I don’t recall being particularly fazed by it myself. Then again, I do think that the realisation was a gradual run rather than a sudden ‘oh’. I suspect this is because it’s not really something you think about in between Christmases. One Christmas it makes sense to you, the next one you’ve grown up a bit more, your mind has matured and the next time you think about Santa it’s obviously false.
My strongest memory of the whole experience was having an argument about it with my classmates (yes, I was that kid). My parents got many angry calls from other parents about my destroying the Santa myth for their kids.
I tend to think that Santa is a beguiling belief to inculcate in your children because it adds to the fantasy of Christmas. Parents remember the ‘magic’ of it themselves, and somewhat relive it through their children’s eyes. Thus someone spoiling it is not only potentially upsetting for the child, but also for the adult, since they’ve had x years of living it through their children taken away from them.
as a general rule, children are adequately equipped to create fantasies of their own without their parents’ intervention.
Kids may not have any shortage of fantasies they come up with on their own, but there’s a big difference between a self created fantasy and one everyone else your age around you believes in, and cultural artefacts (books, songs, movies) push at you.
I don’t recall being particularly fazed by it myself. Then again, I do think that the realisation was a gradual run rather than a sudden ‘oh’. I suspect this is because it’s not really something you think about in between Christmases. One Christmas it makes sense to you, the next one you’ve grown up a bit more, your mind has matured and the next time you think about Santa it’s obviously false.
My strongest memory of the whole experience was having an argument about it with my classmates (yes, I was that kid). My parents got many angry calls from other parents about my destroying the Santa myth for their kids.
I tend to think that Santa is a beguiling belief to inculcate in your children because it adds to the fantasy of Christmas. Parents remember the ‘magic’ of it themselves, and somewhat relive it through their children’s eyes. Thus someone spoiling it is not only potentially upsetting for the child, but also for the adult, since they’ve had x years of living it through their children taken away from them.
Kids may not have any shortage of fantasies they come up with on their own, but there’s a big difference between a self created fantasy and one everyone else your age around you believes in, and cultural artefacts (books, songs, movies) push at you.