I wanted to cover this because the “Santa” myth is one my five year-old son buys into hook, line and sinker. At first I felt guilty about it and wondered whether I should tell him the truth. Then I looked up how other parents handle it and many think that there’s nothing wrong in fostering a belief in Santa. When my son asks about it, I talk about a benevolent Santa that is part omniscient god and part superhero. I sing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” as if it’s true. I feel kind of bad about lying to my son, but on the other hand it’s sweet that he believes in Santa and I don’t want to ruin it for him. I’ll tell him the true story of St. Nicholas when he’s ready.
US Weekly reports that the five year-old Gosselin sextuplets, who are about the same age as my son, no longer believe in Santa. Their older twin sisters, Mady and Cara, 9, are said to have ruined it for them. Some parents might call that sad while others say it’s realistic and honest:
After a rough, rough year for the eight Gosselin kids — their parents Jon and Kate Gosselin will divorce imminently and their hit reality show is no more — at least they can look forward to a visit from ol’ Saint Nick come Dec. 25. Well, not exactly.
“They don’t believe in Santa Claus,” a Gosselin pal reveals of 9 year-old twins Mady and Cara and 5 year-old sextuplets Alexis, Hannah, Aeden, Collin, Leah and Joel. “Mady and Cara ruined it for the sextuplets,” the source explains, “and told them a few years ago that Santa wasn’t real, and that their presents come from Mommy and Daddy.”
Sadly, the holiday anti-cheer has also spread to little ones outside the family’s Wernersville, Penn. compound, the source reports: “The sextuplets are the ones at school who tell the other kids there’s no Santa Claus.”
Whether or not the eight kids leave out cookies for Santa, Christmas season has arrived at the Gosselin home: the transitioning brood has set up a twelve-foot tree, decorated with white lights and a big star on top, in the family room at the back of the house.
[From US Weekly]
Aww, that’s too bad that Mady and Cara are telling their classmates there’s no Santa! Those kids have gone through so much in the past year. While we were focusing on their messed up parents, particularly their lying, cheating father, there were eight little kids suffering at home.
On Wednesday the news came out the Kate Gosselin said her kids were crying over the fact that the cameras were no longer filming for their reality show. I thought that they were crying because they missed the crew that became like a second family to them. Some of you pointed out how clueless Kate sounded by claiming the kids missed the show without even a mention of the fact that she’s divorcing her husband. Divorce is really hard on kids and they may act out and get upset over other things as they try to process the changes in their lives. Cara and Mady might be acting out by trying to ruin Christmas for other kids. Their holiday is already being ruined by their parents’ acrimonious divorce.
Jon Gosselin might have less cash to buy presents this year. He was issued an injunction by the judge in TLC’s case against him not to make any paid appearances without TLC’s approval. It didn’t hurt TLC’s position that both Jon and his lawyer failed to show up to court to defend themselves.
I can still remember the girl that told me there was no Santa when I was 8. I still hate that girl.
Don’t feel guilty about santa and your 5 year old… that is one of the many wonders of childhood. The rest of the year santa works the off season under kids beds in a monster outfit.
Can another celeb scandal hit so we don’t have to hear about these jerks anymore!
I can just hear that SPOILED BRAT WITH ATTITUDE Mady, in her know-it-all taunting, “Santa’s not even real, you guys. You are such babies if you think there is a real Santa. Mommy and Daddy buy all our presents, you know. I know this because I’m older than you!” UGH! If my kids were still young enough to believe and this MORON came charging into school with this news, I’d be pissed. When my kids get told is my business, not this BRAT’S!
My youngest is 8 and he still believes. Why spoil what little joy there is in the world these days? LOL Heck, I was older than 8 when I stopped believing! If you don’t believe you don’t get presents!! :o)
Another proof the Gosselin are a terrible family !… No, I’m kiddng !
My parents never made me and my brother believe in Santa. I remember telling it to other kids, but quite lately (around 8 years old). I wasn’t really aware of that stuff before. My parents didn’t wanted to mix the birth of the christ and the old man. They also wanted to let us know that the gifts were from them, for that particuliar occasion of the arrival of a kid, and most of all they didn’t wanted to lie to us and make a fool of us. I do respect their choice and X-mass never lake of magic to me.
Only problem now is with my husband who would like to make our kids believe in Santa …. and I don’t really like the idea.
PS: my mom who was made believe in Santa, learned the truth at 12, and I think she was pretty hurt… another reason for her not to make us beleive
#1 I read that it was Aunt Jody quoted as saying this. She should keep her mouth shut to the media.
#2 When my kids found out Santa was me, they just pretended like they didn’t know. It’s all fantasy and that’s really what X-mas is anyway, what you WANT to believe.
Young children should have magic in their lives!
Every Xmas I’m terrified my 8 yr old step-son will spill the beans and ruin it for my 2 yr olds. Terrified, I tell you!
That’s sad. Hateful kids that need to spoil everything really suck. Childhood is the time to get kids to believe in magic and fairydust; that grain of belief is what gets us through magicless times as adults that ability to believe in some kind of wonderful that can’t be seen.
when I was 7 I became a skeptic of the Santa myth and shared my new-found disbelief with my twin brother, who apparently was still a full-fledged believer… oops.
That “source” said the two older kids told them about Santa “a few years ago.” Which would have made them 2 and not particularly caring or understanding where the goodies came from.
Sounds like someone (cough*f’edupparents*cough) is jealous of all the Brangelina coverage lately and had to trot out a couple “poor me” stories.
I feel so sorry for those kids. All that melodrama from their parents is bad enough without one of them dragging the kids into it. Repeatedly. None of this crap about the kids missing the TLC crew or this Santa stuff had any reason to be in the media, but that never stopped their parents from whoring them out.
My son believed in Santa until he was about 6, if I remember right, and it was a classmate in kindergarten that told him. He wasn’t upset about it at all.
My kids never really believed in Santa. We’ve read stories about the actual St. Nicholas, but even as small children they understood that the stories about Saint Nick were old stories and that he lived a long time ago. When they, at ages 3 and 5 were at the mall with me in mid Dec, noticed there were not 1, not 2 but 3 count em 3 DIFFERENT Santa Claus’ there. My 5 yr. old son said to me, Momma I know what they’re doing! I reply, Oh really? He says, yes! All those Santas are reminding people to give to those less fortunate! Couldn’t have come up with a better explination myself. lol
I don’t think this is a big deal. I never believed in Santa. I don’t think anyone told me, I just didn’t buy it.
Dude. Someone needs to tell those little runts to zip their lips. My five and three year olds still think there is a Santa. There is plenty of time for reality, but at this age it is pretty selfish for some kids to go around enjoying the disappointment and sadness that Santa is a lie.
Thanks for letting your kids ruin it for everybody elses’ kids because you are ASSHOLES, Jon + Kate.
Making your kids miserable, and they are sharing the joy.
I bet Jon mentioned there not being a Santa in a drunken haze. Who knows, it could have happened that way.
Kids need to believe in Santa when they’re little. When a PARENT decides it’s appropriate to tell the children the truth, that’s when it should happen but not before. As far as kids telling other kids at school, they should shut up about it to their friends who still believe. My son is 3-and-a-half years older than my daughter, and he defended her right to believe in Santa to anyone who tried to tell her different. He’d interrupt anyone who tried to tell her there was no Santa. God, I love that boy!
Aw, sad they’re so young to disbelieve, and it sucks that there’s always some jerky kid who ruins it for everyone else.
On the other hand, not believing in Santa is the LEAST of the problems these kids are going to have, considering their parents.
I think everyone needs to decide for themselves what to tell children. When I was a child I believed in Santa Claus and I didn’t think my parents had lied to me when I found out there was no actual person, just a spirit of gift giving and good will. We often cushion children from harsh realities unfortunately the Gosselins have had no such cushion from either of their parents.
My siblings and me never believed in Santa. In fact, the origins of Santa are quite scary and rather gross, too. It’s fascinating reading, though.
However, I always respected (in action, anyway) other people’s choice so I always kept my mouth shut.
I was babysitting a couple of neighbor children one day and the younger child came crying to me because her older brother had just broken the news to her. She was devastated. She was crying and looking to me for confirmation. I remember telling her that her parents would talk to her when they got home. I also remember wanting to clobber her brother, who was sitting there so smug.
Anyway, I will never forget the little girl’s reaction. Heartbreaking!
@Shelly (which is my sister’s name so that’s kind of funny considering Santa is the topic) I did NOT tell my parents for exactly that reason – I was afraid if I didn’t believe in Santa, NO PRESENTS. When I was 12 my dad and I were shopping for my mom, and the clerk said something about Santa and my dad said, “She’s knows Santa isn’t real” and I was shocked, as in omg they know. But I never told my little sister (Shelly) and played along a few more years until she found out
I loved the idea of Santa (and so did my sister) and we were both sad when we found out, but not so sad that I wouldn’t give my kids the same gift of magic and fun. As other people have more eloquently pointed out, childhood is full of wonderful innocent things that have to end, but it doesn’t mean we can’t let our children have those things for a little while. I found out from reading Judy Blume’s _Superfudge_, totally lame!
irishserra, have you ever read David Sedaris’ writing about the Dutch version of Santa? Absolutely hilarious, and yeah, kind of scary!
@frenchie: Santa is a false image that damages kids’ faith and kids should not believe in him; but it is up to each individual parent. Parents that allow this fantasy put distrust in their relationship with their kids. It hurt me terribly when I found out that Santa wasn’t real I believed so much to keep asking Santa for the desires of my heart and never got it – my mother was verbally abusive to me growing up, but I didn’t trust her for not being strong enough to tell me the truth. God is the “gift-giver” and He gives me the desires of my heart and it is His Spirit that is the “spirit of giving”. Your parents were right by telling you the truth I’m sure you had a lot of respect for your parents to be honest and open. I am very open and truthful with my son and we have a good relationship, he trusts me for telling him the truth about things. Santa is a “faith stealer” and those people who are angry at telling kids the truth are wrong for coming against those who are bold enough and strong enough to say what is true!!!
I am 24 and my mother still won’t admit to me that there is no Santa. I obviously don’t believe in Santa, I’m just saying.
How funny, my husband’s family and I just had this discussion.
Sister-in-law says it is a crap tradition and we shouldn’t lie to our kids. I said it’s a magical time with such a short window and to please not spill the beans to my two little girls, aged 5 and 2. She went on and on about deception for a good long while, talking about fictional Christmas characters…I had had enough, so I said, “Oh, are you referring to Christ, then?”
I find it strange when I hear that people are so resentful for be lied to about Santa. Santa is something that millions of American kids take part in, I think I would have felt left out if my kids didn’t pretend there was a Santa with me.
My husband and I had a MAJOR fight about this before my daughter was born. I don’t like the idea of flat out lying to my kids. I thought would agree, but to my surprise he was all for it. She is two now, and still doesn’t totally grasp the concept, so I have about another year..we still can’t agree. He isn’t religious in the least, and before we didn’t even really decorate or anything. We just did the commercialized thing, “lots of stuff on sale and I wanted a new computer.” Its weird how when kids come into the picture, you literally have to question every aspect of your life. XD
OMG – I just got this from my kid “Mom, is there really a tooth fairy?” I was like “I don’t know!” I don’t know how to handle that one!
Some stuff happens without us really deciding. I was all in favor of not doing the Santa story but my kids picked it up from ambient stories, shows, decorations, etc. before I got around to addressing it, and they WANTED to believe. So I’ve let them. They are 9 and 7 and still believe. Funnily enough, they are natural skeptics and don’t believe in anything ELSE — like God! We have a lot of arguments about that one. But I still haven’t had the heart to burst their bubble about Santa. I believed in him but I don’t remember when I stopped, so I guess it wasn’t too traumatic!
@lucy2 OMG! 7 angry black men! I laugh every time I think of that. He may or may not put you in a sack and kidnap you. Good night!
I love the magic of Santa. I was in the fourth grade when kids started telling me there was no Santa, but I basically chose not to believe them. A year later my mother tried to gently tell me there was no Santa, but again, I liked the magic of it all, and told her she was wrong. Of course, I know there is no “Santa” but part of me still believes in the magic of Christmas and giving and waking up to a tree full of presents that just appeared overnight. I guess it helped that my mom was so into it my sister and I still get a couple gifts from “Santa” every year.
My sister immediately believed the first person who told her there was no Santa in third grade, but she didn’t resent it or anything. She might have cried for a day, but after that she enjoyed playing along… It’s more fun to have presents “appear” than to watch mom and dad pull out a credit card to pay for them, wrap them, and put them under the tree. We all like a little mystery….why else would we bother to wrap gifts?
Shelly i totally agree with you.Let them enjoy and be happy while they can. There is no harm in letting them believe.
That David Sedaris piece cracks me up every time, but you should also check out his essay on being a Macy’s Christmas elf, it is hysterical!
I was 3. My sister was 5. Her FIRST grade teacher laughed at the class and said something along the lines of “You guys don’t really believe Santa is real?!” My sister came home and promptly burst my bubble before I had a chance at even fully grasping the Santa concept. Bummer.
I never quit believing in Santa, and I still got gifts up until the first Christmas with my son lol!
The daycare I have my son in is a christian daycare, and with their beliefs they don’t “do” Santa…knowing this lady has a 6 month old granddaughter and 2 other granddaughters that has to be the sadest thing I had ever heard. That was always a big part of the fun on Christmas was seeing what we got from Santa. These kids will never experience this 🙁
*shrug*
my kids have been told about the spirit of Santa Claus and they believed until they were about 10. Here’s the thing, they knew it was magic, but were OK with the idea of the spirit of the season. My husband and I never felt like we were lying to the kids.
My parents always told us Santa was make-believe. Even at a very young age, I though other kids that believed in him were suckers. It never took away any of the magic of Xmas, however, and to this day I anticipate the holidays like a 5 year old. My husband and I debate over whether or not to lead our 1.5 yr. old to believe in Santa. I don’t think I can lie to him but my husband insists its OK in this instance.
My friend told me Santa wasn’t real when I was six. I was kinda glad, cos the fact some random dude busted into your house creeped me out a bit.
Apparently I was 100x’s more upset when I found out the easter bunny wasn’t real. I had my priorities haha
I can’t remember when I stopped believing in Santa…I think I heard about it somewhere that he wasn’t real but it didn’t bother me. I think I always sort of knew he wasn’t real but that didn’t stop me from being happy when the best presents were from “Santa”.
My mom gave us gifts from “Santa” until we were teenagers until we were “so over” Christmas and just wanted to go out and buy stuff for each other and not really wrap anything or have a tree.
I will definitely tell my kids about Santa in a storytime fashion (kinda like learning about giants and dragons and such) and send them gifts from “Santa” but I don’t think I’d outright lie to them and say he was real.
By the way, I feel really sorry for people who resent their parents for trying to instill a bit of magic and silliness into their childhoods. You grow out of it, but it’s fun as a child to believe in the ToothFairy (I got dimes) and the Easter Bunny.
I have to partly agree with susieqinBA. Disney, Nickelodeon and PBS provide children with enough fantasy to last them until they go on social security.
If I remember correctly, the image of Santa Claus originated as a marketing tool by Coca Cola (I didn’t look it up yet). I understand the need for kids to be kids (especially in the times we live in), and to encourage imagination, but I think Santa defines the materialism of Christmas. If I had kids, I probably would introduce Santa as a holiday-themed character.
I know the Gosselins are the most douchefied reality stars (next to the Pratts), but this isn’t the worst thing they could do.
My family didn’t even think about Santa during christmas at all because we’re christian so it was more about Jesus’ birth and all that. but i knew alot of my friends believed in santa and i never told them he wasnt real.I didn’t want to ruin someone else’s christmas for no reason.
I will admit, I spoiled Santa for about 10 or so kids in my first grade class. And you know what, those little brats deserved it! When we came back from break, there was a girl that got nothing for Christmas, but stuff from the Salvation Army (she knew it from SA because her mother had her write thank you letters). So a perfectly nice girl gets called naughty and taunted because her family can’t afford to buy her flashy gifts, they didn’t want her to sit with them during lunch ect. Now I knew there was no Santa, and I didn’t like seeing my friend cry because nasty children were being nasty, so I told. Parents DEMANDED I be suspended. Did I get suspended? No? Did the teacher make the participants apologize to my friend, yes.
Oh Hey- You are totally incorrect about the image of Santa and it’s origins, and I do suggest you look it up.
Coca-Cola most certainly did not create the image of Santa Claus.
When I was like 8 my younger brother figured out there was no Santa and he told my mom. She thought I told him and said to me” How could you tell your brother there is no Santa?” And I was all”Santa’s not real?” It was a rude awakening. I was always the believer, shoot I believed in the tooth fairy till my brothers found were my mom kept our baby teeth.
I remember as a kid when I found out that Santa wasn’t real from my cousin or some random elementary school classmate, I was completely devastated. Then I got over it pretty quickly, too.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal.
I’m surprised Kate Gosselin didn’t jump at the chance to get on TV to announce to the world that Jon was actually the one to tell the kids that there is no Santa.
My son started fretting when he was four years old how was Santa going to come down the chimney when we don’t have a chimney (we lived in an apartment then). He figured it out for himself. He decided Santa was going to crash through the front door yelling “Ho, ho, ho”.
I found out there was no Santa when I saw the gifts hidden in the closet. That was a bummer.
mady and cara are these little brats that need to mature and think about other people the world doesnt revolve around them they should have let their siblings grow up a little more then tell them
Oh for Pete’s sake, Mady and Cara are typical, shoot, my sisters told me everything, including the birds and the bees, much to my mom’s horror,they beat her to it. My kids always knew the truth about Santa, but we still pretended to believe and they knew it was pretend. My children were told not to spill the beans to anyone else, but I found out at times they did, and they were disciplined for disobeying us. Kids are kids.