Talking to children about Father Christmas- Blogmas Day 18

Father Christmas is a topic of discussion that I’m sure many parents have gone backwards and forwards on. Whether they want their children to believe or not, what he brings, and how they’d ever explain things if their children started to ask questions.

This is something that Mark and I spent quite a bit of time talking about (probably too much time), as we were both told different things growing up. So we had different ideas on what we wanted Grayson to believe, but we finally settled.

To believe or not to believe?

I initially was 50/50 about wanting to encourage Grayson to believe in Father Christmas at all. I know lots of families and children that not don’t encourage the idea of Father Christmas and instead tell their children that other kids believe in him, and they should respect that.

However, Mark wanted Grayson to have a childhood that included making Christmas as magical as possible and that included Father Christmas. The more I thought about it, the more I did agree that I wanted Grayson to experience that magic.

What does Father Christmas bring?

This was the biggest discussion between Mark and I, because Mark was taught that Father Christmas brought all the presents. Whereas I was told that Father Christmas brought the stockings and 1 special present.

I want Grayson to grow up being thankful that he has so many family members that buy him lovely presents. I also don’t want him being so invested in the idea of Father Christmas that when he eventually finds out, he’s completely devastated.

So in our house, Father Christmas brings the stocking fillers and a special present that Grayson has asked for just from the big man himself.

“Is he real?”

Every child that believes in Father Christmas reaches a stage in their life when their belief waivers. Whether this is from friends at school, things they see on telly or just growing up and starting to question the logistics.

I think if Grayson were to come back in a few months and was really upset that someone had maliciously said to him that Father Christmas wasn’t real, then we would say it’s purely because that person isn’t on the nice list and they don’t get presents from him.

However, If he came back one day and started to question all the finer details then I would probably just sit down and explain to him that it’s a lovely magical belief that a lot of children have. I would also say that although he doesn’t ‘technically’ exist, that it’s not about him being real or not and it’s about the caring and love behind the thought of him that matters.

There are so many amazing examples online if you aren’t sure on how to explain this to your children. Some of my personal favourites can be found here.

At the end of the day though, I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to tell your children about Father Christmas, because they are your children and it’s down to you as their parent to decide.

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How are you planning to handle / do handle the Father Christmas questions?! Let us know in the comments below. You can also check out our other blog posts just here.