The Santa Myth: Should we perpetuate the lie to children?

we have to lie all the time to our kids, ffs if you were brutally honest to kids about the horrors of life they would be basket cases

Thinking about this more, telling kids about Santa is no different than the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Parents told their kids about Hansel and Gretel to keep them from going into the woods to play. If they did, they'd be eaten by the evil witch that lives in the woods. This lie kept them safe due to the fear of never coming out of the woods alive rather than telling them that they could get hurt in the woods. Everyone knows that kids think they're invincible -- except when an evil witch is lurking about.

Parents tell their kids to be good or Santa won't bring them anything.

All these myths are lies to ensure proper behavior.

Now, I'd be interested to hear from the members who got a chunk of coal from Santa.

If I ever have kids I will tell them santa is real at first, some of my fondest holiday memories revolve around the whole magic of santa. Leaving cookies out, seeing him in the mall, christmas movies. I would feel really sad if christmas lost santa. I understand some feel it's lying to there kids and it is in a way. I just think back to when my parents told me and my sister the "truth" . We were not mad or upset they had lied to us for years, it's a game really. It's not like they were lying to us about something serious.

Why can't we just let kids be kids anymore? Everyone pushes for them to grow up so fast and all we end up with is ill mannerd little brats... Like the girl who said she will kill santa if she doesn't get everything on her letter to santa.

Originally posted by Jim Scott
Now that I have long been an adult, looking back I am very glad the adults of my parents' generation perpetuated the myth. I think it really helps children to begin their belief in God.

Boy! You said a mouthful right there! I agree that the Santa Myth helps parents condition their children for belief in other myths, like God.

I don't have kids, but if I did, I wouldn't lie to them. I resent my parents' lies to me. I think parents should be THE ONE place kids can go and KNOW they're going to get the Truth.

So, to the OP, No. I don't think we should lie to our children to turn them into easily-manipulated consumers and believers of fantasy.

Originally posted by blueorder
we have to lie all the time to our kids,

BS. You don't have to lie to anyone. You don't have to give ALL the information in all its gory detail, but if you're smart, you can figure how to tell the kid what they can handle and still be honest.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic

Originally posted by Jim Scott
Now that I have long been an adult, looking back I am very glad the adults of my parents' generation perpetuated the myth. I think it really helps children to begin their belief in God.

Boy! You said a mouthful right there!

I agree that the Santa Myth helps parents condition their children for belief in other myths, like God.

I don't have kids, but if I did, I wouldn't lie to them. I resent my parents' lies to me. I think parents should be THE ONE place kids can go and KNOW they're going to get the Truth.

So, to the OP, No. I don't think we should lie to our children to turn them into easily-manipulated consumers and believers of fantasy.

edit on 12/23/2011 by Benevolent Heretic because: (no reason given)

yeah, easily manipulated consumers stems from Santa

I think the best approach would be to remain agnostic about Santa toward your kid.

Don't tell them santa is real, but don't tell them he's a myth either.

Let the child decide for themself. Ask them questions like "Do you think he's real? How do you know he's real?" or "How do you know he isn't real?"

I think this will create a more self aware mind and encourage critical thinking.

It's easy to say we shouldn't propagate lies to our kids, but at the same time we shouldn't force our cynicism onto them.

People, let's be serious. My parents lied to me and I turned out just fine.

When my sister and I were younger, my uncle told us the Boogieman was in the basement so we wouldn't go in there and break any of his wine bottles he made. When we starting doubting what he was telling us, he actually got those glow in the dark sticker eyes and stuck them on one of the shelves. He then told us to go down there if we weren't scared. Well, we saw those green evil eyes and shot up the stairs so fast never to return. When we were responsible enough to go down there and not break anything, we had certainly grown out of his myth, too.

Kids should be tought not to take gifts and candy from strangers.

Take your kids on patrol all night to gaurd the roof and the house with flashlights and shootguns. Set up an anti aircraft battery in the back yard, barbed wire on the roof with punyi sticks, flash bang trip wires, female deer in heat sent all over the place to lure them in.


Tell your kids that santa has been know to steal kids and put them in the bag, take them back to the north pole, fattening them up and then eating them.

Tell kids that satan has been known to "silence" dogs that interfere with his mission.

Yep... I bet if I told my kids there was no Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and the the truth about where babies come from I think I'd be one hell of a sadist. Innocent Children enjoy the adventure of these mythical creatures to keep their imaginations alive and exciting. There is no need to worry them with the reality of debt, pain and misery everyone else experiences during these seasons. Protection from the truth is sometimes a good thing when you don't want to ruin children and stifle creativity.

Am gonna get flamed for this.

I say do away with the whole thing, santa, christmas rudolf all of it.

Why can't we show our children the real magic which surrounds us everyday.
The miracle of a seed. The awesome spectacle of the universe. The real 'spirit' in all life.

Promoting goodwill and unity, all those good things should be all year round.

The giving of gifts is an obligation in this day and age and it hurts many.

Having a 'get together' in winter is a great idea, sharing a meal, having a laugh, oh what fun!
Christmas time has become a monster, a beast. A time for suicide, heartbreak and loneliness.

It is the holiday most associated with stress and pain.

I wish I could see things the way so many do on this thread but I like reality, the joy of nature, the wonder of the spirit. To propagate the myth is to burden future generations with this mutated falsehood.

Life is beautiful, share the true beauty of celebration and togetherness, liberate the spirit to be present all year instead of promoting it for a day.

Love, peace and goodwill to you all

Namaste

reply to post by Threegirls

Why can't we show our children the real magic which surrounds us everyday.

Yeah, doing both would really mess them up big time!

Originally posted by TommyG
Yep... I bet if I told my kids there was no Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and the the truth about where babies come from I think I'd be one hell of a sadist. Innocent Children enjoy the adventure of these mythical creatures to keep their imaginations alive and exciting. There is no need to worry them with the reality of debt, pain and misery everyone else experiences during these seasons. Protection from the truth is sometimes a good thing when you don't want to ruin children and stifle creativity.

Ladies and gents I give you the destruction of your culture. The leftovers form the Dr Spock years.

Originally posted by Afterthought
reply to post by Threegirls

 

Why can't we show our children the real magic which surrounds us everyday.

Yeah, doing both would really mess them up big time!

indeed let's show them a lovely little video of an adult Polar Bear eating a cub alive, yeah, let us bombard them with joyous "reality"

it reminds me one of the adams family movies , where wed and pugsly are setting in the hospital delivery room.

while one little girl says that a stork is bringing her parents a baby; wed says
"our parents just had sex"

...but again, that was christina riccia, playing wed ...from the adams family.

Children dont need to be realist/cynical know-it-alls from a young age. Even if you think youre doing them some service by not "lying" to them or "conditioning them to accept myths that will make it easier for them to believe in God" (whoa...)
you're making them, at the very least, annoying and future a**holes.

reply to post by Afterthought


Probably. I don't know.

If you mean that we can do both and the reply is sarcastic (not sure) I would refer to your signature.

If it was not sarcasm then, yes lol.

Namaste

reply to post by blueorder


Do you really not see all of the amazing things we are surrounded by? I obviously am not referring to things a child would find disturbing!

I taught my children the joy of meditation recently, I show them truth and emphasize the beauty and wonder of life. They are amazed at the things you have chosen to ignore.

Shame.

Namaste

All children, from the age that they open their eyes physically till around 6 years old, they are not prepared nor ready to process truths.

Sure, you can tell them the truth. But do you think they can handle the truth? Even many matured adults could not handle truths stuffed right under their nose, and behaved irrationally and often detrimentally to others.

Try telling a kid why the sky is blue and you will get nowhere, nor are they ready to process 'truths' - the realities of our atmosphere and atmospheric sciences. It will only lead to more questions, more confusions, promptly forgotten when an ice cream truck pass by, and the questions get repeated all over again.

They are only naive and innocent children. Let them have their positive fantasy and imagination - Santa, fairy tales, etc, of good values and lay off on the more harsher gothic styled fantasies that would only frighten the child and hurt their positive developement. When they start schooling, their environment will allow them to face up to the realities of our world, through their peers and with help and encouragement from parents.

Western civilisation kids have a better chance of survival, even those in poverty, compared to other struggling eastern nations. Sadly and more heartwrenching, many of those kids in poverty, malnutrition, hunger and diseases, may not even get to see beyond their 6th winter solstice, no matter what the rest of the world can do for them, for they live under despotic leaders who see them only as slaves... Do you want to tell them the truth, or give them all the love, imagination and hide the pain?

So, to the OP, No. I don't think we should lie to our children to turn them into easily-manipulated consumers and believers of fantasy.

edit on 12/23/2011 by Benevolent Heretic because: (no reason given)

I feel sorry for all you people that obviously had bad/no childhood.

These aren't "Lies to condition" our kids, these are fairy tales.
My son is 7. He knows who santa is.. me. He plays along, It's a game to him and it's fun for him.
I know the world has become a hell hole, but you know what?
I'm not going to sit and tell my child horrors stories about how people lost their way and became the sociopathic hate filled people they are today.
This takes a bit of their innocence and childhood away everytime you shove the bleakness of life at them too early.

No, my job as a parent is to protect and care for my child. Robbing them of their innocence is about as far from being a good parent as it gets.
If a child is young enough to actually believe in Santa, they are too young to deal with the harsh reality of what society has become.
Savor their innocence, once lost it never returns...just take a look in the mirror.

reply to post by Threegirls


I was sort of being sarcastic. I just don't understand why people can't encourage kids to learn about the wonders of the Earth and believe in whimsy.

For example, my parents allowed us to believe in Santa and allowed us to grow out of it. But, they also believed that every family vacation had to be educational, which really ticked me off when I was younger. Today, I really appreciate going to the caverns and museums, but back then all I saw were my friends who got to go to Hawaii and other places just for fun. I always thought my parents were the fun Nazis. Now, I'm so happy that they took us places to learn because we always did have fun once we were there. It was just hard knowing that we were taking yet another educational family week somewhere while my friends were going to be lapping the sun up on the beach for a week.