• Replies 182 replies
  • Subscribers 28 subscribers
  • Views 29243 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Is Santa silly?

Arran

I'm writing this as someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas in either a religious or cultural sense. From a young age I was told that Santa doesn't exist and is just a silly hoax that parents play on their kids. It never affected me in any bad way and neither was I expecting to find wrapped presents mysteriously appear on the morning of the 25th day of December. If anybody in my family received a Christmas gift then it was usually opened on the same day. A downside to this is that even from the age of 4 or 5 I went round telling kids at school "Father Christmas isn't real, it's all made up, your parents buy Christmas presents from the shops" which often resulted in me getting into trouble whenever they got upset. I once had to report to the head teacher after completely reducing a classmate to tears.

Is the concept of Santa a silly nonsense or is it part of the joys of childhood? Do you tell your own children the truth or would you prefer to go along with the cultural norm? Is pleasing one's classmates more important than knowing the truth? What about children at school who follow different religions so do not celebrate Christmas - where do they fit in?

Parents

  • Arran, I would have taken your post more into consideration if you hadn't have made a rather crude representation of those families who observe and follow the cultural tradition of Santa as "those who continue to propagate the lies". If you'd have summed the three "positions" up in a more objective light, and given some positive character traits to those who wish to make their children happy with the Santa idea, it would look more reasonable.

    The observation of halal/haram is very cultural on many instances, so you're wrong that it's a comparison of an aspect of religion versus the culture of Santa. The different interpretations of halal/haram vary from culture to culture within the Islamic world. Some Muslims, for instance, think music is haram. Others just observe halal/haram in dietary terms, and some Muslims don't observe halal/haram at all! (Believe it or not, the first president of Pakistan, Jinnah eat pork and I think even drank alcohol!)

    I'm not sure why you're dismissing the imaginative and fantasy aspect of it, when the link posted earlier concludes that Santa is positive for children's imaginative thinking. It seems pretty conclusive to me, and I can honestly say that it helped my imagination. You may not buy it for yourself, but please don't dismiss it for me, as I'm aware of the impacts of Santa in my life, and I assure you, they were positive.

    EDIT: I should add, that some of the concepts of halal/haram are provably false. Such as the idea that pigs are unclean animals, and therefore are "haram", when it's been proven scientifically that pigs are a very clean and hygenic species. So there absolutely is a comparison between the cultural views of halal/haram and Santa. You could argue that with the former, the parents don't know the facts, and the latter do, but that is honestly splitting hairs. The fact of the matter is, tolerance does cut both ways so what I had to say is still pertinent. I KNEW the facts when I went to school with Muslims on halal/haram, and chose NOT to say anything at the time.

Reply

  • Arran, I would have taken your post more into consideration if you hadn't have made a rather crude representation of those families who observe and follow the cultural tradition of Santa as "those who continue to propagate the lies". If you'd have summed the three "positions" up in a more objective light, and given some positive character traits to those who wish to make their children happy with the Santa idea, it would look more reasonable.

    The observation of halal/haram is very cultural on many instances, so you're wrong that it's a comparison of an aspect of religion versus the culture of Santa. The different interpretations of halal/haram vary from culture to culture within the Islamic world. Some Muslims, for instance, think music is haram. Others just observe halal/haram in dietary terms, and some Muslims don't observe halal/haram at all! (Believe it or not, the first president of Pakistan, Jinnah eat pork and I think even drank alcohol!)

    I'm not sure why you're dismissing the imaginative and fantasy aspect of it, when the link posted earlier concludes that Santa is positive for children's imaginative thinking. It seems pretty conclusive to me, and I can honestly say that it helped my imagination. You may not buy it for yourself, but please don't dismiss it for me, as I'm aware of the impacts of Santa in my life, and I assure you, they were positive.

    EDIT: I should add, that some of the concepts of halal/haram are provably false. Such as the idea that pigs are unclean animals, and therefore are "haram", when it's been proven scientifically that pigs are a very clean and hygenic species. So there absolutely is a comparison between the cultural views of halal/haram and Santa. You could argue that with the former, the parents don't know the facts, and the latter do, but that is honestly splitting hairs. The fact of the matter is, tolerance does cut both ways so what I had to say is still pertinent. I KNEW the facts when I went to school with Muslims on halal/haram, and chose NOT to say anything at the time.

Children
No Data