C
CatholicFireman
Guest
Great, the next thing you’ll tell me is there’s no Easter Bunny…Awwwww maaaaan!
That was the reaction of my daughter when she found out.
- Status
Great, the next thing you’ll tell me is there’s no Easter Bunny…Awwwww maaaaan!
That was the reaction of my daughter when she found out.
C
CatholicFireman
Guest
I’m thinking no life?
meltzerboy
New member
T
Trident_H
Guest
Wait. Santa Claus isn’t real? Well then who’s been eating all the cookies I’ve been leaving out?
C
CatholicFireman
Guest
The OP obviously didn’t see Miracle on 34th Street.
M
Mintaka
Guest
There is a tendency in human cultures to support children’s development patterns by controlling the amount of knowledge they receive and how they receive it.
This is done for good reason, because some kids tend to be very distressed and worried if they receive knowledge that is too much for them emotionally or intellectually. (Other kids protect themselves by boredom that tunes adult information out, or by total inability to comprehend stuff that is too complex for them.)
So most complicated subjects are taught at different levels throughout life.
The first level is the level of not noticing or caring at all.
For example, a kid knows that babies are around, but doesn’t care where they come from. They are just there, like dogs and trees and grownups.
The next level is stories, songs, games, and jokes that introduce certain concepts without really explaining them.
For example, most kids may want to play with babies, or to play a pretend game of having a baby in their house. They still don’t care where babies come from.
The next level is a sort of mystery level. The kid starts to ask where babies come from but the parents don’t think the kid really wants to know a lecture full of information. The kid wants emotional information - “I was a baby once, I came from somewhere, you loved me as a baby and you love me now.” So you get crazy fiction games, like telling kids they came from under a cabbage in the garden, or that they were so cute that you ordered them from the baby store on Amazon. There are also more serious mythicizations, like saying they were special delivery from the angels or from a stork. In all cases, the idea is to reassure the kid that they are special loved individuals, while also providing a sense of a mysterious game that doesn’t reveal everything. It is an encouragement to keep asking.
This is the level of the Santa Claus roleplaying game - emotional information about a Christian holy day. The game also talks about the child’s place in the family, and in the larger world of Christendom and the Church Triumphant, as someone who receives love and gifts.
Now later on, obviously the kid is supposed to find out or realize that Santa Claus is a game. Ideally, the child just grows into the knowledge, without any traumatic break or bitterness. In our society, apparently some kids do not get this knowledge gracefully. Also, it’s likely that some kids just don’t like certain kinds of gameplay, and so their parents should know their characters and level with them, explaining straight out that Santa Claus is a game and that they don’t have to play, although they shouldn’t ruin it for other people who do want to play it.
So yes, there are further levels of teaching subjects to children and adults, usually associated with teaching both factual information and the ethics of using that information. You also get “masterclass” levels of discussion or of improving skills, and finally you get to the levels where you teach others. Often the masterclass levels are associated with more levels of learning and creating stories, songs, games, and jokes, because humans tend to think in terms of imagery and experiential feelings.
So obviously, there are a lot more steps observed in the process of teaching kids where babies come from, than in teaching kids about Christmas customs in Western culture. There’s a certain amount of factual information, as well as information about what’s done in our culture and what’s moral in our religion. Christmas gift-giving is a lot more freeform than reproduction! But with both sex and Christmas, the nitty-gritty of mechanics is usually reserved for those who are soon going to be able to do something about it.
And that’s the way it should be. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about where Mommy and Daddy will get the money for presents, and they also shouldn’t have to know all the mechanics of Mommy and Daddy in the bedroom. (And heck, Mommy and Daddy have probably taught each other a lot more than they could ever put into words for anyone else, no matter how close a friend or relative. That’s the nature of marriage.)
They’re little kids. They’ll be adults with households soon enough; they should be given time to learn and grow before getting saddled with worries. Knowledge of something can be a good thing without being needful to everyone at every age.
This is done for good reason, because some kids tend to be very distressed and worried if they receive knowledge that is too much for them emotionally or intellectually. (Other kids protect themselves by boredom that tunes adult information out, or by total inability to comprehend stuff that is too complex for them.)
So most complicated subjects are taught at different levels throughout life.
The first level is the level of not noticing or caring at all.
For example, a kid knows that babies are around, but doesn’t care where they come from. They are just there, like dogs and trees and grownups.
The next level is stories, songs, games, and jokes that introduce certain concepts without really explaining them.
For example, most kids may want to play with babies, or to play a pretend game of having a baby in their house. They still don’t care where babies come from.
The next level is a sort of mystery level. The kid starts to ask where babies come from but the parents don’t think the kid really wants to know a lecture full of information. The kid wants emotional information - “I was a baby once, I came from somewhere, you loved me as a baby and you love me now.” So you get crazy fiction games, like telling kids they came from under a cabbage in the garden, or that they were so cute that you ordered them from the baby store on Amazon. There are also more serious mythicizations, like saying they were special delivery from the angels or from a stork. In all cases, the idea is to reassure the kid that they are special loved individuals, while also providing a sense of a mysterious game that doesn’t reveal everything. It is an encouragement to keep asking.
This is the level of the Santa Claus roleplaying game - emotional information about a Christian holy day. The game also talks about the child’s place in the family, and in the larger world of Christendom and the Church Triumphant, as someone who receives love and gifts.
Now later on, obviously the kid is supposed to find out or realize that Santa Claus is a game. Ideally, the child just grows into the knowledge, without any traumatic break or bitterness. In our society, apparently some kids do not get this knowledge gracefully. Also, it’s likely that some kids just don’t like certain kinds of gameplay, and so their parents should know their characters and level with them, explaining straight out that Santa Claus is a game and that they don’t have to play, although they shouldn’t ruin it for other people who do want to play it.
So yes, there are further levels of teaching subjects to children and adults, usually associated with teaching both factual information and the ethics of using that information. You also get “masterclass” levels of discussion or of improving skills, and finally you get to the levels where you teach others. Often the masterclass levels are associated with more levels of learning and creating stories, songs, games, and jokes, because humans tend to think in terms of imagery and experiential feelings.
So obviously, there are a lot more steps observed in the process of teaching kids where babies come from, than in teaching kids about Christmas customs in Western culture. There’s a certain amount of factual information, as well as information about what’s done in our culture and what’s moral in our religion. Christmas gift-giving is a lot more freeform than reproduction! But with both sex and Christmas, the nitty-gritty of mechanics is usually reserved for those who are soon going to be able to do something about it.
And that’s the way it should be. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about where Mommy and Daddy will get the money for presents, and they also shouldn’t have to know all the mechanics of Mommy and Daddy in the bedroom. (And heck, Mommy and Daddy have probably taught each other a lot more than they could ever put into words for anyone else, no matter how close a friend or relative. That’s the nature of marriage.)
They’re little kids. They’ll be adults with households soon enough; they should be given time to learn and grow before getting saddled with worries. Knowledge of something can be a good thing without being needful to everyone at every age.
G
Glomung
Guest
Santa Claus is a corruption of Dutch “Sinter Klaus” (cindered clothes) as his clothing gets covered with cinders as he climbs up and down chimneys.
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Della
Guest
A very wise and sensible article written by a Catholic mom, who very wisely and sensibly quotes G. K. Chestertion, who was wise and sensible about everything. 
catholicmom.com/2012/12/05/welcoming-santa-with-g-k-chesterton/.
catholicmom.com/2012/12/05/welcoming-santa-with-g-k-chesterton/.
C
CatholicFireman
Guest
I’m thinking some of “us people” know satire. You need only read our posts. 
“Topo Gigio!”
“Topo Gigio!”
T
Trident_H
Guest
I like the way you unfolded that. Well said.
B
Bookcat
Guest
No worries there. Once one has an understanding of the reality of man as the Church Teaches and what the Church Teaches regarding the Resurrection one will see it is not a false concept.
B
Book_Worm
Guest
G
GEddie
Guest
If more kids got a piece of coal at Xmas the world would be a better place.
ICXC NIKA
ICXC NIKA
G
GEddie
Guest
Let me know when all of you get your piece of coal!
D
Della
Guest
One year my grown brother got a little sack of coal as a gag gift. He got a real kick out of it because he is something of a curmudgeon.Let me know when all of you get your piece of coal!
I remember a well-known psychologist from Italy who used to be on PBS telling how he’d been a bad boy one year. His mother told him the Christmas Angel wouldn’t be giving him anything that year. He didn’t believe her until he saw that everyone in the family got a gift except him. It made a huge impact on his life because he realized he’d not only hurt himself, but his mama, who cried and the rest of his family who cried with him. He resolved he’d be good from then on. It can work that way, but it could also occasion bitterness and resentment unless the child is open to that kind of correction. Just my :twocents:.
P
pianistclare
Guest
- Status