To think adults shouldn’t talk about Santa not being real in earshot of young children?

[crinklechips]

On public transport this morning a trio of women were chatting loudly about preparing for Christmas, including efforts they were making to convince their DC that Santa and elves was real (hiding presents, moving the elf etc)

There were a couple of young children in earshot (not mine).

I felt like tapping the women them on the shoulder and asking them to keep it down.

In the end the conversation moved on but should I have said something?

Should adults (especially parents who are bought in to “keeping the magic alive”) be mindful of not accidentally ruining it for others?

you selfishly deciding that children feeling not being important, and that Santa is not important doesn't make my point any less valid.

I am using it as an example to perfectly show that you ARE mindful of your environment if you are normal, most of us are, thankfully. Of course some rude and selfish people will have no trouble speaking loudly about completely inappropriate topics in public, we know.

I really don't like the straight-up lying about Santa particularly when it involves disparaging other children in the process!

But I think that the kind of folklore aspect of Santa is just a very normal and natural part of most cultures and lots of folk tales exist in space between fantasy and reality. And children are very used to engaging with this - the whole idea of "make-believe" is literally to make something believable. Lots of children's imaginative play is in this space - the notion of an imaginary friend is totally in the world between real and pretend.

I've never directly lied to my children about Santa - it's essentially just acting out a story for them "make-believe" style.

That's what I did.

Agreed.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Santa Claus seems to be the only compulsory belief in the UK.

No one would start a thread about someone on a bus saying God doesn’t exist when a small religious child might overhear, but Santa? Best keep quiet or you’ll be publicly shamed!

Nope. The world doesn’t revolve around other peoples children.

I agree. It's utterly bizarre.

Yabvu op

This is it. I heard loads of stuff like that but my brain chose to ignore it

I think it’s a Mn thing rather than a UK thing tbh — DS attended a very multicultural school where loads of kids in his class didn’t believe in Santa, either because they didn’t celebrate Christmas or because they had a different story about who brings the gifts. No one lost their mind when some six year old told another six year old FC didn’t exist.

Are young children on a bus really going to pay attention to a boring conversation between adults?

Given children are taught in school about different religious beliefs that’s still not really the same (and even then I don’t know that having a loud conversation about, say, eternal damnation, would be quite the thing for a public bus at 8am).

As I said earlier I think it’s more similar to spoiling the ending of a film for people waiting to see it - ruining something you could reasonably expect they would be looking forward to. It’s just inconsiderate.

It was a loud animated conversation and I think a lot of children’s ears prick up at the mention of Santa and presents.

The fact is, Santa does not exist and if people want to say that, they should be able to.

It’s akin to discussing a film on a bus maybe, not at the cinema. But honestly unless you expect people to limit public conversation to the weather then kids will sometimes overhear stuff and you might also get a film ending or last night’s TV spoiled. That’s just life.

I’ve been with my kids across the train aisle from a man loudly telling someone on the phone the in depth details of a fatal accident, I’ve sat in McDonalds with my kids and watched someone swearing and screaming at her partner for forgetting something and more than once I have removed my children from public transport where an extremely drunk or mentally disturbed person was causing me concern. Of all the stuff you encounter on public transport I’ll take a couple of people discussing Santa over most of the other unpleasant things.

Apart from the fact it’s odds-on the young kids on the bus believe in Santa, it’s pretty likely overhearing stuff about Santa not being real would have some kind of impact.

But I also don’t think I would talk loudly about the twist at the end of a major blockbuster on the bus, because of the likelihood of ruining it for someone. Or gory details of a fatal accident. It’s just good manners.

No you mind your own business

Frivolous comment alert. Log onto the NORAD Santa tracker on Christmas Eve. That will sort out the non believers . Our house is full of fully grown people rushing around saying things like "hurry up, he's already in Finland". Sorry. Not relevant but it is fun to think of these boffins sitting there working it out.

It is strange that people tell their kids not to believe in God, whose existence is questionable, while telling them to believe in Santa, who is known not to be real. IMO we'd all be better off if it is was the other way round. Santa is just a manifestation of human greed.

I bet a lot of kids carry on 'believing' for their parents sakes anyway, since a lot of adults seem invested. I never understood lying to your children about this. Parents and wider family work hard to afford whatever presents arrive. They don't conveniently drop down the chimney from some bloke up at the North Pole.

I think they should have been more considerate. Of course you can't police people but in that circumstance I think if someone politely warned them to keep it down they would probably oblige because they probably didn't realise. When some people are in groups they forgot the rest of the world exists outside their group, it's like they think no one can hear them or see them. The fact is Santa is a huge part of our culture and the presumption is that most children believe, so it's pretty disrespectful to not go along with it and not follow the local culture.

Well, God is just a manifestation of human wishful thinking and fear of death.