Adult only, no kiddies please. Please no kids.

[BAST]

I think that the wonder of childhood is precious and intelligence has nothing to do with kids believing. When I'm a parent, I'll try and keep the belief alive for as long as possible - if I have to "lie," so be it. It's no different than the other "editing" one does to protect children from the harsh realities of our culture and daily life.

As a first grade teacher, I see the excitement on my kids' faces when the tooth fairy leaves them a treat undereneath the big tooth. It's priceless. With all of the ugliness and loss of faith in this world today, I see nothing wrong with "lying" to children about the man behind the mask. Let them be kids for as long as possible. Childhood is so fleeting - kids will have plenty of time in their adult lives to face the (often times harsh and unpleasant) realities that exist. Allowing them to believe in the magic and suspend disbelief keeps them wondrous. This may be unpopular in the times of full disclosure with children, but it seems that every so often the window in which a child has to be a child shrinks. I believed in Santa until I was 13 - this certainly had no ill intellectual effect on me and as an adult, I'm thrilled that my parents kept this magic alive for me.

I completely agree. I try to shelter my DD6 and DD4 as much as possible. I see absolutely no point in having them learn many of the harsh realities of this world at such a young age. When things need to be discussed they are - we had to put a very old dog to sleep and that was difficult, I constantly tell them to stay away from strangers and to never go anywhere with a stranger (but I do not tell them WHY other than in very general terms), etc.

When it comes to WDW characters, my DD6 has questioned whether the WDW characters are real (she saw a zipper on the back of Pooh at CP last year - I told her that she had a zipper on her clothes too). When she sees characters outside WDW (usually in very bad costumes), I have told her that only at WDW do you see the 'real' characters. While I know that she is somewhat unsure about the characters in WDW and while I am lying to her, I do not want her ruining the 'magic' for my DD4 who still REALLY believes. I also see no harm in doing that. (Funny thing is that she has not questioned SAnta, tooth fairy, easter bunny, etc who bring her presents.)

 

[TallandGoofy]

Hey Angela-
I just wanted to say that I am 100% like you. ......... I still get so excited to see Mickey or Donald .....QUOTE]

Me too!!

Worked as a CM for 7 years (2 of those in the Character Dept). Took my wife (her first time) to WDW on vacation a few years ago--we took our pictures with every character we saw. We also went to a character breakfast! We love 'em! What's really silly, is I even got little nervous as I approached them.


Just because you find out the "truth" doesn't mean you can't enjoy them!

 

[duck_adoo]

While a I respect all the posts , I find it disheartening that some people equate believing in characters, Santa, toothfairy...w/a child's intellect. IMO, just because a child may not question about Santa or any of those characters isn't an indication of their intellegence level. (lol! I can't even spell intellegence right). My 9 dd's are just starting to question those types of things now. What happened w/them is that they had an older cousin who used to say how there was no such thing. Our response was 'If she doesn't believe, then Santa doesn't visit her.' It wasn't in a mean tone at all, especially since they have several friends who celebrate Hanakah. Granted now they certainly question things, but because they didn't question us at 4, I don't think that a reflection of their intellect.
Again...just my opinion.
Cheryl

 

[Spoisal]

While a I respect all the posts , I find it disheartening that some people equate believing in characters, Santa, toothfairy...w/a child's intellect. IMO, just because a child may not question about Santa or any of those characters isn't an indication of their intellegence level. (lol! I can't even spell intellegence right). My 9 dd's are just starting to question those types of things now. What happened w/them is that they had an older cousin who used to say how there was no such thing. Our response was 'If she doesn't believe, then Santa doesn't visit her.' It wasn't in a mean tone at all, especially since they have several friends who celebrate Hanakah. Granted now they certainly question things, but because they didn't question us at 4, I don't think that a reflection of their intellect.
Again...just my opinion.
Cheryl

I am kinda sorry I got involved in this thread - I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. Afterall, my kids still believe in Santa, Easter Bunny, Toothfairy, etc. What I was trying to say is they could always tell when someone was dressed up in a pretend suit. For example, they believe in Santa at the mall, but they KNOW that the Easter Bunny at the mall isn't real. (It is a helper, of course - haha). Ever since I can remember - it was never even a question to them. They knew that the animal-type characters weren't real because Mickey Mouse would never be 8 feet tall.

 

[MinnieFan]

My DD7 has figured it out about Mickey and the other non-speaking characters. But she is still totally convinced that the princesses are absolutely real - go figure. I'm sure that she will figure this out soon enough, but for now we just cherish her innocence and hope that she doesn't grow up too soon.

 

[MickeyMacks]

Once we got to WDW, you could see and feel all of her stress and pressure lift off of her shoulders. She was able to be in a place where it doesn't matter how silly you look. It is perfectly OK to be a kid in WDW. I think we adults enjoy that same feeling. It's evidenced by the popularity of these message boards.

My daughter didn't care how old she was. She wanted to meet the characters anyway. She waited in line with the other little kids to do so. Although she knows it is just "someone in a suit", she doesn't care. It's what the suit represents--innocence and magic.
.

I am sitting here with tears in my eyes - you have really expressed the essence of what "the magic" is all about. Disney himself said something similar about there being a child inside many of us that needs to express itself and needs to play and believe.

There are some people that just don't "get" WDW and won't let themselves "get" it. These poor people see childhood as something to be left behind forever instead of as a gift God gives us to get us through the rest of our lives, something to be cherished and celebrated. God bless 'em and Tinkerbell dust 'em!

There, that's MY bit of rambling!

 

[MickeyMacks]

I think I'd tell them that the spirits of the characters are real, so that when someone puts on a costume, the spirit takes over. Therefore, you really are meeting Mickey.

That pretty much is what happens after all! None of us is "just a person in a suit." Anyone who is just that is not doing his or her job! We are performers. Our job is to make those characters come to life! Otherwise, you may as well have your picture taken with a stuffed animal.

When I put on that Pooh costume, I'm no longer Angela, I'm Pooh. I even find myself wanting honey with my lunch! ...

Ok, I'll get off my box now...
I hope I didn't upset anyone...

Not upsetting at all - very reassuring in fact! This is the truth and presented in the way a child needs to hear it!

(I know what you mean about the costume taking over, I remember that same feeling performing as a clown at a party for deaf children. I became a whole different personality, acting silly and playful in ways I could never have imagined without the costume. The kids loved it and I was sorry to have to come out of the "spirit" and take off the costume after the event!)