Besides the gifts, Christmas trees, and colorful lights, Christmas’ most famous bearded man dons houses, cards, and just about any corner once again. But then again, while every kid gets giddy at the thought of loads of presents to unwrap on Christmas Day, the same cannot be said about Santa Claus, the stout man in red with the characteristic laugh and the snowy white beard.
Many preschool kids scared of Santa, perhaps because of his sheer bulky frame akin to mascots they usually meet during birthday parties.
As parents, therefore, you owe it more to your preschool children than to the Christmas tradition to educate them better about Santa Claus, saving them the trouble of a preschool childhood spent fearing the world’s most famous Christmas icon.
This is the perfect time for preschool kids to know more about, and conquer their fear of, Santa Claus! More importantly, correcting preschool children’s impression of him also lets them learn lessons about sharing, being with family, and treating everyone like friends.
Read stories to them
Scour bookstores for Christmas storybooks about Santa. Your preschool kids can also browse colorful pop-up books anytime during the day.
Choose preschool children books with great illustrations to engage your preschool children better. Also choose those with more text explaining how Santa’s story unfolds. You can’t simply rely on illustrations to get the message across to your preschool children, who now have more developed senses for understanding than babies. Add a bit more for them to figure out for themselves, so to speak.
Good ol’ storytelling
When busy to buy books, rely on good ol’ storytelling skills in reintroducing the friendly Santa to your preschool kids.
Tap into your own preschool interpretation of Santa and let your preschool kids see through him. Did you, as a kid, stayed good and kind to other preschool children because you knew Santa was looking at you from afar and does not want preschool children who do foolish, bad things to one another? Relate to them how you in your preschool were encouraged by your mom to save up a penny a day, which you gathered for Christmas to buy a new toy. And do not forget how Rudolph has been ridiculed by his fellow reindeer because of his queer nose, only to be chosen by Santa himself to lead his pack come Christmas Eve. Your preschool children could learn about friendship and kindness, especially with classmates. Treat is as your very own way of instilling good values to your preschool children–something that will usher in a new Christmas tradition of looking forward to doing good things, knowing that these get rewarded in return.
