We are in this time of the year again. It is Mieka’s first Christmas coming up. They had a Father Christmas at the crèche last Friday. We missed it, of course, one of the many firsts we missed already… (Stop the whining, Karen.) She was not impressed and cried when she saw the Red Beardy Man. There are a lot of children who are not impressed with the Red Beardy Man. We suspected beforehand that she would not be impressed, because she cried when we showed her Ronald McDonald at McD’s.
These Red Men are scary! Babies do not like them! Now we have to desensitize our children to start liking them? But we all do it!
Why do we bother? Maybe it is the connection with presents which do it in the end? Somewhere they start to react with glee and anticipation when they see the Red Beardy Man. Maybe because we remember how much we used to enjoy Christmas time with a Father Christmas and presents. In the time before our bubbles got burst and we learnt that it is actually our parents who gave us the presents. Why can’t we say from the beginning the presents are coming from us? We lie for years about things like Father Christmas and the tooth fairy.
I’m a sucker for traditions and fun, so I know we will also be doing the tree and the presents for Mieka. Strange the things we learn our children… Am I just being neurotic and over thinking, or is the X-mas gloom of the period getting to me already?
These Red Men are scary! Babies do not like them! Now we have to desensitize our children to start liking them? But we all do it!
Why do we bother? Maybe it is the connection with presents which do it in the end? Somewhere they start to react with glee and anticipation when they see the Red Beardy Man. Maybe because we remember how much we used to enjoy Christmas time with a Father Christmas and presents. In the time before our bubbles got burst and we learnt that it is actually our parents who gave us the presents. Why can’t we say from the beginning the presents are coming from us? We lie for years about things like Father Christmas and the tooth fairy.
I’m a sucker for traditions and fun, so I know we will also be doing the tree and the presents for Mieka. Strange the things we learn our children… Am I just being neurotic and over thinking, or is the X-mas gloom of the period getting to me already?
Maybe it's just me, but it feels wrong to teach children to "trust" someone against their instincts. Do we want to teach our children to trust older, strange men, with the promise of presents? It also goes against the grain to teach them the other "fairy tales" stuff. I must admit - I did it with my kids, but I'm not sure I would do it again. It is difficult to know how to handle these situatons. Only now, in retrospect and looking back do I think maybe I would have done it differently if given another chance!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right! I did not even think about it in that context! I'll have to re-think my thinking - I CAN do it differentkly with Mieka. That's the good thing about doing it again at an older age! :)
ReplyDeletethis is exactly what i was on about in my last blog post... how do we know where to draw the line with encouraging imagination? Thing is I remember loving all fairy tales but when i read them to my 4 yr old now i realise almost all of them have rather evil undertones... leaving your children to fend for themselves in the forest? ogres wanting to eat children alive? the list goes on. At least I am saved the xma predicament being muslim and all. but hey nobody ever claimed parentingg would be easy hey?
ReplyDeleteMmmmm, my son is having his first xmas too, he'll only be 10 months so I dont think he'll really understand.....I wonder if he'll be scared of Santa??
ReplyDeleteLisa, same here. Would love to see his reaction (or maybe not) when he meets Santa for the first time. Also looking forward to playing tooth mouse or tooth fairy (which one is it these days?)
ReplyDelete