Kids and Santa: What Age the Truth?

[Guest Nicole]

I don't see why the teacher had to even mention it. It's just stupid. I can't forsee a situation when a teacher would bring that subject up in class.

 

My dad says that since all 3 of us don't believe in santa, some of the magic of christmas is gone because theres nothing like seeing a kids face who believes that santa has been. To be fair, it's a great story and if I ever have kids, I'll try and keep them believing for as long as possible. It won't harm them in my eyes.

[Paul 584]

I don't see why the teacher had to even mention it. It's just stupid. I can't forsee a situation when a teacher would bring that subject up in class.

 

 

No........why would a teacher be talking about Santa around Christmas? Maybe they were discussing the myths surrounding Christmas and where the traditions come from.

[Guest Slim Jim]

Regardless of Santa being real or not, the look on my face when I see the big pile of presents is the same.

[Guest Nicole]

Why the hell do you need to discuss that in class? You can talk about christmas without mentioning Santa once. If you can't, then you completely lack imagination.

[Guest Laffy]

I was told by Toys Are Us when i was 5. They thought i was my mum and told me that the pressents were ready to be picked up. How they can confuse a five year old with an adult i do not know. any way i kept up the pretence until my brother was 7 and then told him as i thought i do not have the joy why should he. Mean i know but still!

[Paul 584]

Why the hell do you need to discuss that in class? You can talk about christmas without mentioning Santa once. If you can't, then you completely lack imagination.

 

If you discussing Christmas traditions then why would you avoid Santa? That would make no sense and be just stupid.

[Guest Nicole]

Heres an idea: stick to the bloody national curriculum. Children are failing in terms of reading and writing, rather than teachers wasting their time, maybe they could work a bit harder in those areas?

 

Teachers doing stuff like that really annoys me. You'd get a fair few complaints if a teacher decided to tell the kids that the christmas story was just figurative, and the nativity isn't real. Why should they be able to do the same with Santa? It's not their responsibility to tell kids things like that, so they should butt out!!

[Paul 584]

Heres an idea: stick to the bloody national curriculum. Children are failing in terms of reading and writing, rather than teachers wasting their time, maybe they could work a bit harder in those areas?

 

Maybe they were writing about the alreday mentioned Christmas traditions. This would fit several of the key stage 2 (7-11 year olds) targets on creative thought (reasoning and enquiry skills). Or can they just not discuss christmas at all? Maybe they should be baned form having a christmas party as well, that takes them away form study.

 

 

Teachers doing stuff like that really annoys me. You'd get a fair few complaints if a teacher decided to tell the kids that the christmas story was just figurative, and the nativity isn't real. Why should they be able to do the same with Santa? It's not their responsibility to tell kids things like that, so they should butt out!!

 

Santa inst ingrained as a religious belief as far as I am aware. Though someone should start one. :lol

[Guest Nicole]

Even if they were writing about christmas, theres no need for the teacher to spell out whether santa was real or not. Surely it would be more creative, and better for the childs development, to be able to write what they want about santa clause, rather than stifling their creativity by saying that santas not real?

 

I still don't understand why a teacher feels it is there place to tell children these kind of things. It's not their responsibility, and if it had been my child I think I would have been quite angry as the story of santa claus and the plausabilities of it is something to be discussed between parent/guardian and child, not for the teacher.

 

My teachers never discussed whether santa was real or not, because it didn't have to be discussed at all. You can talk about santa without mentioning about myths and so forth. It's nicer to keep that part of christmas alive.

[Paul 584]

But at what age should the teachers be safe in talking about it? Wow, a debate betwen me and Nic got back to the origional topic. :lol

Would it be OK for a 16 year old to have the discussion with a teacher? Where is the cut off? At 11 is it not safe to assume most people are 'clued up' (excuse the expresson, couldnt think of a better) and so its OK to talk it over?

 

Or should it just be banned form being talked about at all?

[Guest Nicole]

I think that "personal belief" is a very dodgy area for a teacher to go into, because it can cause so much offence. I think if it was in a one on one situation, and the child had expressed a wish to speak to the teacher about it, then it would be ok. I just don't think that saying stuff in front of the whole class is very sensitive.

[Dead Crow 370]

I think that "personal belief" is a very dodgy area for a teacher to go into, because it can cause so much offence. I think if it was in a one on one situation, and the child had expressed a wish to speak to the teacher about it, then it would be ok. I just don't think that saying stuff in front of the whole class is very sensitive.

I'm with this. At least until primary school, I think that teachers should not talk about Santa unless on a one-to-one basis.

 

At the same time, holy f**k is that parent insane. Taking their 11 year old to Lapland just so they can keep the magic of Santa alive forever? No wonder that kid had a major comedown once the truth was exposed. They've done more damage than good.

[Guest Nicole]

I think it's wrong that the parent was trying to further the belief of santa even further. Maybe at that age they should stop focussing on santa at christmas, and perhaps emphasize that it's a time for family and not necessarily about having gifts.

[Guest Kanenite]

I think I found out when I was about 9 or 10, it didn't fuss me at all, it's cool to believe in this imagination but sometime you'll have to find out. It's not cool however to still believe when you're about 12, you'll look like a total tard.

 

My sister's 3 at the moment and I keep pushing my dad to tell her about Santa but she's not quite there yet, she doesn't get it. Plus there's always the fact that if I told her Santa was coming she'd tell me he wasn't, just like if I told her black is black, she'd say no it's white :D

[Paul 584]

Interesting reply from a teacher

 

Parents forget that whilst their world revolves around one/two/three little darlings, we secondary school teachers have classes of 30+ to look after, SATs, GCSES,Alevels to prepare for, behaviour management from mad kids to deal with, planning, discipline, meetings and 6 lessons per day to teach. Not complaining, it's great and I love it.. but.. there are a few other things on our mind than whether secondary school age children have been told that Santa doesn't exist.

 

There is a huge difference between a nice jolly reception teacher sitting down her class of five year olds and deliberately telling them Santa doesn't exist and a secondary teacher making an off the cuff remark to secondary age children. I teach in a great school, but the kids are open to a huge range of info about sex, drugs, swearing, and god knows what else from the mouths of their fellow pupils. Sorry, to seem harsh but that's the reality of life in a secondary school.

 

As staff we're trying to save them from the dangers of knives, teen pregnancy, drugs, smoking, unemployment and disillusionment, bullying and gangs. And that's in a middle class area.

Santa doesn't even register on our radar.

 

 

the full thead is

 

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=636115

[Guest Nicole]

I don't buy that at all. At 11, drugs, teen pregnancy and whatever wasn't even on the radar and I'm from a very rough estate. The reality is that it wasn't the teachers place to say things like that.

[Guest A.C.]

I don't buy that at all. At 11, drugs, teen pregnancy and whatever wasn't even on the radar and I'm from a very rough estate. The reality is that it wasn't the teachers place to say things like that.

 

Could that be what contributes to its roughness? :lol

 

I'd say that second quote from a teacher seems ultimately believable. Sure, they commit the logical fallacy of misleading vividness but that's easy to recognize and discard while taking in the basic point they're making.

[Paul 584]

I don't buy that at all. At 11, drugs, teen pregnancy and whatever wasn't even on the radar and I'm from a very rough estate.

 

I certainly was at mine....well, not the pregnancy thing, but drugs, smoking, swearin and bullying certainly was.

But that said a lot of that may have been down to what happened at the time in our community.

 

Eleven-year-old Emma Brodie was stabbed to death in April by Carol Ann Barrett, a complete stranger, in a shopping centre in Doncaster. Two days earlier Barrett had been released from the psychiatric unit of Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

 

Thats amongst other things that rocked our village. Nobody was really the same after that.

[Guest The Beltster]

I must admit, pregnancy, smoking and drugs werent anything that was happening in or around school with people my age at 11. I think the first I heard of people in our year smoking was when we were about 14-15. Drugs started creeping into it (mainly weed I think) around 15-16, but as long as you werent involved, you never really saw or heard much of it. Those lot pretty much kept it to themselves.

[Guest Rebekah]

My parents told me he wasnt real when i was 9. I was deeply shocked