You’re such a lawyer…
No, the happiness of my childhood did not depend upon fantasy creatures. And as an only child, I got plenty from my parents that I knew was from them and I did realize their desire to bring me happiness and reward me when I was good.
I was a little curious about this too, but I didn’t want to derail the thread. I guess that I will ask anyway.
The problem with Santa Claus is that he constitutes no mere game of pretend. The story is designed in such a way as to fool children into believing its elements are real. Should we read children a story involving witches or magic, we do not encourage them to believe such stories as true in the way we mean them to believe in the Santa Claus story. We do not look at a couple of children playing a game of freeze tag on the lawn and imagine that they believe themselves to have been overcome with paralysis once tagged. Stories about fantasy and make-believe are fine when the child knows that such things are just that.I was a little curious about this too, but I didn’t want to derail the thread. I guess that I will ask anyway.
Is it just Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny that you see as wrong, Elric, or are you against all imaginary play? Some of your posts make it seem like you are against fairy tales and pretend. Because we are communicating in writing, I realize that I might be reading your posts wrong. I apologize ahead of time if I have misunderstood you.
Children do not need to be exposed to all harsh realities when they are young. Would you take your 5 year old to a slaughter house so they could see the ‘harsh reality’ of where their steak comes from?
While we haven’t gone to a slaughterhouse to see beef processed, my son, at the age of six, has picked out our Thanksgiving turkey at a farm and watched it being slaughtered. Where our food comes from is a lesson I have not chosen to hide from him. Children who were brought up on a farm in bygone years saw this sort of thing everyday.
That’s good but where do you draw the line, if at all. When are children ready to learn about the other ‘harsh realities’ like murder, rape, prostitution, homosexuality and the like?
My older sons assisted my husband in killing some of our chickens. The younger girls also watched a couple of times. None of them were traumatized but then we stressed that the manner in which we killed the birds was much more humane then the way slaughter houses kill the birds. So, I am not protecting my children from unpleasantness.
The joy of the month of December ought not be dependant on a lie. These days, any parent serious about instructing their children in the faith will expose their children to the harsh realities of murder, rape, prostitution, homosexuality and other things early, before they learn of them from the graffiti scrawled on the stalls of the school bathrooms.
I disagree. A pre-teen need not know what rape is. But you teach yours your way, I’ll stick with mine.
A passing familiarity with the lives of many a saint would reveal that sanctity is capable of emerging from the most deplorable of circumstances. This result does not justify the evils the saints were exposed to.
Well, since I’m a daily communicant and my children, my wife and I volunteer hundreds of hours each year to the church, I guess we are an example of how catholics of 2008 can both live our faith and deal with secular things.
That you volunteer your time, are a daily communicant or even have the capacity to walk on water does nothing to mitigate the gross impropriety of lying to one’s children.Well, since I’m a daily communicant and my children, my wife and I volunteer hundreds of hours each year to the church, I guess we are an example of how catholics of 2008 can both live our faith and deal with secular things.
If you can’t separate Harry Potter fantasy and your faith don’t think we all have that trouble.
When my wife asks me if she ‘looks fat in that dress’ the answer is always no. No matter what.
This is quite properly being considered a moral issue because it involves lying in order to take advantage of a child’s innocence for the entertainment of adults. This is grave matter we are dealing with here. You will further note that the best defenses of this deplorable practice amount to nothing more than shallow sentimentality. Thank God that morality is not based, as this lie is, on the warm feelings of a few.**Why is this being considered a moral issue?? **
**You are way over on this. In my experience, parents are not ‘lying’ in the sense that they are hurting or abusing their children by enabling them, *as *children, to believe in Santa Claus or the Eastern bunny. Lying involves purposeful deception for self-survival or to purposely abuse or bear false witness against someone - neither of which occurs in this cultural practice. To even suggest that parents are taking advantage of a child’s innocense for the entertainment of adults shows a warped sense of what lying entails and the relationship between parent and child and a child’s natural propensity for imagination and make believe - both of which children need in order to mature. There is nothing more precious than awe on the face of a child when opening up his or her presents during the Christmas season. I wouldn’t trade that in for all the world. As for the bunny thing, I never did understand how rabbits laid eggs when I was a child myself, so it didn’t bother me. Kids figure it out on their own in due time, and none have ever accused their parents of lying to them, because they haven’t. **
I not only like, but I love this idea. Although if one would prefer to keep Santa, let him (or her)… which doesn’t keep me from telling the people asking me if I believe in Santa Claus that I don’t! I don’t remember when I came to know that Santa was just a legendary character, but I don’t remember having ever believed that the one dressed as Santa actually was Santa.
