People sure are heavy on insisting that either having Santa or not having Santa will damage children and rob them of a beautiful life experience. I think grownups are putting a lot more importance on it than it really deserves. If it’s supposed to be lighthearted good fun, the mace-waving and accusations kind of put a damper on that. Having Santa at Christmas will not by itself alienate your child from religion, or make him somehow better than a non-Santa kid. Not having Santa at Christmas will not by itself scar your child for life. Don’t know if the last few posters have noted, but Santa is not the only myth–just the strongest and most distracting this time of year. We don’t have Santa in my house, not because he’s blasphemous or will warp their sense of God, but a) it’s a lie (or myth) that doesn’t, in my eyes, justify its own use. I can get the same moral out of the story of Christ alone, and the gravity of the issue doesn’t warrant an elaborate hoax. B) Despite the efforts of well-meaning parents, Santa does distract from what’s going on at Christmas–the birth of Christ–by blinding little kids with visions of toys.
Respectfully; in all the effort you take to write about excluding Santa Claus from childhood makes it seem like you believe Santa is the sole biggest reason Christmas gets lost to secularism and commercialism. Sheesh; I think there are children out there in their simplicity who can grasp the religious concept of the Birth of Christ in simplistic form far better than the ego accumulated by some adults.
That being said, I don’t believe in defacing Santas or attacking mall Santas or ruining your tradition of using the Santa myth. If you believe the myth has a real application and you embrace the ‘spirit of Santa’ at Christmas, my feelings aren’t hurt. But please know that my children, even though they are not Santa-adherents, read plenty of stories and have live, wonderful imaginations; they are not ignorant or denied Santa, they just know he is pretend and they’re okay with that–they pretend a lot of things; they are more than exposed to the goodness of giving and charity, even without Santa showing them how.
As far as Santa being a lie, well, in my understanding of the word, much of the Santa tradition revolves around telling an elaborate lie to children. Sorry if that hurts feelings, but Santa is a fictionalized character with fictional attributes and fictional cohorts. If Santa is the word or personality you attach to the concept of giving, and as such is a ‘living’ personality, I can perceive a difference. As a literal, breathing person who actually lives at the North Pole and who actually hand-delivers gifts (that I buy) and is kind of creepy, watching you day and night and keeping track of all you do, and presenting him as literal truth is a lie in my understanding. Trying to convince someone of something that is not true is a lie. Anthropomorphism of a concept into a personage is a myth, not a lie as such. But in this case, they overlap in application.
Lying to kids is part of being a parent. But as the parent, you get to pick which lies you get to embrace, and which ones to skip.
