Santa and Poor Kids

My son believe that Santa breaks off pieces of his spirit... Like sparkles... And sends them out all over the world. Mall Santas get sparkles (which then go back to the spirit at night) as do RANDOM PEOPLE. Either to do good things in the name of Santa, or to keep an eye on kids (naughty, nice, in need of help, etc.).

He came up with all of this when he was 2 or 3.

I have completely adopted his reasoning.

yet one more affirmation that not teaching my children to believe in Santa was the wise choice. Here are you're options: You tell them that the poor kids must have been naughty, Santa is a jerk, or come clean on the Santa story.

Wow. Kids are so smart! How about:

"Poor parents can't buy p.j.s or clothes or slippers or coats, so maybe Santa concentrates on basics for poor kids, that is stuff they dearly need but the parents can't buy them. So we can help them out by donating to groups that provide the 'extras'!"

I don't know what happens in your house, but Santa only gave our kids one main gift, plus a stocking. The rest of the zillions of presents were from mom, dad and relatives.

You could just tell them that Santa brings the poor kids one gift, like he does for them, but that their families don't have extra money to buy gifts.

However, if in your house Santa brings your kids a zillion gifts, I don't know what to suggest. I always told my kids that Santa had a whole world full of children to give gifts to, so he couldn't afford multiple or extravagant gifts.

Your kids sound pretty perceptive. :)

Aunt Mel Mel - LOL!

In our house santa only brought a couple things per child. the rest was always from mom and dad. that way on the really broke years santa still only brought one or two things and the kids understood mom and dad didn't have a lot of money.

Not all of our kids' presents come from Santa, so you could explain that they'll get one or two things from Santa, but the community helps with the other toys and clothing they might need.

Santa only brings one or two presents to our house, the rest are from family, so there is really nothing to explain. The kids assume the poor kids still get the one present from santa, but that since the family is poor that would be the only present without help.

Those people giving poor children presents are Santa's helpers. That is how Santa gets presents to all the children...by using his helpers.

Man...that's a toughie.

On a lighter note: Check out the movie "Arthur Christmas." We loved it.

I've said that sometimes Santa has trouble finding the houses of these little boys and girls bc they may not have a house/home or they may move around a lot because their parents are struggling. So Santa doesn't plan as many gifts for them or sometimes can't plan any so we have to step in.

Santa gives people opportunities to serve God's children.

Then take your kids to the store with a certain amount of money to purchase a few small gifts. Have your kids wrap the gifts and choose who they want to drop them off to.

Everyone can think of a family in their circle who is struggling right now. You can talk to the parents of the children ahead of time to find a time when they will be home. Drive to the house at that time....have your kids run up and "doorbell ditch" and then let them watch as the door opens and the kids come and see the magic of Christmas that just happened on their doorstep. Or do it totally anonymous...that is fun too!! (Just make sure that lights are on and it looks like people are home so nothing gets stolen)

We adopt a few families from our church or school communities and do the 12 days of Christmas for them. It is one of our favorite traditions..the kids love the doorbell ditching and knowing they have brought fun and joy to friends.

Santa has traditions he keeps with different cultures...and different families. Sometimes he fills only the stocking, or a shoe left on the porch...sometimes he brings needed clothing items and not many toys, sometimes one or two toys and sometimes a bit more. Santa does not do the same at every house. Sometimes people just want to help out families that need a little bit more so we see this on the news or announced at school or church.

Good luck with this one...keep the magic and wonderment of Santa alive as long as you can!!!

Last year in our house my kids were told "Santa is not bringing live animals this year"...DOH! One of her friends got a dog from Santa...I said "well maybe he made special arrangement with her parents, unfortunately, he did not contact us on that"...

I am a fly by the seat of my pants on those answers...in this case I would have said much like others below "Santa has lots of helpers that help him with kids that move around a lot...we get to help the helpers"....

We told our daughter that parents have to give money to Santa so he can pay his elves for all their work and that some families can't afford to do that, so they get help from other people to get gifts. And we always donate gifts so they can also understand that giving is a good thing to do.

Last Christmas my (then) 3.5 year old asked me what happens to kids whose parents don't have enough money to buy presents. Our response was to let him pick an angel off of the tree at Church and buy for that child.

My suspision here is that your children are starting to figure out the whole Santa thing... things aren't really adding up anymore to them. Naughty and nice? Well, what about the really good kid in class who has no money? Hmm...

I would just explain that Santa gives gifts to all children and people in the community give to children in need as well. Say that you aren't really sure "who gives what to whom", but that at this time of year everyone, Santa too, comes together to make sure that children have special treats to open.

I asked my mother this question when I was a kid. Her answer was that Santa's reindeer needed special food to fly. That food cost money. Santa got that money from the parents. I also asked my mother why the gift wrap she used and the one Santa used was sometimes the same. When I caught her wrapping gifts one year, she told me that Santa offered parents many gift options. She couldn't afford the gift wrap, so she had to wrap the presents Santa delivered. My mother had a very great imagination on how to keep the spirit of Santa alive. It worked for me.

My 5 year old son has started asking a lot of why and how questions about Santa this year. He has several Santa themed story books. One of them has a picture of the map Santa uses to deliver presents. My cute son asked me where Japan was on the map. Guess what? Japan isn't on the map. Go figure... When I told him how silly that map was for not having Japan on it, he told me that there must be two Santa's. One just for Japan. I told him that he was very clever to have figured out that there is more than one Santa and left it at that for now.

My son has some grasp of imagination now. I want to write novels and/ or children's books one day. I have some ideas now, and my son knows that is one of my dreams. He told me that he wanted to make Disney movies like CARS or Winnie the Pooh someday. I accidently said something along the lines that Pooh was a great character that someone had created. He then asked if Pooh was someone's imagination. When I answered yes, that he was the little boy Christopher Robin's toy bear, he told me he didn't want to make movies anymore. I asked him why. With tears in his eyes he said because Pooh isn't real. I asked him if he liked Pooh. He said that he loved Pooh. I told him that someone's imagination made lots of people happy through Pooh. I asked him if he still wanted to watch Pooh. He answered that he did. I asked how he would feel if his imagination could make lots of people feel happy just like Pooh does. He has an imaginary friend. I asked him if his friend was real to him. When he answered yes. I told him that Pooh was real to the person who made him. He got this big smile on his face, and said that he wanted to make movies again. I can see this conversation coming into play years later in regards to Santa.

I guess I strayed a little from your question, but if your girls have questions, I might encourage them to think about what the possible answers might be if you want to keep the magic of Santa alive for as long as possible.

How about something like, Santa might bring them a gift or two like you get, but their mommies and daddies can't afford to give them gifts themselves. And point out that while Santa gives your girls gifts, you also give them something. So people helping out others is to help those moms and dads be able to buy their kids something when otherwise, they would get nothing from their parents. That's the best I've come up with so far. I know i'll get asked that in the next year or so. We've already explained that some little girls and boys don't have toys, so we have to help them out and donate our toys. But it hasn't been asked in the Santa context yet.

Maybe you could just say that perhaps Santa doesn't always give children everything that they want, and more of what they may need. Perhaps Santa got them something really nice that they can't bring to school?
I think it's a wonderful thought to have them get involved in helping other needy families during this time of year. Perhaps it will cause them to ask more questions, perhaps not. I think that honesty is the best policy, so I would be truthful about who Santa really IS if they start putting it all together.

I think a lot of children misunderstand what Christmas is about, and that makes me so sad. It's not all about gifts, toys and jolly elves. It's about family, faith, and love for one another. We sponsor several families every year, and our son is involved during the entire process.

Tell them that kids get gifts from Santa and from their parents and grandparents. If the parents and grandparents don't have much money, or if the kids don't have 2 parents and 4 grandparents, they don't get much of anything. So everyone who is able has to pitch in to help out - Santa only has so many toys in his workshop. His list is of who's naughty and nice, and not who's poor and doesn't have grandparents.

Not sure if it's the right response or not, but I tell my daughter "Mommies and Daddys have to send Santa money to help with the cost of making the gifts. Some Mommies and Daddys aren't able to send as much money as others. So it's nice when those that are more fortunate can help."

You might tell them that Santa has elves or that it's a way regular people can help Santa out. I am waiting for that question from my DD. She's already puzzling out Santa and she's 4! She's too smart for her own good.

When my SD got old enough to no longer believe in Santa I said, "He still exists. I believe." as we wrapped presents for the Angel Tree. She got the hint.

I'm with all the others who reference the fact Santa only brings a couple presents and mom and dad bring the rest....

But as I was reading through all the responses I also had a thought that this is a perfect opportunity to also talk about equality and fairness. They seem old enough to go there. The number of presents doesn't necessarily have to equal each other to represent santa's (or anyones's) love for someone.

Believing in santa (or anything) is not only about getting presents - it can be a wonderful learning tool too. Ah to be a kid again :) Have fun!

I haven't experienced this question myself but I know a lady who has told her kids that Santa gets money from the parents so using that logic you could tell your kids that Santa can only do so much and parents help with the cost of Christmas presents (especially all those special electronics etc that the elves just can't make) so the poor/needy aren't able to give to Santa that is why others help out.

Ditto Momma W. My guy is 3.5 and we donate toys, he likes helping someone to receive fun gifts. Use it as a stepping stone to help them care about others, and when they no longer believe continue the tradition.

My parents told me when I asked this question many years ago, that Santa has to buy the materials to make the toys. They aren't made from nothing. Satisfied me.
In my house, Santa always wraps gifts in special wrapping paper for each child i.e. princess lover gets disney princess wrapping paper, 2nd child gets tinkerbelle and boy gets transformers or star wars. I use leftovers from last year to wrap presents for neices and nephews, grandparents. They never seem to realize the wrapping paper I use was what Santa used on their presents last year.

What compassionate children you have, good job mom!

I would just say that if he gave them lots of toys it would make the mom and dad feel bad about themselves, that they were bad moms and dads who could not buy more. Make the answer be about making the mom and dad feel good about what they can buy for the kids and Santa not overshadowing their gifts.