my daughter is 8 years old, and i don’t know how this even came about because it’s nowhere near close to christmas yet, but she was at cheerleading tryouts and her and her friends started talking about christmas and santa. one of the older girls that were there also trying out (for an older team) said to my daughter and the other little girls that were ages 6-8 “you know santa isn’t even real, right? i mean seriously, think about it. how is a man going to fly across the world and take the time to put presents and eat cookies in every house? he’d be puking his brains out. just ask your parents and you can tell theyre lying to you. don’t be stupid” this girl was around 13 ,14, or 15. it kind of makes me angry that a teenager would say that to my child, but kids will be kids 🤷🏻‍♀️ the maturity isn’t all there yet so i don’t really blame the girl entirely.

i was sitting on the couch in my living room (i’m very sick right now and i’ve been throwing up, so i couldn’t go to the tryouts, my husband took her) when the front door opened and my daughter came stomping through. she was crying, and she said “mom why did you lie to me? i thought santa was real! tell me the truth!” and i was caught off guard LOL, so i looked at my husband who was next to her and i was about to say something, but before i got the chance to she started throwing a tantrum. she ran upstairs to her room and yelled “i hate you! i’ll never forgive you” and then my husband explained what happened at the tryouts.

i asked my best friend about when she told her now 16 year old son santa was real and what happened. she said it’s normal for them to feel betrayed and upset for a day or two. and i know that i did when i was little, but it’s not that simple with my daughter. i love her to death, she’s the only child (were ttc for #2, though) and my husband thinks that’s the root of her behavioral issues, but i don’t know, i think it’s something more complex than that.

by behavioral issues i don’t mean she has a tantrum once in a while, she doesn’t share with friends sometimes, etc. i mean she goes on hunger strikes or holds her breath until she turns blue when she doesn’t get her way, she’ll hide in cabinets we’d never think she could fit in after we yell at her to scare us (once we had the whole neighborhood searching for her), she’s hidden under her bed with my husbands car keys about 4 times pressing the panic button (that makes the car beep SO loud) and she’ll only come out after a couple hours when the sound was giving her a headache, just manipulative, sneaky shit that i hate. don’t get me wrong, i love the girl to death, she’s my baby, but i hate the shit she pulls. we’ve ground her, taken her things away, but she said “good take everything i don’t care.” and then tried going outside to play with the neighbors kids. i said “don’t you dare go out that door” and she just smirked and giggled in my face and said “watch me”. i don’t know where she learned this behavior, sometimes she just talks so grown and i try to make it clear to her that she’s anything but grown and that she has to listen to me, i’m the parent, but she doesn’t listen. of course she’s a sweet girl, but when she’s mad, she’s MAD.

which is why i’m concerned about this. now she’s got to be feeling lied to, betrayed, etc. i’m worried about what’s going to happen. my mother says i should think about therapy, counseling all that stuff. do you guys think that’s something i should consider? my husband thinks that this is just a phase, but i don’t think so, she’s been this way since she could talk but now that she’s getting older, she’s getting smarter and finding new ways to manipulate us. imagine how awful it’ll be when she’s a teenager. and im also kind of sad because i wanted her to believe in santa until she was maybe 11 or 12. and now i don’t know what to do because my friends dont know what to do, my husband doesn’t know what to do, i especially know what to do. any advice would be very appreciated, thank you ❤️