Not for small ears.
Katie asked a lot of questions about Santa Claus this past Chistmas. I was always able to detour her by answering her questions with a question of my own. For example:
"Mom, my friend at school says Santa doesn't exist."
"Well honey, who is Santa?"
"He is St Nicholas"
"What did St Nicholas do?"
"He brought presents to the kids."
"What does he represent today?"
"The spirit of Christmas."
"And where does he live?"
"Your heart."
"So as long as you have the spirit of Christmas in your heart, he'll be there."
Now that Easter is around the corner she's asking questions about the Easter Bunny. Mainly, wondering how he gets in without setting off our alarm. Justin has a pretty quick and easy response...he's magic. But Shawn thinks it's time to have the "talk" wih Katie. She's going to be eight and he doesn't want her being teased at school. I think she's still young and let her be young as long as she can be, but it is getting more and more difficult, especially since Misty's kids have never had Santa or the Easter Bunny or any of that.
I don't remember ever having the "talk" with my parents...it was more of just one day I knew. But I've heard so many stories about children being traumatized once they find out the "truth". I hate calling it that, because I don't think of it as a lie...I think of it as the magic of being a kid. But I agreed that I'd talk to her.
Saturday I took her out to lunch just the two of us. One of the things we talked about was Santa and the Easter Bunny. I started the conversation the same way as above, but after we talked about the spirit of Christmas and the magic that comes with it, I asked her who actually brought the presents. She kinda looked at me a little dumbfounded. I guess she never really thought about it. I told her that it is her mom and dad that bring the presents. Her eyes got wide, but she didn't say anything. I asked if she was okay, her response was simple. "Yes, just shocked." I continued by telling her that now she gets to be a part of that magic with her brother and sister. Her response shocked me. She asked if she can just pretend that we didn't talk and she can continue believing the way she was. I told her she's welcome to do that, she just has to remember to keep the spirit of Christmas in her heart and she will ALWAYS have that magic.
2 comments:
Wow, I don't remember actually planning a talk. Some of them had to know, some of them just came to know.
I do remember one night about the tooth fairy. I really wanted to go to bed but had to wait until the kid was asleep. I was getting impatient, when I finally realized that this kid already knew about Santa Claus, already knew about the Easter Bunny, I wonder if he knows about the tooth fairy. I finally just walked in the room, he sat up and I said, do you know about the tooth fairy? I got a great big smile, I said why am I waiting for you to fall asleep then? He said ::grinning:: "I don't know!" I just put it under his pillow and said don't peek until morning. Ok! LOL
LOL Too funny!
It's been hard for me, I didn't want her to lose that yet, so luckily for me, she didn't want to lose that either! Now we had the talk, we both know, and we don't have to lose it! LOL
Post a Comment