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Post by al on Dec 10, 2018 12:15:30 GMT 10
Is Santa Clause just harmless? Does the excitement he brings children overpower the fact that he is indeed fictional? Some state that the window in our lives for believing in magic is so short that it should be embraced while possible.
Meanwhile others, even celebrities like Brad Pitt and Kristen Bell, have been coming out to say they feel uncomfortable telling their kids that there is a Santa. Not only do they feel like they are lying, but also setting their children up for future disappointment. It is sometimes cited as beginning a series of trust issues, which can be carried through to adulthood.
Do the pros outweigh the cons? Is Santa Clause just a fun part of childhood? Are those who feel psychologically affected in the minority? Or are we actually duping children harmfully and unnecessarily?
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Post by SharksFan99 on Dec 10, 2018 16:36:17 GMT 10
I think parents who deny their kids the opportunity to believe in Santa are cruel and are doing more harm to their children than good. I shudder at the thought that all of those great childhood memories I have of eagerly waiting for Santa may never have existed. Others may disagree with me on this, but I personally think Santa Clause is harmless and should be celebrated by kids.
I don't buy the "trust" argument put forward by Brad Pitt and Kristen Bell. Is a child going to resent their parents once they've grown up simply for the fact that they were told when they were younger that Santa Clause is real? I very much doubt it. If they did, they deserve to experience the disappointment. I wouldn't even say that those who feel psychologically affected are in the "minority"; they would make up a very minuscule proportion of the population. Anyone who has that type of mindset needs to grow up and stop acting so petty, as far as i'm concerned.
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Post by EyewitnessTV on Dec 10, 2018 23:28:49 GMT 10
Would you apply the same to the ”Tooth Fairy” and “Easter Bunny”?  The perception of the world around us is a mix of facts and fiction anyways. As kids, we are told of stories or events about many things. In fact even the concept of God and religion also does not have any proof, even God could be considered fictional. So, I believe there is no harm in responsible introduction of fictional characters such as Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.  Some of my favorite memories of childhood are directly related to those fictional characters. Part of being a child is the belief in "real" magic. Fictional characters are simply a part of that “magic”. It's also these fictional characters and other stories of magic that teach a kid to think "outside of box." Denying a child these stories is wrong IMO.
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Post by Alexander Edoh on Dec 17, 2018 9:15:46 GMT 10
To quote a meme that I read on the internet - If you think it's childish to still believe in Santa Claus, remember there are adults who still believe the Daily Mail.
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Post by EyewitnessTV on Dec 17, 2018 14:41:46 GMT 10
To quote a meme that I read on the internet - If you think it's childish to still believe in Santa Claus, remember there are adults who still believe the Daily Mail.Or in our case, any News Corp. rag.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Dec 17, 2018 14:55:14 GMT 10
To quote a meme that I read on the internet - If you think it's childish to still believe in Santa Claus, remember there are adults who still believe the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail is the Buzzfeed of Newspapers. 
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2018 2:23:54 GMT 10
I see no harm in it, it's just harmless make believe and given that someday the children will find out how screwed up the world really is, it's good to let them have a taste of a perfect world while they can.
I don't put any store in what celebrities think anyway, especially those I don't like such as Brad Pitt. Most of them don't even live in the bloody real world to begin with.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2018 2:28:35 GMT 10
Life is full of disappointments. I don't see why we should shield kids away from the most inconsequential ones.
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Post by al on Dec 18, 2018 12:45:15 GMT 10
This was the article I was inspired by, if anyone's interested. www.today.com/parents/santa-real-handling-santa-talk-your-kids-t105765 I also posted this on perc, and the responses were pretty much what I expected: Majority pro, some incredibly so, with a handful of anti to ambivalent. Santa was never that elaborate at my house and I don't really have a lot of very clear Christmas morning memories, so it was a pretty insignificant in the scheme of my childhood. What did annoy me though was how every year, I would ask specific and skeptical questions, and was always given another excuse, until I 100% figured it out at 7 and just stopped asking. It became like the old lady who swallowed the fly. It was kind of uncomfortable once the "cat was out of the bag" and I had to keep playing along at school or with various adults. My grandmother in particular always gave me a really hard time about "growing up too fast", when in reality it wasn't intentional. I couldn't help when I figured things out or lost interest, but it didn't mean I wasn't still a kid. If anything gave me an "issue", it was probably that. I would guess that for the people who claim they felt "duped", it may have been something like it just going too far. Otherwise it's probably a component in a collection of other issues. *cough* It's genuinely very interesting to me how polarizing the holidays can be. I'm at least happy we are getting to a place in society where people don't have to conform to the point of having celebrations or upkeeping traditions they don't care for. There are Christmas fanatics, there are others who don't like it at all, and both are fine. I think whether or not people do Santa for their kids, how they handle it is probably the most significant factor in how it all goes.
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