The whole Santa thing shouldn't be this hard, surely!!

[ADrabLittleCrab]

So we've always done the whole Santa thing for DS7 and I guess we're probably getting to the point that he won't believe for much longer really. Up until now it's never been a problem, we've never done the list thing, as far as he was aware, Santa just popped pressies under the tree...all good, until now.
So picture the scene, last year about 4 days before Christmas, I'm feeling full of Christmas spirit, the presents are all done and wrapped, everything is sorted and I can relax. DS chatting away and I tune in to something about looking forward to the one thing he's asked Santa for! What, I ask, when did you ask Santa for something? You haven't done a Christmas list. Oh yes he has, he tells me, he did one at school and it gets put in a box and sent to Santa and the only thing he put on his list is a glow in the dark frisbee. WTF!!! First I've heard about a list or a glow in the dark frisbee. Okay, Amazon prime at it's best, I manage to get a glow in the dark frisbee delivered in time and sure enough, he was delighted that Santa got it and the highlight of his Christmas was playing with it over the field. Aah, I rest on my laurels, polish my Mum of the Year award and think no more of it.
Until now......DS announces that they'll soon be doing their Christmas lists at school again soon. So I try for some damage limitation this year. I explain that Mummy could do with seeing this list so I can discuss it with Santa. Nope, no need it gets sent to Santa. Ummm but remember, there's lots of children in school and we don't want your list to go astray, if you let mummy have it, I can make sure Santa knows about it. I'm told I don't need to worry, it definitely will get to Santa....and the kicker, he knows it's fine because Santa got him the one thing he put on his bloody list last year 😣
So I'm now out of ideas and without sounding like that mum, who the hell thinks it's a good idea to get kids to write lists to santa that no-one with any control over presents ever sees!!
I know first world problems and all that but I am genuinely worried that he's again going to come up with one random thing again and this time, I won't know about it!!!

Can’t you ask the teacher?

Surely they’d understand?

Why would school do that?! Surely there’s a whole school of parents who don’t know what their child has asked Santa for?

Wtf is the school playing at?!

Surely you just ask him what he put on his list? that’s a pretty normal conversation with kids when they tell you they’ve done their list.

Btw I’ve heard a lot of talk about lists this year. (Not just on MN) Are children really just writing lists to santa rather than a nice polite letter? (Asking for one thing!)

How about telling the school not to
Do this ridiculous activity? If they insist on doing it then ask them to photocopy the letters before the children post them and send the copy home (at the end of the day. It's really not that hard to organise - I'm a teacher and this is absolutely not difficult). However, maybe this is the natural start of das starting to realise that Santa isn't real? We have had problems with children in year 7 of our school still believing and it's ridiculous plus it's really traumatic when they are so old and realise that they were being lied to whereas younger children tend to overthink it much less. I'd say that 8 is about natural for children to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to realise that Santa isn't real??? Maybe this could be doing you a favour???

Yeah that's annoying. I took my son to meet Santa one Christmas eve, he asked what ds wanted and he pointed to an old fasioned train in the grotto and said "that train" bloody Santa told him he would bring it, I had no clue where it was from and ds was with me all day so no chance to go shopping, too late to get it delivered. It's too stressful when other people get involved in promising things!

See i tried just asking what he was going to ask for but was told I didn't need to worry because Santa will know!! And in fairness, to PP he did only ask for one thing, which is why this is an issue....if he was a kid that asked for truckloads I'd just say he can't get everything but it kind of ruins things if Santa doesn't get the one thing he asked for.
I could talk to the school but I don't want to be that parent!

And yes Welshmamma, I am actually hoping we can get rid of the whole Santa thing soon. It was very hard trying to explain away the local charity Christmas present drive that he heard on the local radio station....why wouldn't Santa get all children pressies??

Easy. If it doesn’t fit on a (small) stocking Santa can’t deliver it. This is exactly why you should have presents from loved ones under the tree and a stocking from Santa.

For example:
DD: I want a Hatchimal for Xmas.
Me: I’m not buying one of those as they’re very expensive and won’t last very long.
DD: Father Christmas can get me one.
Me: no he won’t because it won’t fit in your stocking.
DD: oh yeah. Ok.

These things make me so glad we don’t do Santa at all!

Honestly wish I'd never started the whole Santa thing but it was easy when he was a toddler. I'm happy to let Santa go but would rather it went naturally because he works it out not due to disappointment that Santa 'let him down.
God, I thought I was so bloody clever last year...rod for my own back or what!

Once you stop believing santa stops coming... it’s very hard for some children to believe in Santa when their lives are so hard. So because you do believe, and we don’t have to spend the money we can buy a gift for those children whose lives are so difficult. As for list, I bet you won’t be the only parent asking... I suspect your son is questioning Santa, and so if he puts a gift on the list you don’t know about, and he gets it then he has his proof (one way or the other) . Personally I loved the magic of Santa, and they grow up so quickly but each family makes that decision! Good luck op

Threads like this make me glad we never started the whole Santa thing!!

I was put off by one of my siblings, who went to very extreme lengths to convince his daughter that Santa was real. They had a whole set of traditions that involved him coming to set up the tree, leaving footprints, getting very specific presents, other people hiding outside and make noises etc. It was still all going on in full seriousness when she was 12, by which point it felt more like gaslighting than fun...

With our son we keep it very low-key with the father christmas stuff. And if he asks directly, we say it's just pretend and a nice story. He's four, so he lives in a world of fantasy pretend play half the time anyway, so it doesn't make it any less exciting. If kids can go from being a dinosaur to a superhero to a firefighter while playing, and not find that confusing or disappointing, they can still enjoy the (play) idea that Santa brings him his stocking but also thank their parents for them.

Once you stop believing Father Christmas certainly doesn’t stop coming. DD(6) knows the tooth fairy isn’t real but she knows she will always have a coin under her pillow when she looses a tooth and frankly, at 6 that’s all she cares about. She’s never asked if Father Christmas is real but I strongly suspect that it’s just been a game to her all along and she already knows the answer.
To anyone that feels sad for her innocence and childhood, don’t be. She is still very much a typical 6 year old and loves the magic of Christmas, Father Christmas present or not.