Mommy, are leprechauns real? What about the Easter bunny?
It's the time of year for those questions to surface again. Just when you thought you made it through Christmas...
My daughter loves leprechauns. Sometimes she likes to play leprechaun (and scatter the clothes from the laundry basket mischievously around the house. Too bad I didn't think to tell her that was CLEAN laundry....).
Anyway, recently she put this question to me. My practice, as with queries about the validity of Santa Claus, has been to answer questions with questions.
"Do you believe they're real?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Then it sounds like they're real to you," I said, and we went on to something else.
I know other parents feel very differently about this, and I have no idea if I'm going about it the right way. How do you handle it when your child asks if leprechauns/the Tooth Fairy/the Easter Bunny/Santa Claus really exist?
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My son just learned about leprechauns at school and he thought they were real. He got freaked out because he thought they were hiding in our house, so I told him they were just pretend. (Actually, I'd never heard of people claiming leprechauns were real before we moved to Maryland so I didn't feel it was on the same level as outing Santa.) He asked about the veracity of Santa once or twice and I kind of changed the subject. I like Kate's approach, though what would you have said if she one day said she thought Santa wasn't real? Do you confirm? Or say he's not real to you? (Mom, what did you know and when did you know it?)
Posted by: Kris | March 17, 2008 4:58 PM
I tell the children the truth. I tell them that it's okay to play make believe and it is still fun....but I tell them the truth. Nothing worse than a child feeling "left out" by Santa or The Easter Bunny because their parents can't afford to get them anything special for the holidays. Thus, the truth is best. Sorry to seem like such a kill joy...but when they ask it's best to tell the truth.
Posted by: Sandra | March 18, 2008 11:49 AM
santa is real cause im 21 and live with my parents and santa still brings me presints
Posted by: abby | November 29, 2008 8:02 PM
i think taht that whole thing was really stupid to put on obviously leprechauns and the easter bunny are real don't be stupid
Posted by: vennesa | February 20, 2009 2:03 PM
Hey yo, I told jackie and hermonie to always belive, not pretend that leperchauns are real. All you parents...expet freakboy over there....ALWAYS TELL YOUR KIDS THAT LEPERCHUANS ARE REAL and they WILL belive!!
peace out,
annie
Posted by: Annie | March 16, 2009 6:28 PM