Hellobee Boards

@PinkElephant: ha! My 6 yo has requested a Barbie “skating rink” which does not exist. I casually mentioned that it don’t think Barbie has a skating rink, and she reasoned that Santa could make one. So, yeah, I don’t know. Dealing with the same question!

We are a low screen family and my daughter asked Santa for a television and computer for her bedroom that she could use whenever she wanted. I just said Santa knows that all family’s have different ways of doing things and was unlikely to get her a gift that her parents wouldn’t support. 🤷‍♀️

We say something similar to Silva if she is planning on asking Santa for something we don’t want in the house. We say Santa knows the rules in our house and won’t get something parents aren’t okay with. We also say that Santa knows she gets lots of gifts from family and friends so he will only be bringing her 1 or 2 gifts.

If she is asking us we just try to be honest about why we don’t think it’s a good idea. We then try to point her to other things. And at the end of the day we tell her she is welcome to ask for things but there is no guarantee she will get everything on her list.

@PinkElephant: I asked for stuff from Santa that I didn't get growing up. I would just skip the skates, so long as she has other things on her list. If she persists in wanting them next year, maybe look into some used roller skates to try.

My oldest asked for an LOL glammer van, which I am really really really against for a whole host of reasons (it's plastic junk, it's a fad, I don't like LOLs, I think it's too much plastic waste with all the wrapping, I just think it's a dumb camper van in the first place...even the Barbie one is better, my list goes on and on). BUT she has consistantly asked for it from Santa, so I caved and that's her one big gift and we've already starting selling/giving away some other big toys to make room. It's not what I would like to buy, but it's what she would like to have, so I've decided it's okay. We've told our kids in the past, Santa only gives 1-2 gifts anyway, and Santa has a budget, so they won't ask for really expensive stuff like electronics.

You can probably tell from my other post, but I'm actually really ready for this Santa stuff to be over. Christmas was so magical to me growing up, and I never believed in Santa. It was magical to me that my parents went out and made my top request happen,. and the whole season with the decorations and the food and the songs was magical. I also feel like my kids get *so much* in general....I'm ready to switch the focus of the whole holiday from getting to giving and it's hard to do that in the context of Santa for me. My kids are 4 and 6. Next year they'll be 5 and 7 and maybe I can let the cat out of the bag by then (I hope). My husband is Hindu and the whole charade seems so meaningless (for us, in our context, with neither of us growing up with the whole Santa thing).

@Dahlia: yes we have this conversation about wishes vs demands all the time!! I’m always correcting the language from “I’m getting x from Santa” to “I’m asking for x” and trying to reinforce you don’t get everything you ask for. It’s tough.

I would let my kids ask santa for anything but I always always tell them that they might not get everything or anything on their list. It depends on what santa has planned for them but I assure them that "santa knows and you'll be happy"

Luckily this hasn't happened to us yet.. DD has been very limited in what she's asked Santa for and so far it hasn't been anything crazy.

@Silva: LOL

@Anagram: total side track but I’m chinese and never believed in Christmas either and never cared either

I think you can have Santa tell her something like, how about you learn how to skate first?

@Silva: she has her entire adulthood to be a gamer or whatever

I’ve just always told my son he’s not going to get everything he asks for. He can put whatever he wants on his list but it doesn’t mean he’ll get it. He understands. And even if he didn’t, oh well! Haha. You don’t always get what you want, kid.

@graceandjoy: lol yes! There are things he asks for that I’m pretty sure he forgets about right away. And for the last 2 christmases and bdays when he was able to understand and ask for things, he never once noticed or cared about the things he DID NOT get. He was so excited about the things he did get.

So to the OP, I just wouldn’t give her ice skates and see what happens 🤷‍♀️ If she’s disappointed you can decide to make it a conversation about not always getting what we want, why she didn’t get them (practicality) OR you can decide that she clearly does really want them and if it’s worth adding to the next gift lot (Bday or Easter or whatever you gift for).

@Silva: my husband's side of the family is huge with tons of kids so we do a christmas drawing for gifts, we got my 8-year-old nephew. his wish list per my SIL from last night: "new, bigger tv, iPad, chrome book, his own Xbox". I told her I was going to get him a jigsaw puzzle of the tower of london

@SweetiePie: we started telling the boy flat-out how much things cost and when we can't afford things this past summer, and amazingly, he totally gets it and it shuts him up so fast.

@SweetiePie: lord no, she told me because she thought it was hilarious and thought I'd get a kick out of it.

Just coming over here to say that I’m super uncoordinated and struggled to learn to ice skate but once I picked it up, I loved it. I took lessons for years and played ice hockey in college and my twenties. But I totally hear you on not wanting to drive her. Maybe tell her Santa will bring her skates next year if she goes and likes it? And then hope she loses interest?