Question
Dear Gramps,
I have a 5 year old daughter that believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that Santa Claus exists. Today a neighbor boy told her that both Santa and the Tooth Fairy do NOT exist because both his mother and father told him so (grrrrrrr!!). I love the pure innocence of my daughter and I hate to have her Christmas destroyed over this comment. I read some where before I had children a comment in some church magazine, web site, or something how to break the news of Santa to children with LDS faith. Something how a man really existed that would share goodness and so forth and when he passed away the tradition was carried on by other good people. Of course I didn’t commit it to memory as I didn’t have kids when I read the article. I am also fearful that my daughter might rationalize, that since Santa isn’t real, perhaps, Heavenly Father and God are not real either. That if I lied about one person that she can’t see, then I must be lying about these others that she can’t see. At least kids see Santa at the mall, when do they see the Savior? I had a visiting teaching companion that had this very problem with her son. He felt Santa was real and the Savior was not because he could see and talk to Santa. Please help this poor mother gently destroy the fantasy of jolly old St. Nick bringing her toys for being so sweet and wonderful throughout the year. I know this sounds pitiful, but it hurts me to take away this peace of her childhood innocence. She knows the true meaning of Christmas and is quite familiar with the Saviors birth and the reason for celebration, but still there is something to be said about the excitement of Christmas eve to a little child.
Charlene
Answer
Dear Charlene,
Please don’t be overly concerned how childhood myths vanish away as the children grow older. However, I would suggest that without making comparisons, and without expecting immediate transfer, that you talk to you children about their Heavenly Father and their Savior, explaining over and over who they are and what their roll is in a child’s life. As they perceive your love for your Father in Heaven and in His Son, Jesus Christ, they will begin to adopt your faith. In doing so they will be able in their own time and by their own intelligence to discern the truth about the many myths associated with Christmas. You would also point out to them how all the various signs of Christmas point to the Savior and to his birth. After all, in spite of the degradation of the purpose and meaning of this holiday promulgated by the proponents of the “politically correct” one-size-fits-all notion of a perfectly uniform society, the Savior does live, He IS the redeemer of the world and the Savior of all those who worship Him in truth and in righteousness. The fortification of these fundamental and essential beliefs in the home represents the last bastion of righteousness and decency for our precipitously degrading society.
Gramps
