How To Deal With This....

[JenNJ]

I'm not sure I agree with this. While I think that there needs to be discussion about respecting the beliefs of others or not being mean- would you exclude a child who told others that Buddha/Christ/Mormanism etc wasnt real? Can you even exclude on that basis without getting into dangerous grounds? How is a belief/disbelief in Santa more important than religious beliefs?

Not MBC, but I run an inclusive program. The children are free to express their beliefs. I don't tolerate anyone telling them that what they believe is not real.

[MamaBearCanada]

Not MBC, but I run an inclusive program. The children are free to express their beliefs. I don't tolerate anyone telling them that what they believe is not real.

This is closer to what I meant and I agree that noone should tell someone else that what they believe isnt real. But they should be free to say that they dont believe. I'm still not sure you could or should exclude for this though.

[Angelwings36]

I'm not sure I agree with this. While I think that there needs to be discussion about respecting the beliefs of others or not being mean- would you exclude a child who told others that Buddha/Christ/Mormanism etc wasnt real? Can you even exclude on that basis without getting into dangerous grounds? How is a belief/disbelief in Santa more important than religious beliefs?

I know as a parent personally that I would be very upset if my child was told that Santa was not real, especially at a young age. It really does take alot of the fun out of Christmas for the children. I would also be upset if my provider was not doing something to prevent this from happening when my child was in her care and even consider pulling my child from her care if it wasn't stopped immediately. A 9 year old should understand the importance of Santa to young children and shouldn't be spreading around that Santa is not real, after all at one point Santa was likely very exciting for her as well. Although my first approach would be to talk personally one on one with dcg and explain why it is not nice to tell the other children that Santa was not real and then speak to dcm and have her do the same at home to rectify the situation. If dcg didn't stop I would not hesitate to withhold services for this family until Christmas was over in order to prevent other children from losing the magic of Christmas. My job as a childcare provider is to look out for the best interest of my whole group. This also can mean not accepting a child who is trying to destroy the happiness someone else may receive from believing in Santa Clause.

I also would not put Jesus and Santa Clause in the same category.

[Childminder]

I told my children that when they no longer believe in Santa, Easter Bunny, etc...is when they start gettin socks and unders. They are 35 and 32 and still beleive.

Here is a link to a letter I read awhile ago that I felt was a fairly good approach to the issue.http://www.cozi.com/live-simply/truth-about-santa

[VTMom]

Kind of off on a tangent, but it's the way I'll explain the "no Santa" situation. My daughter is so close to not believing, but this letter will be perfect, and it's true in our house.

http://www.circleofmoms.com/article/what-tell-your-kids-when-ask-santa-s-real-page-2-02593?trk=multipage_nextpage_big_buttons

I don't think there's any easy way around it. She is old enough to not share her knowledge about Santa. Could you maker her a co-conspirator?

[Happy Hearts]

What do you mean? There's no Santa?!?! :confused:

[Greenplasticwateringcans]

I've had kids in care that don't believe in Santa. I tell them as a group that "Different people believe different things and that's ok. Some people believe in Santa and some don't and that's ok, too. *I* believe in Santa and *I* believe he comes on Christmas Eve and leaves gifts and we have fun with him at my house all through December. You (the kids) are welcome to believe whatever you want but you may NOT try to ruin someone else' fun who believes in Santa."

I don't like to punish a child just because they don't believe in the same things I do but I will punish a child who is being mean-spirited and trying to ruin someone else's fun because they choose to believe.

Children should be taught by their parents not everyone believes in the same things and that's okay.

It's really a very simple conversation to have with the daycare as a group. People believe in different things. Easy.

[Greenplasticwateringcans]

You could even do a world lesson on what different people believe about the winter holiday time of year. Really though a simple conversation with the group will be sufficient.

[Country Kids]

What do you mean? There's no Santa?!?! :confused:

I think is all false what they are saying! Seriously, no Santa! The 40 years of being on this earth and this kind of nonsense arises-mmmmm.

I say bah humbug on this and continue believing!

[Nellie]

I had an Aunt and Uncle that were fairly well off. My cousins got alot for X-mas and they were expensive items. Santa at there house filled up the stockings and gave each child one average priced gift. The mountains of other gifts(tv's, gaming systems, sterios, computers) were from the parents.

[familyschoolcare]

We do not talk about santa at my day care end of story

[Sunchimes]

I told my children that when they no longer believe in Santa, Easter Bunny, etc...is when they start gettin socks and unders. They are 35 and 32 and still beleive. [/URL]

Absolutely the best solution ever!!! happyface

[Sunchimes]

I think I may have told this story before, but it seems to fit here. Many years ago, I took a second job with Polaroid as a Santa. They were introducing the Polavision camera, which was an early version of a video camera and vcr, sort of. (This was in the late 1970's). The deal was that if you bought one, you got a visit from Santa at your home so that you could film it with your new Polavision.

Well, Polavision bombed and no one bought them, so they were paying a bunch of Santas for nothing. Instead, they sent us out to stores on Saturdays to plug their SX-70. I was suppose to walk around the store in my Santa suit letting parents use my camera to take pictures of their kids with me.

Of course, I was a skinny woman, even with pillows and I didn't fool one single kid. So I told them a story about Santa being busy and of course I wasn't the real Santa, etc. Every single kid was fine with it. No one was upset. They wanted an explanation, I gave them one, and everyone was happy.

This job started the week I met my now husband. Our first dates were at Kmart, while he followed me around the store and helped. We still believe in Santa Claus in this house.