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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

  • Alex R - mod said:

    RE classes don't - if they're run according to the curriculum - teach children that any religious position is true.

    Maybe not these days, but when I went to school I was taught that Jesus walked on water, turned water into wine, fed 5000 people with 3 loaves and 5 fish etc, all of which are scientifically impossible. Faith schools also exist and they often have a strict regime to drum a certain religion into vulnerable childrens heads.

    "The last thing we need is more ignorance about the diversity of human experience and understanding."

    Whatever the religion - for a government to allow it to be taught in their country is like saying everything in that religion must be true, because if it is not true then it means you are allowing the teaching of lies, which can only create a bad society. Therefore the only ignorance is in allowing it to be taught,

Reply

  • Alex R - mod said:

    RE classes don't - if they're run according to the curriculum - teach children that any religious position is true.

    Maybe not these days, but when I went to school I was taught that Jesus walked on water, turned water into wine, fed 5000 people with 3 loaves and 5 fish etc, all of which are scientifically impossible. Faith schools also exist and they often have a strict regime to drum a certain religion into vulnerable childrens heads.

    "The last thing we need is more ignorance about the diversity of human experience and understanding."

    Whatever the religion - for a government to allow it to be taught in their country is like saying everything in that religion must be true, because if it is not true then it means you are allowing the teaching of lies, which can only create a bad society. Therefore the only ignorance is in allowing it to be taught,

Children
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