Do you believe in Santa?

One of the coolest things about teaching 2nd grade instead of 4th grade, is that all of my kids still whole-heartedly believe in Santa.  Even the baddest little 8-year-old of the bunch goes glassy-eyed at the prospect of Santa not agreeing with his current classroom behavior.  I'll say, "I know that mom or dad wouldn't be happy with what you're doing right now", and they'll add, "…and neither would Santa!".  Really!  They kind of "hiss" it at each other like it's some teacher-Santa-joint-conspiracy to get them in trouble.  Forget sending them to the principal.  I should just put a picture of Santa up so I can point to it regularly as a threat warning.

When I ask them to write a story about gingerbread men, they include Santa.  When some candy from the classroom went missing (I swear one of them pilfered it), they were concerned that maybe Santa had snuck in and done it.  When their behavior is less than what is expected of them, they are quick to remind each other that "Santa is watching! Shhhh!".  

I believed, 100%, in Santa until I was 10 years old.  My parents were good at it.  And why the heck not?  It really adds magic to childhood .  It gives hope.  It gives kiddos something to look forward to.  Even if all they have to look forward to is just a holiday party at school, in Mrs. Darhower's classroom, every child deserves that.  In my elementary school, in the 1990s, teachers would jingle sleigh bells through the hallways the week before Christmas, and Santa would come to visit our classrooms.

The neat thing is that they brought this up on their own.  I never mentioned Santa.  I do encourage it, though.  I think that if they see an adult they (hopefully) love and trust believing in hope and magic and Christmas, maybe they'll grow up to believe in it too.  Many of my students are Christians and many tell me they are thankful for Jesus (a Thanksgiving project we did) and many say they love the Bible.  The age-old argument is that if you tell your kids that Santa is real, you are lying and then how will they ever believe you when you say Jesus is real too? 

I'm a product of parents who taught me to believe in Santa and I still believe in Jesus.  You can have both!

I personally think that, in a perfect world, there is a Santa.  And he believes in Jesus too.

As a public school teacher, it's always tough to straddle the line between secularism and religion this time of year.  Kids bring up Jesus and the real meaning of Christmas and I can't teach them about it, but I do nod along in encouragement to let them know I feel the way they do.

As for the lying bit, these kids are more likely to call me out on "Why haven't we played the math game yet today?" or "Snack! You forgot snack!" than they are for anything serious.  That's how it should be in 2nd grade because kids need to be kids, and I think kids need to believe in magic.

Along those same lines…what DON'T I believe in?

Elf on the Shelf. *shudder*