Writer's Block: Million Dollar Smile

[aliki]

[Error: unknown template qotd]My parents didn't believe in teaching us such things, so we didn't have Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairies, or even any Buddhist gods or anything like that. 

We learned early on that our parents worked hard to provide for us, that when they did get us gifts, they did so because they loved us. We never expected gifts and when we did receive them, it was only because we truly deserved it. 

Some people said they ruined a child's imagination...  but I think it made me love my parents so much more for all the contributions and sacrifices they made for me growing up. 

Oh, and I love this Calvin & Hobbes strip:

Comments

[smittenbyu]

haha if you can believe it people are asking what we are getting D for her second birthday! We are getting her a haircut. People look at us strangely when we say that. ah well.

I hope I can replicate the same thing parents did too... I can count the number of "gifts" dad got me. I cherished those so much! And yet parents were generous in so many other ways! Dad does say though it's harder these days with all the adverts around, the exposure to other kids. In my childhood days I was surrounded with kids in similar socio-economic status, so no real peer pressure!

[aliki.livejournal.com]

We'll be on Spring Break vacation for Erika's birthday, so hmm... I guess we'll be buying her dinner and maybe the restaurant will bring her a cupcake or something? hahaha. Ah well.

[filmstar.livejournal.com]

How has your own upbringing influenced your parenting choices with Santa/Tooth Fairy/etc?

[aliki.livejournal.com]

Brian is *BIG* into the Santa thing. If I had it my way, I wouldn't tell her about Santa at all, but I understand that it's a tradition he feels very strongly about, so I concede. If I had it my way, I'd tell her that the Christmas season is about spending time with ones you love, giving to those less fortunate than you, and helping those around you. This would include going together to the store and using money that would be given to her for Christmas to purchase gifts for homeless/less-fortunate families in our neighborhood, to assist at the soup Kitchen, to buy gifts for those you love. And not receive gifts from an old white guy who watches over your behavior and rewards you if you're "good".

[sooshi.livejournal.com]

Over Christmas, Miguel had to remind me not to tell his nieces/nephews that Santa wasn't real. I didn't even think about that since we never believed in any of that.

Plus, we never had a chimney so Santa had no way to reach us :P

We believed in Buddhist Gods but it wasn't like they brought us anything you know? Come to think of it, I don't even know why we did.

[aliki.livejournal.com]

Ah, we don't have a chimney either.

In German tradition, I told her that Santa comes in through the window. Totally freaked her out, thinking about a man with a big burlap coming in through the window. She thought he'd take toys, not leave them.

Other parents have told me it's like Santa Clause, where Tim Allen creates a chimney where one doesn't exist, because it's MAGIC.

[countessof-roth.livejournal.com]

My mother was shocked when I said we're not doing santa. Or the tooth fairy.

No offense to ANYONE who does it, but to me , its lying to a kid, and once they figure that out... its not that "the magic dies" its that you loose credibility.

I think what' we'll do when Roland looses his first tooth, is take him out for ice cream kind of a "hey ! milestone! you're growing up" sort of thing.

[countessof-roth.livejournal.com]

And i just realized I put loose instead of lose. GAH.

[filmstar.livejournal.com]

its not that "the magic dies" its that you loose credibility.

This statement makes total sense, and yet, I grew up with parents who did the whole tooth fairy/easter bunny/santa claus schtick, and I don't remember ever feeling that way about them. So.... hm.

[countessof-roth.livejournal.com]

Oh , see for me, it was "if they're lying about this, WHAT ELSE ARE THEY LYING ABOUT"

[aliki.livejournal.com]

Me too. I hate the idea of lying to kids for no reason other than parent think it's somehow great to live in an imaginary world? What exactly do these Santa/tooth fairy/Easter bunny do? Keep kids in line because they're afraid to be bad? Because they want a reward for being good? What happened to inherent morals and values?

B

[(Anonymous)]

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― Albert Einstein

IMAGINATION is a good thing.. It isn't about LYING, but rather allowing a world of possibility to exist.