Would your child ruin Santa for a non-Jewish child?

amother

OP ↓

Yesterday at 11:24 am

A relative of mine, 12 year old boy, is a know-it-all and big blabbermouth. He takes great pleasure in “educating” others. He told his neighbor, a 6 year old, that Santa isn’t real. The child was distraught and the parents were furious.

Now, I happen to disagree with the whole lying to the kids thing when it comes to Santa or the tooth fairy or whatnot. But, I wouldn’t ruin it for someone else’s child as it’s none of my business.

Are any of your kids the type to blab the truth?

amother

Honeydew

Yesterday at 11:26 am

My kids don't really interact with non jewish kids so it wouldn't come up. Also they aren't really aware of the whole concept.

giftedmom ↓

Yesterday at 11:27 am

It happens all the time with siblings etc. very preteen type thing to do. They’re probably just mad that it’s a Jewish kid.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 11:30 am

giftedmom wrote:

It happens all the time with siblings etc. very preteen type thing to do. They’re probably just mad that it’s a Jewish kid.

No, it had nothing to do with my relative being Jewish. It had more to do with how upset the child was about the news. Additionally, the non-Jewish child is an only child and they likely had hopes of preserving their innocence for a bit longer

Peersupport

Yesterday at 11:33 am

amother OP wrote:

That's not how life works.
Any friend could have shared it with them.

When parents want to have control over the information a child is getting, they need to be one step ahead with the truth and facts about life.
Otherwise different influences and ideas might reach them first.

amother

Hosta ↓

Yesterday at 11:34 am

amother OP wrote:

This is just sad. If I were those parents, I'd be upset too.

As I tell my kids (and try to model this value myself), no need to yuck other people's yums.

↑ giftedmom

Yesterday at 11:35 am

amother OP wrote:

How do you know it had nothing to do with him being Jewish? Nonjewish kids still go to school and meet other kids.

amother

Cornsilk ↓

Yesterday at 11:38 am

Kids talk to each other. Its normal. If parents lie to their children sooner or later the children will find out the truth

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 11:38 am

giftedmom wrote:

How do you know it had nothing to do with him being Jewish? Nonjewish kids still go to school and meet other kids.

Based on what I heard, they would have been upset at whoever was the one that told their child. It happened to be my relative. But had it been a classmate, they would have been upset at that child too and have called up the parents to complain.

amother

Emerald

Yesterday at 11:41 am

No idea if my kids know about Santa but I tried doing this as a kid lol. Our next door neighbor Catholic anthony.. his dad swooped in as I was saying it so no idea if he heard or understood.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 11:42 am

amother Emerald wrote:

No idea if my kids know about Santa but I tried doing this as a kid lol. Our next door neighbor Catholic anthony.. his dad swooped in as I was saying it so no idea if he heard or understood.

Omg!

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 11:48 am

Actually, when I was a kid and had learned that non-Jewish parents lie to their kids about Santa, I was scared that yidden had something like that too. I was so scared that my parents would tell me one day that Hashem isn’t real. I remember asking my parents a few times to give them the opportunity to “confess” if Hashem was real.

amother

Dahlia ↓

Yesterday at 11:56 am

amother Emerald wrote:

No idea if my kids know about Santa but I tried doing this as a kid lol. Our next door neighbor Catholic anthony.. his dad swooped in as I was saying it so no idea if he heard or understood.

I'm dying "Catholic Anthony" 😆

amother

↑ Dahlia

Yesterday at 11:59 am

I didn't grow up frum, but pretty Jewishly involved so from a young age I knew Santa wasn't real..I definitely told a few of my peers and they were not happy lol..oh well, don't lie to your kids Wink

We were recently out somewhere and we saw a Santa..my daughters jaw dropped open and she was like what?????? Isn't this fake? I said yes it's fake..she goes but this doesn't look fake! It was interesting from a kids perspective. Don't worry she knows it's still fake lol

amother

Lavender

Yesterday at 11:59 am

It's normal, I had Jewish relatives in public school who said Santa isn't real in kindergarten to other kids.

ddmom

Yesterday at 12:01 pm

amother OP wrote:

That makes sense!! Smart! You must have been thinking a lot when you were a kid!!!

amother

Oxfordblue ↓

Yesterday at 12:01 pm

amother OP wrote:

Eliyahu Hanavi comes to drink from the cup by the seder and the whole show of sending the kids to the door while the parents try to discreetly pour back some wine from the cup so it looks like he really drank.
That's how we grew up and it didn't shatter much for us when we figured it out that it wasn't actually him that drank.
I wonder what caused you to have such a strong reaction.

amother

Apricot

Yesterday at 12:05 pm

My child absolutely would. Fortunately she doesn’t really know anything about Santa.

I can also say that I did this when I was around the same age and was in kind of a nasty phase. I spoiled it for one of my cousins. She was whining, I was irritated and then she said something about Santa and I snapped, “Santa’s not even real! Those presents are from your parents!” In front of our whole family. You could have heard a pin drop. I, too, was in a lot of trouble. LOL

I’m a convert too so it wasn’t a Jewish/nonJewish thing.

finprof

Yesterday at 12:09 pm

We talked about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. My kids understand that this is not something that we do but that it is something special to their non Jewish friends.Apparently, my eldest son told a younger sibling that he would take her MM candy if she told, but we only found out about that threat years later, lol