I personally disagree with telling children Santa Claus is real. As others have mentioned, it’s not simply a story that takes place “once upon a time” as fairy tales are. Children are told that Santa is actually real, drives a real sleigh pulled by real reindeer, and really comes into their houses to give them presents.
He does!
this is not just a simple lie. It’s full-on deception. Parents do a very good job of duping their kids into believing that Santa is real.
We do!
They sit on his knee at the mall.
No, that’s never the real Santa. The real Santa is much too busy supervising his Elves at the North Pole. The ones in the shopping centres are just paid to get buyers into the stores and maybe hand out a few freebies. . Sheeesh.
They write letters to him
.These days you can send him emails. That’s cool!
In some parts of the world they can speak to him on the telephone.
Never heard that one. What’s the number? I have a few questions…
They leave out milk (or beer, for the Aussies) and cookies for Santa, which are gone in the morning.
Yep. He loves the beer.
When children ask sceptical questions about Santa (e.g. ‘How will he get into our house since we don’t have a chimney?’), parents are forced to tell more lies to keep the children believing.
Not true. You tell the truth and say you’ll leave a door unlocked!
And the fact is, it’s not only Santa that parents deceive their kids about - there’s the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy as well. You know the old adage ‘once bitten, twice shy’ - think about it.
Never heard of anyone being “hurt” by any of this. It doesn’t happen the way you seem to think it happens.
Child: Santa’s not real? What about the Easter Bunny?
Parent: No, he’s not real either.
Child: And the Tooth Fairy?
Parent: She’s also not real.
The kids don’t wake up one morning to the sudden realisation that it is all false. They come to a gradual realisation that there are people in the world that carry on the tradition of substituting for the once very real St. Nicholas and that it is a celebration about love and giving, as set by the original saint and it all revolves around the birth of Christ, etc, etc, etc.
By the way, who said the Tooth fairy was a “she”?
Child: Well what about God?
Parent: No, God is real.
Well, it’s like this - no one dresses up as God in the local shopping mall, nor phones Him, nor send him emails, nor leaves a glass or three of beer out for Him. We go to Mass as we have always done, to talk to Him there, etc, etc, etc.
If children have been deceived three times about imaginary figures, then might it not be possible that they think God is in the same category?
No! Because the kids come to a slow realisation of it all. Unless, of course, Santa drinks too much beer before all the wrapping is done and falls over things.
Atheists actually refer to God as “Santa Claus for grown-ups”.
Atheists will attempt to hang their hat on all sorts of arguments. So what? Who cares…
As Christians, I believe that we should focus on Christ as the “reason for the season”. Children can be told that we give gifts to each other because the Three Wise Men gave gifts to Jesus Christ, who was God’s ultimate gift to us.
No argument. We don’t replace Christ with Santa. Santa is an addendum.
And anyway, why do children have to be told that a fat man in a red suit gives them Christmas presents?
Because the fat man in the red suit is jolly good fun. You should also do a really good Google search for St. Nicholas and the tradition of a ‘Santa’.
Can’t they be equally happy knowing that Mum and Dad are the ones giving them the presents because they love them?
Dunno about the rest of the world, but here they get Mum and Dad presents too. Santa gradually gets phased out.
Well, I hope Santa brings you a few more cents!
I was seven and a half when I finally realized there was no Santa Claus.