What do your children believe? We need to talk: how to tell a child that there is no Santa Claus. What do children believe in?

Just recently I was asked: “What did you believe in as a child?” I thought for a long time before answering. It was difficult for me to find the right words, and I decided to write about it.

Each child is unique in himself. You are wrong to say that children are stupid or uninteresting. A child is a small world filled with mysteries. And I really wanted to solve at least one. What do children believe?

Oddly enough, there were no answers like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. “Santa Claus is only in the New Year,” one kid answered me. So the secret lies in consistency. Some adults believe in God. The reason for faith is precisely that he, naturally, in their opinion, helps in difficult times. For children, everything is more complicated. There are practically no difficult times. After all, there are parents who will always support and help. And adults, in turn, believe in completely different things.

I'm ashamed to admit, but I don't remember what I believed in. But I remember well what my son believed in when he was little. He really believed in Santa Claus. Every year he and I wrote a letter to Grandfather Frost. Of course, I didn’t send him anywhere. Now I regret that I did not save these letters. And how great it would be to read them now that he is an adult. Today's children also believe in Santa Claus, but how long and how much they believe in him depends on their parents. There are parents who immediately destroy the fairy tale and begin to ridicule the child for believing in fairy tales. It seems to me that with such behavior they are simply robbing their child, partially depriving him of his childhood. After all, every child’s childhood is closely connected with a fairy tale. And by destroying this fairy tale, you can simply not give the child his fairy tale, which will subsequently greatly affect him. One of my friends’ sons believed in Santa Claus until the second grade. And then his older sister told him that this was not true, and that his parents put gifts under the tree.

Which of the modern children is afraid of the terrible Barmaley? Who will you be captivated by flying with cute funny Carlson? And even more so, who is waiting for the night wizard Ole Lukoje with his two umbrellas - black for naughty children and colored for obedient ones, under which, accordingly, you either dream of nothing or dream of amazing fairy tales? What is it like, a modern country called Childhood?
This is a dangerous thing - generalization. There will always be those who say: “Well, that’s not entirely true.” And yet I will try to summarize what a modern country called Childhood looks like.
In a modern country called Childhood, there is EVERYTHING you want, from material desires. Materially, the country of Childhood is well provided for. The most delicious goodies - please. The most wonderful toys are in stock. The TV has dozens of channels, and each one has cartoons and films for every taste and at any time of the day.

What children believe is the problem that F.A. ponders. Iskander.

The writer, describing in detail the childhood memories of his hero, comes to the conclusion that in the touching time of their growing up they feel pretense and falsehood, believe in the rationality of the world and goodness. Thus, a detailed description of the feelings of a boy who feels sorry for the deer, which the hunter will definitely kill, and who does not believe in the inaction of the peasant who did not come to the aid of the horse, his friend and breadwinner, indicates that children believe in goodness and justice, and not evil and falsehood . “Childhood believes that the world is reasonable,” F.A. Iskander asserts with confidence.

It is difficult to disagree with the opinion of F.A. Iskander. Undoubtedly, children perceive the reality of the world around us in a special way; unlike adults, they believe in kindness.

I came across a very interesting topic on another forum. There, the mother of a boy who was about to go to school was concerned that he still believed in Santa Claus, ghosts, angels, etc., and she was afraid that they might start laughing at him at school when this came up. At the same time, she really didn’t want to tell him the sad truth herself.

Yes, and it’s not clear how to do this.

I didn’t think about it myself. It is clear that there is no need to tell your child nonsense about storks and children that are bought in the store. With God, everyone decides for themselves. Well, what about Santa Claus? We have some kind of confusion - it seems that Santa Claus brought the gifts, but on the other hand, everyone knows that this book was given by Grandma Lena, and that one by Grandma Sveta, although Santa Claus had them in his bag. I got out of it this way - we gave the gifts to Santa Claus, and he already gave them to you.

What do children believe?

How often, looking at a child, we sigh: “What an adult you are already!” And a minute later we see a completely different manifestation and understand how much of a baby he is. Children are able to amaze and surprise us with such contrasts with enviable regularity. He was just talking about the advantages of a grader compared to an excavator, and now he’s crying because he doesn’t want to eat porridge. On New Year's Eve, a child is outraged by the environmental aspect of cutting down Christmas trees and at the same time firmly believes in Santa Claus. How to assess the level of “childishness” when choosing a gift for a child? This requires a very precise hit! If you give something “too childish” you will offend, if you give something too adult and serious you will not be interested. Even very attentive parents can only guess what will captivate the child and what will not. Giving a child a gift that will actually interest him is a great parenting art. We have great difficulty assessing the degree of children's gullibility.

Today, even the most naive schoolchild will not believe that for an anniversary ruble you can get a new car, and a kilogram of dried mosquitoes can significantly increase the level of personal well-being. But they believed in the 1980s.

Blade in gum

The lucky ones who took part in the VI Festival of Youth and Students in 1957 were able to try imported chewing gum for the first time. In the 80s, chewing gum among children became a subject of bargaining and “speculation.” The owner of the Turbo wrapper, which appeared in the late 80s, automatically “rose” in the eyes of his peers. What can we say about those who could effectively take a pack of gum out of their pocket and offer it to friends. At this time, there were rumors among schoolchildren that the still active “enemies” were inventing new sabotage to harm the Soviet pioneers, for which blades were placed in some chewing gum.

What do children believe?..

Project "Little ART e.V." is an international project that encourages children from all continents aged 4 to 16 years to imagine and show what they believe in, what is important and dear to them, what worries their souls.

What is the most important thing for children and adolescents? What do they dream and fantasize about? Maybe it’s faith in God or Gods, or in a higher power - an Ideal, maybe it’s some kind of Doctrine or just a Principle? Or maybe it is Love and Friendship, which inspire with the power of instinct and will be an experience that gives everything its meaning? Our faith determines both politics and science, as well as culture, society and relationships within it. Children are our future, and their beliefs will shape our world tomorrow.

In Slavic countries, a popular New Year's hero is Father Frost. He wears a long fur coat, a hat and red mittens. Grandfather's face is hidden under a thick gray beard. He moves on skis or reindeer, and his faithful companion is the Snow Maiden.

The most popular “competitor” of Santa Claus is Santa Claus. He wears a short beard and dresses in red pants, a cap and a fur coat, tying it with a belt. Grandfather delivers gifts in the USA, Canada and Australia, delivering them by air on reindeer, and sneaks into the house through a pipe.

Mothers with different points of view shared their views on the situation and told why their children believe or do not believe in the New Year's wizard. And the psychologist explained what the pros and cons of this belief are and at what age and how it is better for a child to learn the truth.

Opinion

It must be said that it does not exist

Albina
Eliseeva

Opinion

We need to maintain faith in miracles

Maria
Pershikova

daughter 5 years old

My daughter still believes in Santa Claus. She drew a letter for him and expects him to come on New Year's Eve and leave a gift for her. It doesn’t bother her that she’s already seen Santa Claus about 20 times since the beginning of December. She did not ask a direct question about whether he exists or not. I don’t know yet what I will do if this happens. But, most likely, I will say that it exists for those who believe in it. He does miracles, but most likely she won’t be able to see him, and all the Santa Clauses she sees before the holidays are people in disguise. Still, I want the child to believe in something fairy-tale longer in order to prolong his childhood. We were all small once and believed. And it’s okay, now they’re adults, sensible.

Psychologist's comment

Irina
Vasilyeva

family psychologist

It is important to first decide what age we are talking about. It is useful for children under six years of age to believe not only in Santa Claus, but also in other fairy tales and miracles. First of all, because it develops imagination and creative thinking and teaches goodness. But do not manipulate this faith, even if you really want to threaten Santa Claus with no appearance and lack of a gift for bad behavior. Remember that at some point the child will also have the opportunity to manipulate you: having realized that Santa Claus does not exist, the child will continue to pretend to believe in him in order to receive, for example, additional gifts.

Usually, by school, children themselves understand what's what. But if the child begins to question the existence of Santa Claus earlier, the parents will have to say something. Everything here is very ambiguous and depends on the possible reaction to the truth of each individual child. It's great if you know how things are going in your child's social circle. If most of the friends in kindergarten or school believe in Santa Claus, it is better not to destroy your child’s faith, because he will feel outside the team. The reverse option is also possible. In any case, do not limit yourself to one phrase, but spend time on a full-fledged dialogue, find out what your child feels and thinks.

Little Art

Help children take part in this competition and send their works. Whether it is photography or painting, video or text, each child carries out a personal, individual embodiment of his beliefs. The selection of children's works sent to us will be carried out by a professional jury. The best works will be collected in a specially published almanac, as well as in an electronic Internet gallery; in addition, the works will be presented at various exhibitions.

Little Art project “What do children believe?” - This is part of multifaceted, diverse cooperation in the international space. Art connects and creates a dialogue that transcends cultural, religious, social or national boundaries. Children, through their creativity, reflect their personal understanding of global diversity. By encouraging children's creativity and imagination, the organization promotes dialogue and cooperation among children around the world. Do you trust your parents' experience? What impact do the school and community have? Do you have your independent opinion? How do new media and technological advances in global society influence your opinion?

The “What Children Believe” project, on the one hand, gives each participating child a reason to think about the world around him, develop his creative imagination and the possibilities of its expression. On the other hand, the goal of the project is to introduce children to the sensations and feelings of children in other countries, to tell them about the spiritual values of other peoples. We hope that during the work there will be many intercontinental acquaintances among children. I would like to see interest and curiosity in other cultures arise, so that the desire for mutual understanding is encouraged. Finally, the project should not only be new information, but also the emergence of new questions, new research.

Little Art thanks in advance all the children for sending us their works, as well as the initiator of the project, German artist Antje Tesche-Mentzen.

Conditions for participation:

Topic: “What do children believe?”

Age groups from 4 to 16 years:
4-8; 9-12; 13-16

Medium Painting, Photography, Texts, Three-dimensional objects,
Installations, Animation, Video, Digital stories.

Format No restrictions
Video max. 20 minutes.

Technique and materials No restrictions

Jury Famous artists of Munich

Our address is little ART e.V.
Amalienstr. 41/Rgb.
D-80799 Munich

Contact Elena Janker e.janker little-art.org
Tel. 0049 89 288065-46
Fax 0049 89 288065-47

Please send your work along with completed and signed application forms.

Application
to take part in the project

First Name Last Name Age
School/Organization

Name Last name of the manager

Address/Street ZIP Code Country

Tel. Fax E-Mail

We certify that the art we provide is the original work of the child named above. We agree that little ART e.V. reserves the right not to return this work, as well as the right to publish it, present it at opening days and reproduce it. A reproduction of this work may be provided to other organizations or sold at auction without notice to the author.

Parents Signature Date

Last name of the Educator\Teacher Signature Date

Please include a completed and signed application form with your entry.

It seems that the 90s were not long ago, but people born after their end have already become adults. And they hardly know what teenagers who lived at the end of the 20th century believed in.

Stepping on a sewer hatch means illness

A stupid, but useful sign that forced you to learn: there is no need to stomp on hatches. It threatened not only with diseases, but also with the fact that those who stepped on the lid would face the death of their parents. Rubbing the soles of shoes on the asphalt or “transferring the negative” to someone else by touching them allowed one to avoid a terrible fate.

You can't step over a lying person

The guys of the 90s believed: those who are crossed will stop growing. The problem could be avoided by stepping over the lying person in the opposite direction. The basis of the prejudice emerged from medieval Germany. There, following an unspoken ban, people were afraid to step over anything that was shaped like a grave pit. Why superstition “liked” children is a mystery.

Cosmos cigarette packs are hiddenmagic numbers

In the 90s, Cosmos cigarettes were in demand. On the white joint of the blue packages, inside, a set of numbers was printed. The myth said: whoever manages to collect existing combinations will receive a gift. The number of prizes, as well as the identity of the person who was supposed to present the gift, are unknown.

You can’t scare a person whose eyes are “gathered” to the bridge of his nose

Parents who want their child to behave well in public come up with various restrictions, which are often justified by “terrible” consequences. Eyes narrowing occurs unconsciously when a person wants to look at something that is very close. The pupils return to their place on their own. The myth said: if you frighten a person whose eyes are brought to the center, he will remain askew forever.

Chewing gum may be stuffed with blades

The first imported chewing gum appeared in the USSR in 1957. There were rumors: there might be blades inside. And the children believed. It was believed that the Americans dreamed of harming the pioneers and before putting a potentially dangerous gum in their mouth, it should have been broken in half to check. Even in the 90s, after the end of the Cold War, the horror story was periodically remembered.

Did you step on your foot? Reply in kind

Any child knew: expect a quarrel if you stepped on someone else’s foot and did not receive a similar “answer.” The sign turned out to be so tenacious that some adults continue to believe in it.

Bonus for those who completed the game “Well, wait a minute”

Only those who had it did not dream of the electronic toy “Well, wait a minute.” The first owners believed that the winner who scored 1000 points would see an incredibly high-quality cartoon, not inferior to the creations of Disney.

Only a few managed to climb to the last level, so the myth lived for a long time. In fact, the lucky person who scored the required number of points started the game again, only the speed was higher.

License plates with double zeros are lucky

When the children saw a car license plate with two zeros, they shouted “Zero-zero, my happiness” and began to expect something good. If you didn’t want to say the “chant” out loud, you always thought of something to yourself.

A Chinese pencil helps karatekas

At the dawn of the 80s, karate was banned in the USSR. Therefore, the interest in martial art was considerable and by the 90s it intensified significantly. He was supported by foreign films starring karatekas. Then these myths appeared. It was believed that a fighter who could easily break bricks first rubbed his palms with a slate pencil. He does the same before a fight and therefore always wins.

The guys, having watched enough films with Stallone and Jackie Chan, dreamed of growing up like them. Spectacular staged scenes strengthened faith in the “magic” pencil, the lead of which had to be used completely.

The most persistent young men managed to buy Chinese stationery and use their stylus for other purposes. This did not increase strength; the guys often ended up in hospitals with broken arms.

Meningitis awaits everyone who neglects to wear a hat in the cold

Such myths are the result of human ignorance and excessive care of parents over children. The horror story went like this: if you walk around in the cold without a hat, you will get meningitis.

In reality, the disease is provoked by bacteria and viruses, and not by cold. The immune system of a frozen person is temporarily weakened and can easily pick up some kind of nasty thing. But this does not mean that she will probably get meningitis. But you still shouldn’t walk without a hat in winter.