Lizzie really couldn’t wait for Santa to visit us this year. Immediately after our Christmas Eve supper, she declared that it was time to take a bath and go to bed…without reading books or watching “Frosty the Snowman” (who strangely enough speaks Polish but still sings in English).
Last year, Lizzie was very interested in how Santa would get into our home. She couldn’t believe that he had entered so quietly (we had hung bells on our door) and without even a “ho, ho, ho”. I told her that it was simply magic but then she started to freak out that some bad guys could “magic” their way into our house. So that’s when I told her that I had let Santa in.
“You saw Santa?” Lizzie asked in amazement and disbelief.
“Yes,” I replied. “I let him in".”
“You talked to him?” she asked in greater amazement.
“Yes, I did,” I answered quickly.
“Santa speaks ENGLISH?!?” Lizzie shouted in the greatest amazement.
“Yes, he does.” I laughed at her amazement.
I don’t really like to draw out the whole Santa Claus thing because I know some day that she’ll find out the truth. I hope she doesn’t react as one of my student’s daughters reacted…
I have a student who is a very firm family man at least that is how he identifies himself. I’m not sure what that means exactly but I do remember that his wife breastfed their kids a really long time…until one child was 4 and the other was 6.
So at about age 8 when most kids start to work out that Santa is really Mom and Dad, this little girl learned from a friend at school that there was no Santa. She freaked out. She came home in hysterics. Her whole world was shattered. Not because there was no Santa Claus but because her parents had lied to her. She decided that everything her parents had ever told her was a lie too. This little girl stopped going to church, stopped eating her vegetables, stopped doing her homework, etc. In the end they had to take her to a psychologist…all because of Santa Claus.
Can you believe it?
Lizzie naprawdę nie mogła się doczekać Mikołaja w tym roku. Natychmiast po kolacji wigilijnej zadeklarowała, że już czas na kąpiel i spanie … bez czytania książek albo oglądania Frosty the Snowman (który jakoś tak dziwnie mówi po polsku ale śpiewa po angielsku).
W zeszłym roku Lizzie zainteresowało to jak Święty Mikołaj dostał się do naszego domu. Nie mogła uwierzyć, że wszedł tak cicho (powiesiliśmy dzwonki na drzwiach) i bez swojego HO! HO! HO! Powiedziałam jej, że to po prostu czary, ale wtedy ona się przestraszyła, że jacyś źli ludzie też mogą wejść w czarodziejski sposób do naszego domu. Wtedy więc powiedziałam jej, że to ja wpuściłam Mikołaja.
-Widziałaś Mikołaja? Lizzie spytała wielce zadziwiona.
-Tak- odparłam. – Wpuściłam go.
-Rozmawiałaś z nim?- spytała jeszcze bardziej zadziwiona.
-Tak – odpowiedziałam szybko.
-Mikołaj mówi po angielsku!?- Lizzie krzyknęła w największym zadziwieniu.
-Tak, mówi. – zaśmiałam się z tego jej zadziwienia.
Nie chcę tak naprawdę przerysowywać tego całego wizerunku Świętego Mikołaja, bo wiem, że kiedyś odkryje całą prawdę. Mam nadzieję, że nie zareaguje tak jak córka jednego z moich uczniów…
Mam studenta, który jest bardzo rodzinny- tak przynajmniej sie opisuje. Nie jestem pewna, co to dokładnie oznacza, ale pamiętam, że jego żona karmiła dzieci piersią naprawdę długo … do czasu aż jedno miało 4 a drugie 6 lat.
No więc w wieku około 8 lat kiedy większość dzieci rozpracowuje to, że Mikołaj to tak naprawdę mama i tata, ona dowiedziała się w szkole, że nie ma Mikołaja. Przeraziła się. Wróciła do domu rozhisteryzowana. Cały jej świat rozsypal się na kawałki. Nie dlatego, że nie ma Mikołaja, ale dlatego, że jej rodzice kłamali. Postanowiła, że wszystko co rodzice jej wcześniej powiedzieli to też były kłamstwa. Dziewczynka przestała chodzić do kościoła, przestała jeść warzywa, przestała odrabiać lekcje itd… W końcu musieli zabrać ją do psychologa… a wszystko przez Świętego Mikołaja.
Możecie w to uwierzyć?
6 comments:
Seems that I am the only one commenting on your blog at the moment:)
My son is 8 and he still believes in Santa. We are thinking this is the last year. Last year one of his classmates told him and several other friends that Santa did not exist. Well - the friends told that girl that she was wrong:)
This year we were invited to an evening with Santa at a friend's house. Santa came, talked to the kids, had a gift for each child and a little chat with each of them. And my son said: "this was the real Santa because only the real Santa could know that I like Kansas University Jayhawks". So - until the next year - we are safe:)
And about your student - no comment! - other than - based on nursing the kids until 4 & 6. I think that family has issues...
Poor little girl, really unbelievable that Santa could cause this, maybe they really had other issues as well (too much milk ;p).
I don't remember the moment when I stopped believing, I guess after 2nd Christmas when I didn't get what I wrote in the letter to Santa, and in fact I was mad on my parents that they even don't try to pretend that he exists. Well that started the 'we are not buying presents' thing that is till now. No presents at Christmas ;)
I hope my kids won't lose all their faith in parents when they will know the truth...
This year my son (who is almost 5) went with me to see Santa who came with firefighters in our neighborhood. Santa gave him candies and talked with him for a while.
Later my son told me (in a very serious voice) that Santa didn't know his name. I think my son was disappointed because he was worried that he won't get any gifts if Santa doesn't recognize him. I told him that this Santa was not the "main" one, he was just a helper.
Happy New Year!
Matali
PS. In my opinion it was better when you separated Polish and English texts, now it's harder to read it because you have to skip some paragraphs (and read more carefully ;)
Matali - I fixed the texts on this one and will separate from now on, so it should be easier to read. We've also used the "helper" story. I try to keep my story simple so I don't slip up on the details. I guess that is always a good strategy when you are not telling the truth ;)
ucieczka - I remember strangely enough that I didn't believe in Santa but I did believe in the Easter bunny. What a strange child I must have been.
Kasia - Next year, you'll have to open up the Santa subject before Christmas and see what your son has to say about it. Maybe he'll figure it out himself and then you can talk about "the spirit of Christmas" and all that.
And yes, I think that family definitely has issues ;)
I think part of the problem was that the girl had become overly self-centred. We had the perfect transition with our daughter. When very young, she excitedly waited for Santa to arrive with her presents, which he did. Then, one year, she selflessly felt it was sad that Uncle, who was supposedly busy doing something with the car, was never there to see Santa arrive. It took a couple of years to be sure, but having thought about someone else rather than herself, the process of understanding and acceptance was quite smooth.
Pan Steeva - It is always better when they figure it out for themselves but what a nice way to figure it out :)
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