So Ruby came home from school the other day and said something horrifying. She said “Van told me that Santa Claus isn’t real.” Seriously!? She’s in pre-school! I didn’t think I’d have to deal with this until at least kindergarten! Well, I just leaned back and said “Now why do you think he said something like that?”
Ruby quickly said “I don’t know! Of course Santa Claus is real; he lives at the North Pole!”. Phew! Crisis averted. Since we all seemed happy with this resolution, I changed the subject and forgot about it.
But then yesterday she came home from school again, and said “Van says that Santa Claus was really old and he died!” Let me tell you, Van is not winning any points in my book at this point. So I said “Maybe Santa never brought Van a present because he is so naughty.” Yeah, I know I shouldn’t have said that. Whatever.
So Ruby looks at me and says “Well, maybe one Santa is dead, but I think there are a lot of Santas. I saw two at the mall the other day!” And I looked right back at my four year old daughter, and I said “Ruby, I think you are exactly right.”
You’re better than I am. I made a naughty girl video with portable north pole for the girl who has been so mean to my daughter in preK and then let my daughter watch it, telling her that if she told the girl we saw it, she would be on the naughty list herself. Not my finest parenting moment, but whatever. It brought her joy and let her think there is some negative ramification to being mean.