Santa won't be bringing an IPad

[7ways]

This has probably been done before so sorry!

5 yo wants an iPad - it’s all shes asked for. We’ve decided it’s not going to happen this year. How do I explain why Santa won’t be bringing one? And more so, how do I explain why some of her friends did get one (I know they will be)

She will think she hasn’t been ‘as good’ as them and so on!

Any advice appreciated.

Really wasn’t ready for all this so young!

Elves don't make Apple products. Pick a toy an elf can make in Father Christmas' workshop.

Distracted with something else. Show her ads fir the thing you do want to get, children are very easy to manipulate.

No! A 5 yr old doesn't need her own ipad or indeed any other tablet. I would encourage her to read physical books at this age. You will regret going down the slippery slope of gaming this early. I managed to resist any sort of console or computer gaming for our DC until they reached 7/8 yrs old.

DD10 doesn't have a mobile phone or a tablet of her own yet nor is she terribly fussed about it. I don't feel I'm depriving her - far from it (and I speak as a former software developer). She's aware that quite a few of her year have them and the social media angst/issues/bullying has already started in YR6 so it's just as well that she's not on it! She has access to the family PC when she needs it. Admittedly, secondary school is a game changer but you'll some way off from that stage.

Saying "No" to your child isn't bad parenting here imo.

Santa just brings stockings to our house, as they got older and questioned this more we explained that santa trusted us to get them presents so just stockings it is. It means Santa isn't a huge thing in our house just a nice add on.

The problem isn’t how to tell the child that santa doesn’t bring them electronics etc, there are plenty of ways to explain that depending on the family but rather the problem is why they don’t get something and their friend does.

We had this problem with the bloody elf on the shelf. We never did it and then last year the kids wanted to know why all this friends had an elf stay wth them and they didn’t. I ended up buying one and moving about it a bit. I think I mumbled something about mummy not wanting a mess so had told the elf he would be in serious trouble if he did as I couldn’t be doing with sprinkle flour on the floor or taking all the decorations off the tree like the other ‘elves’

It's always tricky when Santa does things different in each house. My kids got iPads off Santa so when she goes back to school others will get that kind of thing off santa . So saying santa doesn't do iPads might not work .

In our house he only does tech gifts for over 8s.
Also we send our money to Santa for him to sort the "big presents" our and sometimes we don't have enough to sent to Santa for a specific gift - it's not about being naughty!

That’s the reason we decided Santa brings stockings ... we buy one big present each plus a shared this year (climbing frame). Plus nana is very generous (Nintendo switch).

That’s way we can just say yes or no and it doesn’t matter what “everyone else” is getting because mummy and daddy decide.

when my daughter was 7 she wanted to ask Santa for an iPhone. I told her Santa doesn't bring presents like that anyway and certainly not if the child's mum and dad don't want him to. And mum and dad didn't want our 7 year old to have a sodding iPhone.

I've always told mine that Santa doesn't bring the things that cost loads like bikes and iPads and ponies mums and dads give those. DD is now 10 doesn't believe anymore but still writes a dear Santa letter which she hands to me while outlining what she wants most and advising where she's seen it cheapest online 😂

Do children seriously go into school after Christmas and say Santa bought me x , surely they just say what did you get for Christmas etc . We never did FC as anything other than a fantasy so this sort of angst never came up and I wouldn’t buy a 5 yo an iPad purely because they are not necessary at that age , a cheaper tablet would suffice .

Of course DC talk about what Santa brings them for Christmas, particularly the children who get their main presents from Santa. There seems to be lots of discussion about Santa in primary school as DC start to realise that different things happen in different houses.

I thought Santa only brought stockings?

Santa only brings stockings here and one present off their list - it can be something big or small that they really wanted eg one year dd's was a whole bag of apples just for me

Could you shoehorn this way of thinking in?

Santa only does stockings here. Sweets, books, little toys, puzzles, bath stuff, maybe a CD or DVD. Maybe a few slightly bigger things if they can fit into a stocking. If mine had asked for an IPad I would have said "that's not the kind of present Santa brings."

It was the same for us growing up. I never had a problem with other kids getting big presents from Santa. I assumed that in reality Santa just brought their small presents and their parents were just pretending that Santa also brought the big ones, the poor deluded saps.

The technology argument is ridiculous.

iPads are easy to use. Not having one as a child is not going to put them at a disadvantage

My dcs have been asking for one for years. I’ve said no, that it’s too expensive and Santa doesn’t bring everything you want.

A small bag of presents comes from santa, books, chocolates and usually something specifically asked for but Santa never provides tech. Rest of presents come from parents / the gift giver.

Never understood why parents would say all presents come from Santa. We've also always been very lucky that if we put presents under the tree they wouldn't get touched / opened before Christmas so DC would always see gifts there in the run up to Christmas Day

DC were told that Santa doesn't do ipads. This year, however, he is probably bringing them a Kids Fire (they are 8 and 6), mainly so I can get my ipad back as they keep borrowing it.

Does she actually mean iPad, or does she mean 'tablet computer'? If it's the latter, maybe a kindle fire hd or similar that still can have games on, but are significantly cheaper. I got mine for £35 on Black Friday last year and it's perfectly good enough for a child to play games on.

If it's that you don't want her to have a tablet/computer at all (couldn't work that out from the op) then you might have to go with the 'Santa doesn't bring electronics' or some other answer!

Unfortunately santa can’t bring my youngest 2 iPads as there’s a limit to how many our broadband can support so they won’t work. Santa will know this as he’s been watching to check they’ve been good.

Father Christmas fills the stocking and brings one thing they ask for but it is a toy as he doesn’t do gadgets or anything too expensive because he has a lot of children to provide for. My ds is 6 and hasn’t got any of his own tech yet and knows if he does it will be on a birthday, it’s not a Christmas thing as too it is too expensive and would need to get his sibling similar things so doesn’t work for us. He understands that and is still more than happy with the toys and games he gets, despite having a yearning for a ds occasionally.

Really don't worry about what kids say to each other at school, 2 whole weeks after Christmas - I work in a school, they invariably don't remember, don't actually talk that much about what they got, and when pressed, tell you that they got a pooing reindeer and a new cool keyring
Also, imo 5 is too young for an expensive adult gadget, even though the apps make them accessible for children. They are not age appropriate 'toys'. Ds is 6 and is allowed on mine but he'll not be getting one of his own for a long time! Don't feel bad, at 5 they will be easily fobbed off by whatever excuse you give.