[GUEST] ON THE CLAUS

I never told any child the fallacies of Santa’s
capabilities and did nothing wrong because of this.

Let me talk about my ideas about the Claus.

• Come on, people! You aren’t hurting anything by not sharing the
  myth of a Santa with supernatural abilities. The tots can still get
  gifts that you and family give, which I think will matter to them more.

• Have you ever been saddened when someone thanks
  Santa for a gift instead of you? Did you ever feel conflicted
  about putting “Santa” on a gift tag? Has your kid opened a gift
  and didn’t thank you because you are someone else? Does it
  make you upset that your children could go to a Santa and
  mention how they want certain things that maybe mommy
  or daddy couldn’t afford? They will be expecting this magical
  person to do it, but it won’t happen and they won’t know
  why except for “I guess I wasn’t good enough.” Seems sad.

• You likely want your kids to visit a Santa because you want
  to have memories while in the “Christmas spirit”. You want to
  have pictures later and to see some joy on Christmas morning
  that you had. This joy would still be there because opening
  gifts is fun! Why not tell the children that this Santa is a dude
  representing the “Christmas spirit” and is just for fun?

• tots could eventually think that, since parents lied about Santa,
  perhaps they were lying about Jesus as well (if anybody is even
  telling them that the December 25th day is day chosen for
  recognition of the physical birth of this historical person)

• Someday, they will know that Santa is not real and that you lied.
  This can confuse them and cause an expectation of lies from
  others older than they. You aren’t helping them have a better life
  by exaggerating about Santa’s capabilities. I don’t think kids are
  losing a big part of the “childhood experience” or having
  imagination/innocence damaged by missing out on the
  concept of a supernatural Santa.

Colossians 3:9 - “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off
your old self with its practices.” I think it’s a fault to lie, as does God.
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).

We are involved in bad parenting when we lie to children, especially
when it has no safety benefit. If you take children to a Santa, letting
them think it’s a person who’ll give them free materials, you are deceptive.
No matter how you try to justify why you encourage the character, it’s
still an untruth that Santa will bring them gifts. It’s you simply doing
what you know many others are doing and making an exception in lying (hopefully limited) because of the tradition’s popularity.

Now, I wouldn’t go to a line of folks waiting to see a Santa and use a megaphone and tell of how the person’s just some paid guy. That’s
just being a jerk and I would feel mean since I’m not the parent and
I wouldn’t want to see if someone cried (the guardian makes that
happen if their kid is terrified to be on the character’s knee and is made
to do so).

For me, I just don’t know how I couldn’t be uncomfortable lying
to my kids. I would want them to know facts because, well, truth
is truth. That’s not being a “grinch”. Am I destroying Christmas? Nope.
It has to be a good to make sure kids understand honesty as
early as possible. Parents, stop doing anything that confuses or
misleads your kids!

I don’t recall being angry after learning how Santa wasn’t real (but I
may have). Still, as an adult, I wish that I wasn’t lied to about Santa
simply because it was an untruth. We are better parents when
honest to kids as much as possible.

The kids can put so much stock in the character and that turns it into a huge letdown. Although it probably won’t bother them into their 50s, the adult still knows they were lied to by the guardian.

You are giving your child respect by not spreading an untruth.
Yes, I don’t teach of this character and that’s not wrong or being a “grinch”.

Real people from psychiatry lied and hurt me more and longer than how
I was misled about Santa. I still wish I was not told to expect more from
the character of Santa, however. I like truth and it might be one of the
only things which I can say a few psychs have gotten right: it can be
the opposite of beneficial to teach kids to expect more from Santa
(and it doesn’t take anybody special to figure that out).

If you’re a kid reading this, don’t be sad. With the internet these days,
you probably did your own research anyway & aren’t surprised.

Do you really care if you aren’t getting Christmas presents from a stranger who invades your house while sleeping? Does it even make sense to you that an intruder would give stuff instead of take? Isn’t it just good knowing that you do have the things? Thank your family and real people who thought about you and enjoy Christmas!

let’s end with some terrible jokes:

Who says “oh, oh, oh?
Santa walking backward

What’s the difference between Santa and a dog on a hot day?
Santa wears red pants; a dog just pants

Why shouldn’t you tell secrets to a reindeer?
because they carry tails

When Frosty the Snowman cuts the lawn –
he’s Frosty the MOW-man

What is the difference between snowmen and snowwomen?
snowballs

(that last one was from childhood; I might have made it myself!)

Copyright © 2018 + 2020-2021 Dee Essem/MIND MADE UP

MY UPDATE ON JUNE 11, 2020: This was originally published on this same day of December in 2018, but was changed a bunch today and moved mostly because there already was already a Christmas item then.

MY UPDATE ON MARCH 9, 2021: a few other lines added (like the final paragraph) & jokes

Dee’s UPDATE ON APRIL 6, 2024: some corrections to spelling/layout +
horizontal lines added