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Is It Unethical To Let Your Children Believe In Santa?

Geoist said:
There are a lot of traditions we hold close to our hearts that, when we seriously think about it, we realize are downright stupid. Perpetuating the lie of Santa Clause on children is certainly one of them. I would actually go one step further and say not only is it a stupid tradition, but it is unethical. There is no upside to setting children up for ridicule at school. As a teacher, I have seen it. I teach high school and we actually have had students coming in freshman year still believing in Santa.

My brothers and I were raised with the knowledge that our presents came not from magical elves but from parents who loved us and worked hard to provide the gifts we received. It did not make Christmas any less special. Some of my favorite memories are from those mornings.

And while I do think this preacher took things a little too far, I do think it is the moral duty of adults to encourage other adults to not promote this lie.
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Whatever. I think most kids figure it out early, I can't imagine many make it all the way to High School believing in Santa. Also, kids are made fun of for all sorts of ignorant reasons in high school. Kids are dicks.
 
Geoist said:
There are a lot of traditions we hold close to our hearts that, when we seriously think about it, we realize are downright stupid. Perpetuating the lie of Santa Clause on children is certainly one of them. I would actually go one step further and say not only is it a stupid tradition, but it is unethical. There is no upside to setting children up for ridicule at school. As a teacher, I have seen it. I teach high school and we actually have had students coming in freshman year still believing in Santa.
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How many? Be honest.

I feel sorry for the kids whose parents won't let them believe in the magic of Christmas.
 
Geoist said:
As kids, my brothers and I used to pretend we were WWF superstars, jedi knights and sailors on Captain Nemo's submarine. Never once did we think we were any of those things.
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None of which refutes my point.
 
Helix said:
nah, it's a fun, cute tradition, IMO.

the podcast "Stuff You Missed in History Class" does a thorough outline of different countries and their Christmas folklore around this time each year. they just put out this year's version, and it's pretty good. here's a link to all three of their podcasts on this topic.

Krampus and friends | Stuff You Missed in History

also, i dig this show in general. two podcasts a week; always interesting. "Stuff You Should Know" is also awesome. i listen to pretty much every episode.
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Geoist said:
There are a lot of traditions we hold close to our hearts that, when we seriously think about it, we realize are downright stupid. Perpetuating the lie of Santa Clause on children is certainly one of them. I would actually go one step further and say not only is it a stupid tradition, but it is unethical. There is no upside to setting children up for ridicule at school. As a teacher, I have seen it. I teach high school and we actually have had students coming in freshman year still believing in Santa.

My brothers and I were raised with the knowledge that our presents came not from magical elves but from parents who loved us and worked hard to provide the gifts we received. It did not make Christmas any less special. Some of my favorite memories are from those mornings.

And while I do think this preacher took things a little too far, I do think it is the moral duty of adults to encourage other adults to not promote this lie.
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I saw many grown adults believe in the "hopey Changey" fantasy.

And you are whining about Santa?
 
Geoist said:
There are a lot of traditions we hold close to our hearts that, when we seriously think about it, we realize are downright stupid. Perpetuating the lie of Santa Clause on children is certainly one of them. I would actually go one step further and say not only is it a stupid tradition, but it is unethical. There is no upside to setting children up for ridicule at school. As a teacher, I have seen it. I teach high school and we actually have had students coming in freshman year still believing in Santa.

My brothers and I were raised with the knowledge that our presents came not from magical elves but from parents who loved us and worked hard to provide the gifts we received. It did not make Christmas any less special. Some of my favorite memories are from those mornings.

And while I do think this preacher took things a little too far, I do think it is the moral duty of adults to encourage other adults to not promote this lie.
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I decided early on to tell my child no lies, including about Santa Claus. This was not a popular decision with his mother or grandmother. In deference to their wishes, I agreed I would say nothing until he asked me, which he did when he was about 5. In response I told him of Saint Nicholas, believed to be a real person, who started the custom of giving gifts to children on Christmas, but that he was long dead and no there was no Santa with flying reindeer the presents came from his family. He accepted this without drama, just nodding thoughtfully.

Today he's a young man and will tell anyone quickly that his father has never lied to him about anything.
 
Josie said:
How many? Be honest.
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I recall three total with one current student. It doesn't help the student when they have a learning disability. We have had kids who believed the sun and the moon were the same thing and who thought time machines are real because "Stewey from Family Guy used one."


I feel sorry for the kids whose parents won't let them believe in the magic of Christmas.
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I feel sorry for anyone who thinks you need to believe in a fairy tale to enjoy the holidays with family.
 
Ikari said:
Dungeons and Dragons are real man!
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Any parent who told their kid normal sized elves were real would get "WTF" glances from society. But tell your kid little elves live in the North Pole and that is perfectly normal.
 
Moon said:
None of which refutes my point.
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Actually it does. Kids can fantasy and pretend without thinking it is reality.
 
Geoist said:
I recall three total with one current student. It doesn't help the student when they have a learning disability. We have had kids who believed the sun and the moon were the same thing and who thought time machines are real because "Stewey from Family Guy used one."
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So it's rare to have a freshman in high school still believe in Santa. I don't see how that's a testament that parents shouldn't allow their children to believe.

Geoist said:
I feel sorry for anyone who thinks you need to believe in a fairy tale to enjoy the holidays with family.
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You don't need to --- but it makes it much more fun especially for children. Didn't you ever have that wonderful, magical feeling at Christmas?
 
RetiredUSN said:
I saw many grown adults believe in the "hopey Changey" fantasy.

And you are whining about Santa?
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Even in a thread with absolutely nothing to do with Obama someone finds a way... :lamo :roll:
 
Josie said:
So it's rare to have a freshman in high school still believe in Santa. I don't see how that's a testament that parents shouldn't allow their children to believe.
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I never said it was common. I said it happens.



You don't need to --- but it makes it much more fun especially for children.
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I don't think there is any way to prove that to be the case.


Didn't you ever have that wonderful, magical feeling at Christmas?
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Yes, I did. And so did my brothers. None of us ever believed in Santa.
 
Josie said:
How many? Be honest.

I feel sorry for the kids whose parents won't let them believe in the magic of Christmas.
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It's not that they don't "let them believe," it's that they don't get fully invested in the narrative.

The link in #20 was pretty good: "Again, I have no objection to playing the "Santa game"—pretending with your children that Santa exists—as long as you never encourage them to literally believe it, don’t lie to them when they ask, and encourage them to figure it out for themselves."

My parents had me leave out milk and cookies; stuff like that, but i was pretty sure Santa was fake as far back as i can remember. I don't think they robbed me of any magic, lol!
 
Geoist said:
Yes, I did. And so did my brothers. None of us ever believed in Santa.
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Then you had a different kind of magical feeling. If you never believed when you were a kid, then you really aren't going to understand.
 
Josie said:
If you never believed when you were a kid, then you really aren't going to understand.
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You're right. I never had that feeling/realization that my naivety was taken advantage of by my parents. ;)
 
Geoist said:
There is absolutely a lot wrong with encouraging children to believe fiction is reality. It could potentially stunt their intellectual development.

Children can fantasize without thinking the fantasy is real. As I told somebody else, you wouldn't tell your child they were actually a cowboy while they were playing pretend.
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Sorry, but that's just foolish. I thank God that my parents let me believe in Santa. Sorry, but if you didn't believe, you missed out.


As I said before, some of my best memories were of Christmas Day. Never once did I believe Santa was real.
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I'm glad you have good memories.
 
Anthony60 said:
Sorry, but that's just foolish. I thank God that my parents let me believe in Santa. Sorry, but if you didn't believe, you missed out.
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Actually, the exciting part for me was the feeling of being "in on a secret" my grade school classmates didn't know about. I'm sorry you missed out on that. ;)


I'm glad you have good memories.
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And same to you.
 
Geoist said:
Actually, the exciting part for me was the feeling of being "in on a secret" my grade school classmates didn't know about. I'm sorry you missed out on that. ;).
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Well, sounds like a nice consolation prize.:2razz:
 
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