Is the tooth fairy real?
Why?
Is the tooth fairy real?
Why are you asking?
I was thinking about my wobbly tooth and the money.
Well your tooth goes under the pillow and you get money.
Yeah but who does it?
What do you want to believe Ellie?
Is the tooth fairy real?
What do you think?
I think.....what do you think?
I think you're old enough now to make your own decision
(Very quietly) You
(Bit louder) I think it's you
You think it's me do you?
Silence
You know I will always tell you the truth
Silence
Is that omission by silence!!!!?
One of the problems was that Maia was in the car with us and I didn't want to burst her bubble too!!
If she talks to me about it again I will tell her the truth because I don't believe in lying about these kind of things.
Yesterday she asked me about Santa and as we don't celebrate Christmas, I explained what I do every year, that Santa is the story of a kind old man from long ago called Saint Nicholas who wanted to get presents for the orphaned children who didn't have any parents. I explain that different counties have different stories and ways to celebrate St Nick. I also tell them that in the 1940's the fizzy drinks company coca cola wanted to make more money and marketed ad designed an image of St Nick, made him look as he does now and called him Santa Claus. Although that's not strictly true either!
I explain how some parents use Santa as a way of making their kids behave around that time with the fear of not getting any presents and that it is a horrible thing to do. Finally we talk about how some children still like to believe that Santa is real and he does indeed deliver all the presents and it wasn't up to us to tell them different. That sometimes we have to play along with the game.
What do you tell your kids about these characters?
Meltdowns - not too many this week
Plot Losing - an ugly one after a silly late night that pleased hubby ;)
Breastfeeding - I think she's coming down with something......
interesting reading, i would love for my kids to hold onto their 6th sense, to be aware that not everything in life can be explained and to be able to think out of the box but i wont lie either. I believe in creative thinking which is of course why its good that you put the question back to them, what do you think? okay why do you think that? i normally answer the questions in a way that I say, well ive never seen a tooth fairy (and im very old) and i have no evidence that they exist, but ...... some people believe in them.
ReplyDeletei remember at school being told, by my aunt who was a teacher that if i didnt believe in santa i wouldnt get a present from him when he came to visit the school - i was bullied into believing, how wrong is that, i knew it was bullshit but didnt want to admit it because i wanted the present - that made me greedy, materialistic and a liar - at a grand age of maybe 7yrs old - amazing upbringing - dont you think?