Dangers of Santa Claus...

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DarkEyedBeauty

Pirate.
Registered Senior Member
What does everyone think that the residual effects of telling our children that characters such as 'Santa Claus' 'the Easter Bunny' 'the Tooth Fairy', etc, are? Do you think that throughout their childhood, finding out that random things that they believe in are false may harm them? It really seems to me that building their basis of knowledge upon some niceties and then pulling the carpet our from under them may really hurt a child's sense of trust. It might seem to them as though the people that they rely on for knowledge are constantly lying to them, and ultimately create skiddish, mistrusting or unreliable adults. Also, I find that telling them such lies for the sake of our deeming it 'cute' that they, with lesser means, will believe such silly things, is barbaric and cruel.

Your thoughts?
 
Urrrrm, i would have to say(being the older brother of 7), that i genuinly dont think it harms youngsters in any way,to see how happy they are,when say they find the choclate egg, or the hurt of having a tooth come out, and then finding a quid under their pillow.When i found out that santa didnt really exist (this christmas hehe), sure i would say i was diapointed, but then i actually felt alot more adult and grown up, in the xmasses to come i was part of the 'grown ups', helping to fill the stockings, and that probably felt better than when i was emptying them..
 
A healthy bit of distrust in every character or institution that a child once though to be beyond question or reproach can be a healthy thing. It teaches them that you can never be certain of anything in life. It pays to be a bit distrusting now and again.

We should probably mix up children intentionally at birth and then tell them that their parents aren’t really their parents once they’re about seven years old or so. That’ll instill a healthy sense of skepticism toward authority figures in them.

If we did this then maybe asking questions and critical thinking about big issues will make a comeback in our society. Blind reasonless passive acceptance isn't very becoming of anyone.
 
Well, the first part of your post is interesting Mystech. I hadn't thought of it that way. But do you think the good outweighs the bad? Can't children learn skepticism through other things they believe falsely on their own? Say...clouds are fluffy. Do they need something so senseless as these characters?
 
I believed in Santa Claus when I was little, and got over it later. Not that I'm not harmed, I don't see any effect, whether positive or negative, whatsoever. It made my childhood more interesting though. Children should fanthasize and believe in their fantasies; that's a characteristic of childhood. If you take this characteristic away, you will try to force children to act like adults, and that may be harmful.
 
DarkEyedBeauty said:
Can't children learn skepticism through other things they believe falsely on their own?
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Yes, probably. I just felt the need to play devil's advocate.
 
whitewolf said:
I believed in Santa Claus when I was little, and got over it later. Not that I'm not harmed, I don't see any effect, whether positive or negative, whatsoever. It made my childhood more interesting though. Children should fanthasize and believe in their fantasies; that's a characteristic of childhood. If you take this characteristic away, you will try to force children to act like adults, and that may be harmful.
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True. But do we need to provide them with fantasies? We are supposed to be people they trust.

As for the whole Santa Claus thing, my sister found out when she was 6, and told me. So, basically I had until I was 3...then Santa Claus no more. :(
 
I don't think we're "providing" them with fantasies; more like, "playing along," and showing them that we fanthasize and believe like they do. If we relate to their childhood world, they'll relate better to ours.
 
It made my childhood more interesting though.
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Being told that the sky is blue..that the sun rises...that a fat man climbs down your chimney to bring you presents instead of telling you real stories about how real people come to the aid of others...maybe we would have more children doing more good for the world instead of wishing about it.

Children should fanthasize and believe in their fantasies that's a characteristic of childhood.
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That's just it! Those are not their fantasies

If you take this characteristic away, you will try to force children to act like adults, and that may be harmful.
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It's more harmful to tell lies and leave children to uncover the truth years later and years wasted...
 
See, I didn't think they were lying, I thought they were playing along. I didn't care much for Santa Claus anyways, nor did I care for fairies and the like. My mom always noted I didn't get attached to toys, too.

When a kid comes home and asks about Santa Claus and retells what his friends said, it's his fanthasy, not ours.
 
hmmm, I don’t remember when I stopped believing in stuff like that. but it was probably pretty early. being the youngest of four and having siblings that loved to torment me probably meant I knew there was no Santa before I could remember.
 
Well, for me, it's nothing more than lying to children. Plain and simple. Is that where people learn that lying is okay? Hmmm? Maybe so?

And jus to show you how lies work ....I'll bet someone posts a response to "prove" that lying is okay.

Baron Max
 
There are many other joys than just a man in a red costume.
Why not the joy of receiving presents from your parents?
 
I actually think that its kind of sick and twisted to do to your children. Here's basically what's going on:

For your satisfaction, in marvelling over how funny/silly children (people with limited intelligence) are when they believe something that you, as the person they look to for knowledge, tell them a lie.

It's borderline grotesque. Besides, at Christmas time shouldn't children be either learning about Jesus (if they're christian) or at least learning about giving and kindness and the human spirit, instead of being turned into greedy consumers?
 
DarkEyedBeauty said:
Besides, at Christmas time shouldn't children be either learning about Jesus (if they're christian) or at least learning about giving and kindness and the human spirit, instead of being turned into greedy consumers?
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Sorry, greedy wasteful unthinking consumerism is the true meaning of Christmas :(
 
The meaning of something is your own choice and you can make that meaning for your children too.
 
But Santa serves as the role model for giving, no? The original guy, I heard somewhere, was an old man who brought food and sweets to poor children in some village way back in the day, not just one day a year, but as regularly as he could. That's why he's a "saint," no? And, traditionally, only the good children get presents. I see nothing wrong with giving presents on any occasion, it's a nice gesture. "Greed" and "wastefulness" is what some individuals bring to all holidays and their everyday lives, as well; no reason to attack Christmas.

Why attack Santa alone? Why not take all make-believe characters out of our children's experience? Fairies are much worse, they bestow gifts on various days of the year, not just Christmas.

Besides, I think kids always know in the back of their heads that such characters are fictional. Or maybe that's just how I grew up.
 
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