From the author: The material was created with the participation of Nika Samarina and Sofia Egorova - specialists from the Kroshka Ru early development center in VladimirWho is Santa Claus? When will he come? Where does he come from and where does he live? What is right - to tell the child the truth or support faith in Santa Claus and other fairy-tale heroes? Is this faith necessary and what is it for? There are many reasons to do differently, but we recommend believing. And here's why. Thanks to imaginative thinking, the child perceives everything literally: fairy-tale characters really exist, natural phenomena are living beings, because if winter comes, it means it has legs and leaves traces. Children are afraid of monsters and dream of fairies. This is not in vain. In this way, the child’s imagination develops and improves, which is important for the development of creative thinking, resistance to stress, and flexibility of thinking. Through communication with good and evil fairy-tale creatures, the child can meet his emotions, which in real life cannot always be expressed . By reading a fairy tale, the child learns to understand which hero is positive and which is negative. He can be angry with the wolf who ate Little Red Riding Hood, despise the old woman Shapoklyak, and then feel sorry for her, wish for punishment for Karabas - Barabas, thus gaining the right to natural human feelings. Living these feelings is necessary for the harmonious development of the psyche. What does Santa Claus teach children? Santa Claus brings long-awaited gifts to children. But he is not only kind, but also fair. Sometimes parents tell their children that Santa Claus does not bring gifts to hooligans, liars and those who eat poorly. It is not right. Santa Claus congratulates the baby and gives a gift, even if he was naughty or behaved badly, as if confirming that he is loved by anyone: obedient, and a naughty person who has the right to make mistakes. This is very important for a child’s self-esteem, his inner self-confidence. According to psychologists, a child absolutely needs faith in miracles. One boy for a long time explained that he saw his dad in a Santa Claus costume by saying that dad is the real Santa Claus. Little man who learned to believe in miracles in childhood, grows up as an adult with a flexible psyche, capable of defending against insoluble problems, leaving a person stable even in critical situations. What to do if a child nevertheless finds out that Santa Claus is just a fictional character? We can give yourself and your child a chance to believe in a miracle, if we tell the truth: that we ourselves don’t know whether he exists or not, and that sometimes things happen that can only be explained by magic. Doesn’t Santa Claus exist? Are you sure of this yourself??