Emily-Elizabeth

My mum would never let me belive in Father Christmas, as she felt it was wrong to make me belive something that was not ture.

She said that she felt extremly hurt that her parents had falsified evidence (ie mince pies and carrots) and made her belive something untrue. I am kind of in agreement with this.

This meant that I told a load of other kids that he was not real, and my mum got some angry parents telling me that i had spoilt everything.

Just wondering what you all thought...

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Lance

My Christmas is now in tatters. Thanks Emily!!

Don't know how I am going to explain this to my wife and 15 year old daughter.

Lance

drm_jones

Up to a certain age it is ok but most kids will figure it out early on anyway

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David

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ncarring

Booooooooooooo!!!!

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Nick

North Wiltshire RoADAR

andy2407

I add to the lies my telling my kids that when the light comes on on the passive infra red burglar alarm thingy it means Father Christmas is watching them and they have to behave!

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Bigw2069

Eccentricity (behavior - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) tbh

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Emily-Elizabeth

So what you are saying is that you also blackmail your children into behaving by using something that is not true in the first place.

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andy2407

Do two wrongs not make a right?
I must be quite a funny sight waving my arm madly behind them to get it to light up

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PEMBO

I cant wait to have kids now - this sounds like good fun!!
I think Santa represents hope in a way, and happiness - not all kids get a happy upbringing so the idea of this guy who can see that they have been good and will reward that is something that will get them through most of the year.
I dont see any harm in it to be honest

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Emily-Elizabeth

Other than the fact that gifts from Father Christmas are paid for the parents, and therefore are not means tested.

Surely what you are saying is agreeing with my original statement, you can be the best behaved kid ever and it still comes down to your parent's disposable income.

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Blade404

Damn straight!!

All is fair in love and war... and it's a battlefield out there i tell ya!

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Emily-Elizabeth

On the topic, I knew a bloke who used to tell his kids that the poor people lived in those little sheds people have near their allotments and they had to work hard at school so as not to end up there.

Very mean, but funny

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Blade404

Sounds like your standard "shock & awe" tactic to me

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Bigw2069

Not all happiness is cash related EE, some people with a middle class upbringing would think a fabia and a pony was ok, when a lower class family a bmx would be fantastic, its all relative.

Plus Santa isn’t all about the presents, its the ideal that he stands for, its the excitement on the lead up to Xmas, not just the material things 'some' are thinking about.

Bottom line is, you dont need money to make a kid happy, as long as you bring them up with the proper morals and understanding then they will be just fine!

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pinklizzi

Good plan!!! lol!!! I guess parents have to survive some how!




I think so to, we will definately be telling our kids about Santa - you are only little once and it really does make christmas feel very magical - and I think every kid should get to experience this! I don't hold it against my parents for 'lying' about father christmas, it's just one of those things! Did you never get any letters from the elves in school?? That was really exciting too where the older years above you got to write as an elf to the kiddies in the years below - I was so excited thinking one of Santas elves had written to me LOL

Emily-Elizabeth

You bought the C word into this, not me.

But it is all about money... Look at all the adverts in the run up to Christmas. How much money can we make disolve from your bank accounts and how much crap can we flog before the January sales.

I agree with you about the good morals, but Christmas as it is does not encourage that.

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Kandy

My mum always used to tell me the bits of soot that caught light in the back of the chimney (open fire obviously) and danced around, glowed and sparkled etc. were fairies watching my behaviour and reporting back to Father Christmas. Never did me any harm did it Trixibelle (sorry just talking to the invisible fairy on my left shoulder). What's that Trixi "kill 'em all" that's not really in the spirit of Christmas is it? What I want to know is how does it please her Majesty keeping me here? Ah well lights out on the wing, time for my sedative - must go.

Bigw2069

Disposable income = the C word, no matter how you package it Emily.

And Christmas does not teach morals, parents do, how you approach the commercial side is entierly up to you, and granted the huge advertising campaigns do not help, but there are ways and means. It depends entierly on the parenting skills imho

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Emily-Elizabeth

Disagreed. Class is linked with a mentality not money imho. Having a certain mentaily may well mean you earn more money in the long run, but not always.

Take the Beckhams, I would discribe them as working class yet they have more money than they could ever spend.

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PEMBO

Working class ? Nowadays they just sit at home and make money while they do naff all.
Id love a job like that!

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Bigw2069

You can disagree all you like, but how you perceive them doesnt affect their class standing, i can understand that you are looking from the perspective of the upper class being, my local 'Lord Elgin' for instance, and middle class being High ranking civil servants etc but as the dictionary quotes:

Upper class refers to a group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class often have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.

The term "upper class" has had a complex range of meanings and usages. In many traditional societies, membership of the upper class was hard or even impossible to acquire by any means other than being born into it. Since the decline of titled nobility, high income, net worth and education attainment as well as occupational prestige have become enough for a person of middle class origins to be considered upper class in some cultures

The middle class, in colloquial usage, consists of those people who have a degree of economic independence, but not a great deal of social influence or power. The term often encompasses merchants and professionals, bureaucrats, and some farmers and skilled workers

Working class is a term used both in academic sociology as well as in ordinary conversation. In common with other terms relevant to social class, it is defined and used in many different ways depending on context and speaker, and incorporates references to education, occupation, culture, and income. When used in a non-academic situation, it typically refers to a section of society dependent on physical labour, especially when remunerated with an hourly wage.

Do you see a common denominator in the class ladder? Anyway, thats for a different debate

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Emily-Elizabeth

Thank you for the outdated view of the British class system. I would define and arranging things diffrently, but that is for another thread.

I do not mean to be as antagonistic as perhaps I have been sounding. My parents got divorced at Christmas time, and it is still something that haunts me. The way I feel right not is that cannot stand all the falseness and plastic-fantastic joy that is being forced down my throat at the moment.

By using the term 'disposable income' I was more suggesting the amount of money that parents were willing to invest in Christmas, rather than the amount of money parents actually have.

Going back to the fat man with a beard, to me it does seem a little harsh to bribe children into behaving because they might not get as much matierial goods if they don't behave. I am not sure how that fills in with teaching good morals, but I am not a parent.

I think I would sooner tell children the story of Saint Nickerlos (sp??) and have them recieve gifts from me in the telling of that tradition rather than the who Santa and Rudolf bit.

But then I might have kids and be forceable made to eat my words as I cannot get the little blighters to behave without the use of bribes.

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PEMBO

Jesus tap dancing Christ, I never knew Santa would cause so much trouble!!

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Bigw2069