I told children that there was no such thing as Santa.

The Kids are 17 & 18 yeah?

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Basically I told my sisters children that santa didn't exist and the red and white Santa character was created by coca cola marketers in the early 1930s. I never lied to my 3 children, if they ask me a question I will answer it truthfully, I never led them to believe that santa existed.. We constantly tell our children not to lie, if you lead your children to believe that santa exists then you are a liar and a hypocrite.

Eh? Show me a person who isn't a liar and hypocrite . This is Ireland after all.

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Oh grow up. Would you accuse me of being a troll if you agreed with me?..I don't think so.

if anybody needs to grow up its you , trolls can be cute , you are an unhappy dysfunctional jerk .

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Oh grow up. Would you accuse me of being a troll if you agreed with me?..I don't think so.

Here is what you said in a thread where you fed a vegan pork ( and an egg mixture by accident).

. As regards the pork, what she doesn't know won't hurt her, i will keep the peace and say nothing.

Which is a lie of omission. So with adults it is ok to lie to keep the peace, with children ( not his own) it is essential to tell the truth and destroy their childhood. ( It is not even clear they asked, either, why would a santa believer ask his or her uncle whether it existed, or not? So you brought it up).

OP just likes causing pain for children.

pickarooney wrote: »

IMO

Well my girlfriend gets santa presents and so did my kids at 20 & 17.

This year I didnt go outside and make sleigh noises cos it was too cold.

I think I got away with it.

pickarooney wrote: »

I've already answered this a few times. I'm not so arrogant as to think my opinion is 'the (ugly) truth'.

I also don't believe the OP in that I doubt very much the children asked him straight out if Santa exists (unless they already knew and just wanted someone older to confirm it) or would have paid a blind bit of notice to him if he just randomly started preaching to them about marketing devices.

What possibly happened there is they heard it from their cousins..... and asked the father.

pickarooney wrote: »

That's usually how it goes. They'll hear it from someone at some stage. Some pretend to keep believing as it makes their parents happy and/or assures that they will keep getting presents. Some have a belief stronger than contrary opinions and some will just slowly realise that it's all a sweet sham. Very rarely does a child have a dream shattered in one cold moment and as for 'destroying their childhood' - this is borderline insulting to children who have grown up seriously bad circumstances.

We dont know the ages of the children involved here. An Adult with authority who tells a 5 year old that Santa doesn't exist will probably be believed.

Holy Jesus and Mary mother of God, and Joseph and all the Saints......

....err......oh ......wait.

Gotta say folks - the hysterical reactions here are shocking. The OP may be trolling, and if he isn't then maybe he didn't go about things the right way - but in principle he's absolutely right. Its simply wrong to encourage kids to believe in makey-upey rubbish like santa. And its abundantly ABUNDANTLY obvious throughout this thread that the parents on here are defending this practice for their own selfish reasons - not whats good for the child. All this - oh I love to see the joy in their faces ****e is entirely for the parents amusement. You can have joy in a kids face without lying to them about santa and bribing them with gifts. You do realise its the gifts that make them smile don't you ? Ever watch a kid get a present - they couldn't give a fiddlers who gives them the present once its in their hands they are just happy to rip it open and play with it and only say thanks when mammy or daddy reminds them to.

Case in point:

Jet Black wrote: »

I know someone who did this with their kids. The get an argos book before christmas and highlight what they want. Sounds fun:-) christmas eve and day was a real barrel of laughs in that household.
I love seeing the excitement on my childs face and would not give it up for anything.

Just because you know someone who lets them pick from and Argos catalog doesn't mean this is th eonly way to do it after you get rid of santa. You could equally say "look what mum and dad bought you for being so good this year" after putting some thoughtfulness into a present.

Deleted User wrote: »

Which is worse.
A lie that draws a smile, or a truth that draws a tear?

Err.....seriously ?? You're actually asking this question ? The lie is a thousand times the worser. For once the tear of a truth is shed, you accept it and move on. Lies only delay the inevitable tears that must eventually come - the longer the delay the more tears.

If there is anyone to feel sorry for it's the OP. It's the most magical and wonderful feeling in the world to watch your children get so excited about Santa. I would hate to miss out on all of that. Miss out on writing letters, miss out on a big trip to see the man himself, miss out on baking cookies to leave out on Christmas eve, miss out on being woken up at 7 in the morning with a big smile wondering if he has been yet.

Yep, the OP is missing out big time poor thing.

Again case in point - Santa is for the parents.

Deleted User wrote: »

OP, that was not a decision for you to make. It was your sister's. You are not their parent, she is.

A fair point - and I agree.

You deserve to be ostracised, and your children taken from you. I see no difference between your "parenting" and those hicks in the US who go protest at US servicemen funerals. The less children raised to your unattainable standards of "perfection" the better.

If I knew anyone who'd do that to someone else's kids, I'd slap them in the face.

What ? Are you serious ? You'd assault another adult for telling a child a truth about something ? You need help for your anger issues so.



Aside:

Maldjd23 wrote: »

Not sure the name Jimmy Garlic confirms it's a he??..(that said i have had a few beers so forgive me if i am wrong, just like i will forgive you for focusing on a mute point)....Am pretty sure a person can choose their username as they wish...Does not matter if they choose Jimmy or Julie now really thou does it??...Their opinion remains the same...I think we agree on the Op's actions...Have to admit i don't remember that tale about St.Nick...To me he was Santa...Nothing more and nothing less...I also remember being thought as a kid you help people in need no matter the season...I don't need a guy in a red hat(or whatever colour the OP likes) to tell me that...

I must say - spectacular post. Do we have a drunken post of the week award on boards ??? We should do.

I agree with Opinion Guy as regards the reactions and accusations levelled at the OP. Some of them are priceless.

Improbable wrote: »

You're still missing the point. If you thought it was terrible, would you tell them? Or would you protect that from that ugly truth? We're not debating the merits of artistic interpretation.

+1

And the OP made a big thing about Coca Cola marketing in the 1930's whereas the history of Santa Claus is much much older than that in both the Christian and is even in Norse/Viking pagan traditions and no one really knows how oldit is but it evolved in different cultures and beliefs seperately.


Its probably a festive thing that evolved to break the monotany and hardship of winter.

Here is a good link on it with lots of resourses off it.

Over the course of the medieval period the legend of St Nicholas continued to develop and spread enormously, especially after the theft of his relics and their translation to Bari in southern Italy in 1087. Indeed, the cult of St Nicholas eventually rivalled that of the Virgin Mary in many regions, to judge from church dedications. In addition to becoming the patron of sailors as part of this process, St Nicholas also became known as the patron of children. This important development was a consequence of the popular tale of his rescue from death of three children, who had been pickled for eating by an innkeeper. When combined with his reputation as a gift-giver, all the key elements were in place for the transformation of St Nicholas into the modern giver-of-gifts to children. The most significant manifestation of this, from the perspective of Santa Claus, is the Dutch Sinterklaas. Whilst Sinterklaas clearly derives from St Nicholas and his feast-day of the 6 December, he differs from the earlier portraits of St Nicholas in a number of ways, not least in his flying white horse. These differences are usually explained as a result of the legends of St Nicholas being fused in the medieval period with those of the former pagan god Wodan (the Norse Odin, who did possess a flying horse named Sleipnir), although one does have to wonder whether all of the aspects of the legend of Sinterklaas which are sometimes claimed to derive from this fusion really do so. Whatever the case may be, in the Early Modern era there were several unsuccessful attempts to stamp out the Sinterklaas tradition for religious reasons; more recently it has been attacked as a 'racialized tradition', due to Sinterklaas' companion Black Pete, but it remains nonetheless popular in Holland.

http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/xmas/pages/folklore.htm

So if the OP or anyone else is going to kick out against a tradition they should at least know what that tradition is that they are kicking against and not so anti US or anti Coca Cola belief .

People have always spoiled kids at this time of year -for ever.