Do you tell your kids about the following?

Easter Bunny
Santa Claus
Tooth Fairy


If not why?

We don't really "teach" them but we don't not teach them either, kwim? I have been wrestling with this lately because I don't want my kids thinking that Easter is all about the bunny and candy.. or Christmas is all about Santa Claus and presents. It has all gotten to be so commercialized and it feels like a big competition. Who gets the best Easter candy and finds the most eggs.. what does that have to do with Jesus being resurrected? And a fat guy passing out presents? Nothing to do with Jesus being born at all!!

:onsoapbox :giggle


My hubby says that it is all just in fun and not to read too much into it :nutts but I'm starting to wonder.. am I really doing the right thing for my kids by letting them believe? I honestly don't know if I should encourage it or not :puzz

Trent is 19 month so he does not total understand the concept; however, as he gets older they will come and visit us. I have a 10 year old sister and Santa still comes to my parents house even though I am sure she knows the truth.

Even though Santa and Easter Bunny is not the main reason for the holiday's it is part of the gift and "commercial" part.

Yep, we do :)

We do those things because they are fun traditions.

What do you think of this statement?

"when you teach your child a lie that there is a santa clause a easter bunny and a tooth fairy they grow up to figure that God is also an imaginary thing"

How do you sign your kids Christmas gifts?

From Mom & Dad etc

or

From Santa Claus

What do you think of this statement?

"when you teach your child a lie that there is a santa clause a easter bunny and a tooth fairy they grow up to figure that God is also an imaginary thing"

ohhh good one!:giggle My dad stills believes in Santa. He believes in the spirt of Santa and Easter. Just like the spirt of God. So we are not really lying to our kids. As they get older they will understand the difference. Does any of that make sense?:nutts

ohhh good one!:giggle My dad stills believes in Santa. He believes in the spirt of Santa and Easter. Just like the spirt of God. So we are not really lying to our kids. As they get older they will understand the difference. Does any of that make sense?:nutts

:thumbsup!

If the gifts are from Santa then we only put their name on the present with no from. If they are from a person then we put the person's name in the from area.

I guess I just figured they are two different things. We do not teach Santa or the Eater Bunny we just do those things. I feel that they will take all information and form their own opinions of everything when they are older.

We celibrate santa cluase christmas and easter bunny easter.......because we are not christian...............but we also celebrate our own religious holidays

Sure I tell Madison that Santa brings gifts and that there is an Easter Bunny. Like Jill said, when she gets older she's going to learn what the real deal is about and that it's more about the "spirit" of the holiday. Of course she also gets the Christian side of the holiday, the birth of Jesus and the resurrection. I teach her about that, she gets it at her pre-school and at church.

What do you think of this statement?

"when you teach your child a lie that there is a santa clause a easter bunny and a tooth fairy they grow up to figure that God is also an imaginary thing"

I think it's a load of hooey. :D

We celibrate santa cluase christmas and easter bunny easter.......because we are not christian...............but we also celebrate our own religious holidays

Can I ask a question? If you are not a Christian, then what do those holidays mean to you?

Well, we aren't really religious, so I don't think teaching about the easter bunny or Santa takes away from the religious aspect... not for us, anyways. When we sign gifts, we sign some from mommy and daddy and some from Santa :D

Can I ask a question? If you are not a Christian, then what do those holidays mean to you?

We aren't religious either but we celebrate. It's a tradition :)

Can I ask a question? If you are not a Christian, then what do those holidays mean to you?

We'll be raising our future children as Messianic Jewish:yes . We won't be celebrating Christmas or Easter (we don't celebrate them now), and have no plans to do the Tooth Fairy thing (not to start a controversy, but it's always made me think of selling body parts :giggle ). They just aren't a part of our faith. I'm sure that our children will hear about them (how could they not:dunno ?). We'll just explain the origins/meanings behind them age-appropriately. Trust me, they won't miss a thing! :D They'll have plenty of other fun stuff: like Hannukah and Purim:) .

We do have a visit from Santa and the Easter Bunny, however... My daughter knows why we celebrate each of these. She is 9. My son is only 2 so he does not understand yet. My children only get 3 gifts from Santa which represents the three gifts that baby Jesus received. I think that it is ok to celebrate these as long as the children really know Why they are celebrating.

Of course I do not have kids yet but I fully intend to do the traditions of Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. I was raised Catholic so I always had a good understanding of the religious aspect of the holidays as well as the traditional aspects of santa etc. My mom has always made Christmas very special for us, and I want to do that with my kids too. Here's something..our santa presents were never wrapped...not too many people do that I don't think. They were usually bigger so we knew they were from santa and they just sat out, everything else was just from mom and dad. Now my mom just writes from santa as a joke.. I love the element of surpise the most I think!

for us its not a religious thing. Its a tradition. The tooth fairy comes when they loose a tooth, Santa comes at Christmas and the Easter Bunny is coming on Easter. My kids will figure out the tradition soon enough.

Our children will be brought up with santa and all the "fictional" aspects of the holidays, but also taught the religious reasons for those aspects. We'll tell them that Santa and the Easter bunny are fictional when they start asking questions or when it seems right.

What do you think of this statement?

"when you teach your child a lie that there is a santa clause a easter bunny and a tooth fairy they grow up to figure that God is also an imaginary thing"


What do I think of it? It's a load of crap. My family was Catholic so I grew up in that environment. We also celebrated Christmas and Easter in the more commercial way, with leaving cookies for Santa and getting Easter baskets and having Easter egg hunts. I am not religious and I do not believe in any god, but I certainly don't see god as "an imaginary thing".

I do not have kids but if I did I would teach them about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus because it is tradition. My dad still signs presents for us as "Love, Santa". I love that and I plan on doing the same.

Yes we do, but with the Easter and Christmas holidays, we teach them the real meaning. Santa and the Easter Bunny are just the special bonus. . If you were to ask my children about both holidays, they will tell you about the birth of Jesus on Christmas and his resurrection on Easter.

Can I ask a question? If you are not a Christian, then what do those holidays mean to you?

Family plain and simple

Do you tell your kids about the following?

Easter Bunny
Santa Claus
Tooth Fairy


If not why?

We will not do these things with our children. They will know that they are make believe. Although they will know that other children believe they are real and it would hurt their feelings you tell them they are not real. My little sister is being raised this way and it is not harmed her in anyway.
For Christmas we will give each child three gifts and a stocking. We will then give to others, ie serving at a homeless shelter( when they are older), saving a part of their allowance to bless children who have less then we do. It teaches them giving,compassion, and caring for others which is really what Christmas is all about.
Easter will be about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

What do you think of this statement?

"when you teach your child a lie that there is a santa clause a easter bunny and a tooth fairy they grow up to figure that God is also an imaginary thing"

I think to some extent that is true. It is all in how you present Jesus. If he is just something you "do" on Sundays as you "do" santa and the bunny on holidays then yes I believe that can happen. But is Jesus is something you "do" as a life style ie the way you work out your salvation( living the Bible) then no because actions speak louder then words.

How do you sign your kids Christmas gifts?

From Mom & Dad etc

or

From Santa Claus

Mom and Dad.
Our parents also know how we are doing it with ds and we have asked them to respect our wishes not to say from santa ect

for us its not a religious thing. Its a tradition. The tooth fairy comes when they loose a tooth, Santa comes at Christmas and the Easter Bunny is coming on Easter. My kids will figure out the tradition soon enough.

Same here. Our presents at christmas that come from "santa" aren't signed...they just have the name on it that the present goes to. For us it is all about fun, family, tradition, and giving.

We do it because we were told about Santa and the Easter Bunny and things like that.

I totally plan on telling Bri about them all..it is fun and I think is a big part of childhood. We will probably get more into santa though..my sister is 12 and she still gets present's from "Santa" ..lol I dont see anything wrong with it. I also remember the fun of making the cookies and leaveing out a carrot for rudolph! I also remember my mom dipping my dad's work boots in sugar/flour and putting foot prints from the tree to the front door (we didn't have a fireplace) It was really fun and I remember how excited I was..We are going to do all that stuff for him..I also think we would leave a carrot out for the easter bunny and it would be hald eaten with teeth marks in it .

We are going to do some presents from mom and dad and then have a few of the others from santa