitate to do either now, as so many parents work so hard to push the ‘faith / belief / truth’ narrative for their children.

I've always thought this was the best (if slightly one-sided!) summary of the Wizard of Oz.

Thankfully we all know it isn't real, because it would be horrifying if it was. 😂

Apologies @Glitterfish for the derailment of your sweet thread

As I’m pretty sure you also understand, conflating myth with fiction that is presented as fiction is a specious comparison. Have a bit of intellectual respect.

Because no one who doesn't have children can possibly understand them? 🙄

Ah yes, of course. Not having children obviously means that I've never met one and don't know any 🙄

Did you believe that the Wizard of Oz was fully real when you were 8 years old? That the cowardly lion was a real lion, and the tin man really made out of tin? Were you devastated when your parents broke the news to you that it wasn't real?

Children are very good at (and should do lots of) imaginative play. But that doesn't mean they believe it's real. They can immerse themselves in, and get enjoyment from fantasy worlds while fully knowing that it's only pretend.

You don't have children so... I don't expect you to understand.

Wicked is a PG, and the guidance for PG films talks about them being suitable for children of 8 and upwards. It would be very surprising if an 8+ year old child didn't yet understand that fantasy films are not true, and that the events depicted didn't actually happen in real life.

The autistic insinuation is breathtaking in it offensiveness

The idea that someone can only enjoy and get pleasure from something (Santa, elves, fantasy films etc.) if they 100% believe that it is real is batshit crazy.

Everyone can enjoy fiction and fantasy while knowing full well that's it's not real life. As a PP said - children figure this out when they are very young.

I don't have a child. 🤷‍♀️

But I know that private schools are not immune from bullying. Paying money is not a magic bullet.

(That was a very strange response btw - surely anyone with sense knows that bullying can happen in any kind of school?)