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Tuesday, November 13, 2007
It’s time for ‘Santa talk’? It can’t be! Not already!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every Friday in my daughter Shannon’s second-grade class, the kids are required to write a brief note or letter home to their family telling us about the past week. They write about whatever it was that week that stood out to them. The parents are then to write a note back in response.
In the past, it has been very easy, as the subject matter has been things such as the animals of Australia or a book they read in class. Then this week we got the following note from Shannon:
Dear Family,
I wish you guys could just wave your wand and make it November 25th because then it would be my birthday and I would get presents. The thing I want the most is that pony thing. You know what I am talking about but you won’t buy it for me so I will just ask Santa Claus but I won’t tell my friends because most people in my class don’t believe in Santa so I will just keep that to myself.
Love,
Shannon
How do we respond to this?
She is not yet even 8 years old, and she already has to hide her belief of Santa to save face with her classmates.
My wife and I have talked a bit about how to handle this, but I know neither of us wants her to lose this belief already.
Our reasons are primarily selfish, no doubt about it. It seems like just yesterday we got to the point where she truly understood who Santa was and got excited about it. The weeks leading up to Christmas the excitement developed — barely contained with each toy catalog she browsed or with each viewing of “The Polar Express.”
We got about three years of this. It isn’t enough. Not for me or any parent.
Not to mention, is there any greater power a parent wields than looking your child in the eyes and saying, “Santa is coming, so you better be good”? By just uttering this simple reminder, we have the ability to instantly settle a fight with her brother, or get her to behave herself while we are running errands.
More than that, can there ever be harm in having a child believe that there is a person in this world who’s sole motivation is to reward boys and girls just for being good?
But can we really continue to keep our child holding on to a belief that other kids already know is false — at the expense of possibly being teased?
If my memory serves me correctly, I was in second grade when my mom told me there was no Santa. My mom said other kids my age already knew, and she didn’t want me to hear it from them.
I already had doubts. I grew up with three older brothers, so making it anywhere close to second grade while still believing in Santa was a miracle in and of itself.
We know it’s time to have the Santa talk with Shannon. But I wonder if this will be the end of her implicit trust in Mommy and Daddy. At her age, most arguments are won and lost simply with the statement, “my Mommy and Daddy said so.” Regardless of what proof the other kid may have, the greater authority is Mommy and Daddy. She has already had exchanges with kids who refuse to believe that there really is a number “googol.” She even knows it is a 1 followed by 100 zeros, thanks to me.
I knew this day would come, it just didn’t seem like it would be this soon.
At least I know that, regardless of whether it is Santa or Mommy and Daddy bringing the presents, she will always be excited on Christmas Eve.
I have never lost that feeling. Maybe that is what I have to hold on to.
Even without the jolly fat guy, it will still be the best time of the year for her and for me.
Jim Costelloe is a husband and father of two who lives in Suwanee and works in the commercial mortgage industry.
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Revitalizing downtown Duluth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In many ways, these seem like great times for downtown Duluth, with a new City Hall opening by year’s end and two businesses building headquarters across the street.
But then, two popular businesses — the Soda Shop and the Main Street Coffee Shop — recently closed. Condos, just behind the Town Green, weren’t selling very fast and a number of downtown shopkeepers find themselves reconsidering whether they can make the margin between escalating rents and shrinking sales add up.
Businesses owners are hoping “Duluth’s Hometown Holidays” will help bring more business downtown.
Do you think it will work? Or does downtown Duluth still need something more to increase its foot traffic.
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Kenerly’s proposal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Four of Gwinnett’s five county commissioners said little about Glenn Richardson’s GREAT tax plan during their budget retreat in north Georgia last week.
Except Kevin Kenerly.
The fourth district commissioner railed against the Georgia House speaker’s plan to eliminate local property tax collections by swapping them with state sales tax money.
Kenerly called it an example of the kind of ill-conceived proposals lawmakers “running for office 24-7” often come up with.
Then, amid the tirade, Kenerly had a vision of his own tax plan. He called it the “KR1000, the GREATER plan.”
Like Richardson’s plan, the KR1000 would replace the property taxes Gwinnettians pay with higher sales taxes.
The difference? Kenerly said, “We set it. We collect it. We spend it.”
We think he wasn’t being entirely serious.
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