Teacher mortified after spoiling Elf on the Shelf magic for 12-year-old girl
There is no doubt that Christmas is a magical time for children and that most parents will work hard to ensure that sense remains with their kids for as long as possible. It can't, of course, last forever, because eventually all kids will find out that the real magic was how much their parents tried to make it special for them - rather than elves, reindeer and Father Christmas getting all the credit.
The memories that parents make for their children during Christmastime that are infused with a sense of enchantment will stay with them for a lifetime, but at some point the truth has to be explained, but the timing can be tricky.
Too early and you risk that your child will be the one to spill the beans to the other children in their class, or miss out on years of magical memories that they could have enjoyed. Too late and your child could end up feeling silly in front of their peers, when they realise that everyone else was in on the trick, except for them.
One teacher felt absolutely mortified when she accidentally broke the spell of Christmas magic for her 12-year-old pupil. The teacher took to Mumsnet looking for advice on whether they should have been more careful to discuss the topic realistically with a pupil of that age.
"I feel really bad as I think I ruined one of my pupil's Christmas experience the other day," they wrote, explaining that when packing up a lesson with a little girl she tutored, they had been asked if their daughter was excited for the festive season.
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"I told her yes and that I might start the elves this year but I don't know if I'll remember to change the silly thing they're doing each morning," the tradition the teacher was referring to being the 'Elf on a Shelf' custom, in which parents move toy elves into different positions each day, the 'magic' to the children being that the elves do this themselves and can move around when the kids are sleeping, but remain still in the daytime.
The pupil then in response to her teacher's remark "looked a bit strange then said were they fake elves I was talking about as her mum didn't move them etc, she looked a bit embarrassed then explained it away that there are some that are real and some that are fake and sort of asked me if that was true?
"It then dawned on me that she still believed in her parents doing the elves and I felt really bad. I don't know, by high school, I was getting up to all sorts of naughty things with my pals, I realise all kids are different and it's great she's more innocent," the teacher explained, adding that they "felt really bad," but had simply "assumed by 12 she wouldn't believe in all that still".
Commenters weighed in on the teacher's dilemma, with many agreeing that 12 was quite old not to understand the truth about Christmas traditions like this one. "I think by time they reach high school age they should know that it's not real, same goes for Santa, Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy," wrote one, adding that, "surely you're just asking for your kids to be picked on if they still believe in things like that at a certain age."
Another said, "I wasn't brought up believing in Santa so I think the whole myth is fascinating. Particularly as the majority of society nowadays identify as atheist so to encourage kids to believe in an imaginary being is strange. The amount of effort that goes into keeping up the pretense of mythical creatures and an old man bringing gifts. I really feel for the kids when the find out it's not real and society has been gaslighting them."
However, some commenters thought that it was relatively normal these days for children of that age to still believe in Christmas magic. "I do think children these days are believing in this sort of thing for a lot longer," wrote one, explaining that, "when I was a kid, Santa was never made a big deal, I stopped believing well before high school.
"Nowadays Christmas is a lot more extravagant. Santa's grottos all over the place, extravagant Christmas events, elf on the shelf etc." The commenter added that while this extravagance is enjoyable for the kids "it does mean children are believing a lot longer than years ago."
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