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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

  • IntenseWorld said:
    You don't say if you are on the spectrum or not, I suspect you are as you blurted out the truth to your classmates without thought.  I don't blame you though as your parents put the knowledge in your head and I feel they were very unfair in bursting such an innocent bubble.

    I come from a family who thinks that deceiving children into thinking that Santa delivers Christmas presents is silly in this day and age that could lead to disappointment and distrust later in life. I wasn't alone at school with this knowledge. There were other children who didn't celebrate Christmas or believe in the Santa malarkey. With hindsight I was probably being insensitive as I perceived the Santa lie to be a downright lie that needed exposing rather than a cultural matter.

    How many members of the NAS are there who don't celebrate Christmas or tell their children that Santa is a hoax?

    The fight between Galileo and officialdom is definitely an inspiring and important tale, I agree with that, and should be continued through to modern day. Although I think there's a difference between telling the truth to officialdom, and telling the truth to other people who are in "the same boat" in life.

    Yes there is a difference but there is also a common theme of pack mentality and how an overwhelmingly high proportion of people prefer to behave in a way that pleases other people even if it means following a lie rather than making themselves unpopular with their associates or risking prosecution by following the truth. I'm of the opinion that a significant proportion of parents lie to their children about Santa because they think every other parents does or to avoid the possibility of upsetting their classmates if their children know the truth at too young an age.

    The Santa lie can be a difficult one for teachers to handle, especially in a school where a lots of children don't celebrate Christmas. It puts them into a dilemma of either telling the truth with the potential to destroy the magic of Christmas for some children or come across as a liar and a deceiver for children who know the truth. 

Reply

  • IntenseWorld said:
    You don't say if you are on the spectrum or not, I suspect you are as you blurted out the truth to your classmates without thought.  I don't blame you though as your parents put the knowledge in your head and I feel they were very unfair in bursting such an innocent bubble.

    I come from a family who thinks that deceiving children into thinking that Santa delivers Christmas presents is silly in this day and age that could lead to disappointment and distrust later in life. I wasn't alone at school with this knowledge. There were other children who didn't celebrate Christmas or believe in the Santa malarkey. With hindsight I was probably being insensitive as I perceived the Santa lie to be a downright lie that needed exposing rather than a cultural matter.

    How many members of the NAS are there who don't celebrate Christmas or tell their children that Santa is a hoax?

    The fight between Galileo and officialdom is definitely an inspiring and important tale, I agree with that, and should be continued through to modern day. Although I think there's a difference between telling the truth to officialdom, and telling the truth to other people who are in "the same boat" in life.

    Yes there is a difference but there is also a common theme of pack mentality and how an overwhelmingly high proportion of people prefer to behave in a way that pleases other people even if it means following a lie rather than making themselves unpopular with their associates or risking prosecution by following the truth. I'm of the opinion that a significant proportion of parents lie to their children about Santa because they think every other parents does or to avoid the possibility of upsetting their classmates if their children know the truth at too young an age.

    The Santa lie can be a difficult one for teachers to handle, especially in a school where a lots of children don't celebrate Christmas. It puts them into a dilemma of either telling the truth with the potential to destroy the magic of Christmas for some children or come across as a liar and a deceiver for children who know the truth. 

Children
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