The Christmas Question Many Parents Dread 12/22/2003 11:49:22 PM
When children ask the dreaded question "Is Santa real?", check the sky above you before answering. The scene unfolds in a similar way over much of the Western world. Houses are decorated, the evergreen tree is trimmed and the child watches wide eyed as preparations are made for Santa's visit. Food and drink are put out for him and most leave a carrot or two for his magical reindeer that can fly through the air bringing gifts while everyone sleeps.
Then the child awakes on Christmas morning to find piles of gaily wrapped parcels containing who knows what treasures. For the very young child, the contents are far less important than the packaging and impatient parents teach them to tear off the paper so that they can appreciate their new toys. This does unseen damage to that magical anticipation that only the innocent can have and they soon climb onto the ladder of "I want" - a ladder that can only lead to dissatisfaction as peer pressure adds its discordant note. The child who once played blissfully with an empty cardboard box now demands the latest, overpriced gizmo and parents wring their hands wondering why their children never seem to appreciate them.
By the age of nine or ten, Santa Clause is just for babies and they have learned how to pile on the pressure to get the toy that "everybody else has got", often something their parents really cannot afford.
My son was just about to turn seven - his birthday is a few days before Christmas - and he had friends older than him who assured him that Santa did not exist. This troubled him greatly and so, knowing I always answer a straight question with a straight answer, he looked me in the eye as we walked out of the school gate and asked the question I had not hoped to hear just yet: "Mum, is Santa real?"
What do you say when you are in the middle of a crowd of kiddies, some as young as four or five? I cast my eyes heavenward loooking for inspiration as I considered the "we'll talk about it at home" approach. Suddenly a movement caught my eye and I quickly pointed up at the strangely shaped object moving across the clear winter sky. "What's that?"
A dozen sets of eyes followed the line of my finger and children all around cried out in unison: "SANTA!"
To this day I do not know what it was - it truly did look like a flying sleigh, although it had no reindeer, but the question of Father Christmas' validity was not raised again for some years.
