• Is it ok to teach children that Santa is real?
    16 replies, posted
Something I always thought about especially during Christmas is the morality of telling children that Santa is real and gives them gifts based on how good they were during the year. A part of what bothers me about this is when a child believes this and notices things like another kid who's family is already rich receiving expensive gifts while a kid from a poor family might be lucky to get connect four. I used to volunteer at a daycare and when one of the kids once asked me why Santa gave rich kids such nice things I honestly didn't know how to answer her in a way that wouldn't be straight up telling her that Santa is made up. In the end I told her to ask her parents. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("No debate presented" - Megafan))[/highlight]
We should teach them about the Origin of Saint Nikolas Clause (Santa's german name) and that it's okay to believe (I still do during the holidays, guilty pleasure of mine.)
Yes it's okay because if they find it on their own, after years of believing in him they find out he's fake. How do you think they will feel ? even now some adults still think he exists. i found out he was fake at the age of 6, I wasn't mad for Santa being fake but mad because nobody told me that.
He's not?
Its along the same vein as religion but even people who are Atheists do this. Be good, get rewarded by some magic man.
firstly you'd have to look into factors like these which can effect others during the first few years of child development. depending on the severity of this, it could have various adverse conditions for children later on in their life. i'd really be interested in seeing a study done into something like this
They usually find out one way or another anyway, and rarely is it the case that they're emotionally destroyed. Usually it's a realization around the ages... 10-12? Some logical thinking occurs in that age. I found out through my dads wrist watch. I noticed Santa and my dad had the same exact one. And then I was like "Oh. That's weird."
i found out santa wasn't real when i was 7 because my uncle blurted it out drunk
Personally I wouldn't tell my kid about Santa. My parents told me he was real, but I only believed them for a short amount of time until I found out on my own.
To me it was more about the presents than it was about santa, so after i found out it was just a matter of my parents not knowing about it and still putting me presents under the tree.
I've seen Santa as just some symbol of gift giving as long as I can remember. Doesn't stray too far from birthdays, or thanks givings..
I'd tell them that I gave them the gifts because I loved them, and not due to the love of a fictional being.
I think it helps to preserve the magic of christmas and makes kids even more excited when it comes around, and it's a completely harmless lie, so why not, if it makes your kids happier at christmas.
I'd tell them he wasn't real, just so I would know that it was [I]my[/I] progeny that was the annoying shit at school that ruined the magic for everyone.
I agree with the post above me, I figured out myself he wasn't real and loved waiting for him to come around when I did believe. My parents gave me about %50 of it from "them" also. EDIT: Damn it, I got ninjaed
It doesn't hurt any. Like l337k1ll4 said, it preserves the magic of Christmas. I can guarantee you if there was no concept of Santa Clause, Christmas would be not be three times as exciting as it was with a Santa. And yeah, they'll find out anyway. It's not like it causes emotional or psychological problems for these kids. Unless I'm wrong of course, someone give me information. I wouldn't say that ''Its along the same vein as religion.'' Someone's personal religious beliefs are a [i]totally[/i] different thing.
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