Father Christmas

[seahorsescanfly]

If you've never told your children that Santa/Father Christmas is real, do/did you still take them to meet him? Would that be something they'd still find exciting/miss out if don't go. My DC is 4.

My DS2 is 6, nearly 7. I think this year he has realised that Santa isn't real but it's still part of the fun so he's holding on to the belief and was very definite that he still wants to see him. By contrast, DS1 who was happy to play along for his little brother's sake the last two years says he won't go in and meet Santa this year as he feels too old for it. We'll still all go to the place where we see Santa and have a nice outing and Christmas afternoon tea though, as it's trip as a whole that's part of the fun.

Looked at it context, I'm a fourth generation atheist but still adore Christmas, so you don't have to believe in the mystical parts of the Christmas traditions to enjoy them!

I told my son Father Christmas was a traditional myth/legend and did not really exist but it was fun to pretend.

Kids enjoy going to see the pretend Fr Christmas and getting a present, no harm done there. Yours knows the truth.

I don't really understand why you would, seeing as they don't believe. If you think your DC will like it then go ahead but make sure they don't spill the beans in front of any other kids.

@LBFseBrom I agree with you, and think it would be fun still, and thanks for the context @SummerInSun, I also grew up in non religious family, so I get your it.

We bought ours up with FC as a traditional myth and saw multiple FCs when they were little , we did Selfridges , steam trains , goofy Santa at Disneyland - all sorts of different ones , it was fun . AFAIK my kids never said anything to other kids because we made it clear that some people do things differently. We’ve always been a big Christmas family with lots of Christmas traditions that we still have even now they are adults and they both equally have always loved the season .

I’ve been wondering recently about whether it’s a good idea to tell my DD that Santa exists (she will be 1 this year) and have her growing up with that innocence, or whether to be honest. My DSD, her half sister, has not been raised to believe in Santa so have started questioning is it silly to raise DD to believe in a silly fantasy? Her dad has said he will go with whatever I say as he doesn’t have strong feelings either way

We never did, no. My mum did. But this was the child that at 3 shouted loudly that all the characters at Disney were just adults dressed up. 🫣. We’d never told her that.