Do you think it's positive to tell your kids that Santa exists?

[yetgdhfgh]

i genuinely believed in santa/father christmas till i was about 11 and it didnt do me any harm

[vindicatorx]

It can and is both for most

Do whatever you like with yourr kids, I'll do what's best for mine.

[Curanhadin]

there are Actual things they can imagine about, like the stars and all the things they can see in the sky. you dont have to lie to keep the magic of the world we live in alive. and the Technology we have mostly comes from kids imagining the stars and growing up to do something about getting to them. they dont need to be lied to about a magic man who hits ever house in the world in one night, also breaking into them, to give them presents.

for very obvious reasons i voted no, its not good to lie about anything, even more so when your kids doubt it you continue lying to them. whats does that accomplish?

If kids were never given anything that's not real to imagine or think about this would be a terribly boring world. You wouldn't be on this site because people wouldn't have grown up to imagine this game, many great novels and movies never made, paintings and sculptors never made. Imagination is one of the greatest gifts on can have, anyone who thinks like you is an idiot. I would hate to live in a world were no one had an imagination.

[Wildtree]

I had just watched the Tooth Fairy with the Rock, thought it was utter fucking garbage, and was thinking that people who perpetuate asinine myths like putting your teeth under a pillow are truly doing the human species a disservice. I guess I should've been more specific.

Maybe you just forgot something already, which is normal. I am sure we all forgot it by now..
Toothing comes along with side effects like pain, and even fever is not uncommon. The child feels sick, feels uncomfortable.
Now I grew up in Germany, and we don't have the tooth fairy custom. But I wish how we would have. While I cannot remember my own pain anymore, the memory of what I went through as a parent with my child is still very vivid. Had I known about that co-educative tool of the tooth fairy, I am sure I would have saved my kiddo some of the pain by easing it, and myself I would certainly would have found more uninterrupted nights of sleep, and worries.. Because one doesn't really sleep that good at all with a sick kid in the next room, or in the same bed.
All in all, it's a great example where a lie is very beneficial.
There are differences in lies.. That's why we call some of them "sweet nothing" or "white lies"..
And back to the subject of Santa and Christmas.. If you plan to tell your child the truth, go ahead and do it.
Maybe you'll have to resort to locking your kiddo up in your home for the time being. Because the event is of such a huge magnitude, you basically have to shield your kid from it. And by the vast amount of exposure, it's not out of the picture how your kiddo may think how you are the only one lying to him now. lol
That is, if the kiddo is already old enough to know what a lie actually is. You can raise your child without ever resorting to any form of lie, and guess what...
Your child will lie to your face without any hesitation.. Innocent lies, but lies nonetheless...
Bill Cosby made a stand up sketch about it.. And as a parent, I can tell you he is spot on, even if it's a comedy routine..

[thatguy181]

It harms absolutely nobody to tell them about Santa. One of the most amazing things about children is their 100% belief of the mystical and magical. Why step on that? Santa is this wonderful person who lives at the North Pole, he knows the names of all children all around the world, he's capable of finding you wherever you go, he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt if you've been a good or bad person and he rewards you for being a good person. Santa's existance naturally inspires young children to be good people if for no other reason than the reward at the end.

They will eventually figure out the truth, but honestly, no harm will be done.

Comparing the Santa lie to the Jimmy Kimmel lie... Apples to oranges imo. While I think it's funny to watch the Jimmy Kimmel things, I've never and will never do such a thing to my own child. Does it make me a hypocrit? Possibly. I know when I'm watching it online that it's all a big lie and the kid's anguish will soon be over before or immediately after the video ends, but I've no desire to cause that anguish to my own kid, even for a quick laugh. The Santa lie doesn't cause anguish at all.

[Sillychan]

It's a wonderful story, and I intend to treat it as such. I'll tell my child of all the different tales of Saint Nick and Santa and where these stories come from. And what the people are like all around the world who believe in him.

But they will know that it's just a tale.

I follow a similar principal that my own father did. I'm sure he borrowed it from Star Trek, honestly.

"Vulcans never shield their children from the truth. Doing so would only hinder their ability to cope with inevitable difficulties." -Tuvok

I never was told lies, but instead faced the truth head on. I was always asked to think very critically about the world around me. After five or six, even if I was told Santa existed, I'm fairly certain I would have asked all sorts of questions about it.

Then again, my parents, or at least my father, is a secular humanist. I'm sure the spirit of the holidays isn't quite the same. We generally did a lot of charity during the holidays and while I was given a lot of gifts, I didn't do a list to santa or anything.

[Jaja]

And of course, he takes all the credit :P

The real reason people will deny their kids their innocence.

Selfishness, wanting credit.

Good Parenting 101

[Deleted]

you're god damn right i'm gonna tell my kids about santa.
Being a kid is one of the most wonderfull times of our lives. because life was filled with unexplored things and thinga we didn't understand which we labeled as magic.
Taking this away from a child seems to me like a really cruel thing to do.

[Surfd]

Hell yes. Never stifle your kid's imagination.

In parting, i leave you with this: Dinovember

If every parent was this awesome, the world would be magnitudes happer and more interesting.

[Sillychan]

I wouldn't outright call it stifling your kids imagination.

Depends on how the information is delivered. *shrugs*

I'm not sure how learning about all the different wonderful cultures and traditions and why they came to be is ... stifling. I'm also not sure why saying he's just a great fairy tale we all love makes him any less wondrous. My children will still make awesome ornaments for the tree, and participate in cookie making and other treats. We'll go to all sorts of light shows. Heck, we'll probably even watch all those cute old cartoons about Santa.

To each their own of course. Dinovember looks very interesting. I can see doing that.

To me, there's a stark difference between creating a tale, and perpetuating it as truth.

A child has every right to believe and dream and imagine. Maybe I'm just a sour linear thinker. ^^o

I had plenty of time to dream and imagine. I got to explore the natural world for what it was. My father used to buy the resin cast fossils and put them in the sand box, or in the dirt area I used to dig. And then when I found them he'd try and get me to figure out what it could be. We went to all sorts of museums and he made a point to take me to all sorts of different restaurants so I'd get to taste all the foods of the world.

There is a lot of enjoy in this world without getting too lost in the fantasy of it all.

[Wildtree]

Hell yes. Never stifle your kid's imagination.

In parting, i leave you with this: Dinovember

If every parent was this awesome, the world would be magnitudes happer and more interesting.

omg, I was laughing so hard about this..
And I totally agree with you on that. If more parents would be like this, the World would truly be in a much better place.

[Austilias]

let kids have some magic in there lives before they grew up and have it completely crushed out of them

Pretty much this. Then again I am pretty cynical and jaded most of the time, so that's probably just me projecting.

[Deleted]

More positive than telling your kids that a certain other imaginary being exists.

Infracted

you sir,say the truth

+10

[Neetz]

The real reason people will deny their kids their innocence.

Selfishness, wanting credit.

Good Parenting 101

You missed the sarcasm then.

My point was santa doesn't climb down your chimney and help pay your bills.

Knowing who supports your family is important and will give you the initiative to have the same work ethic.

[Trassk]

Stupid question. Of course you should tell them.

Children get to believe in something and enjoy there childhood because of it. They spend 70% of there lives as miserable human beings living in the real world, let them live in there fantasies while they are children.

now, if you want to go into super religious ultra conservative Sam's house, see all the crosses and copies of the bible all over his house, and tell him the truth about god.. well, be my guest, but kids should get to believe in something fictional, not adults.

[Ciddy]

I don't see a problem with it. I believed in Santa until like age 10, and I turned out (mostly) okay.

[Logiks]

In Plato's divided line theory, he considered false beliefs to be the lowest level of being/knowing...

Though I'm not a Platonist by any means (=p), I don't stray too far from his view on this issue. Promoting belief in things that simply can't exist in our universe is intellectually damaging to a child, though perhaps not obscenely so. It's probably not negative for the kid in any way other than leading to certain leniency in one's rational faculties.

In other words, belief in Santa is damaging to a child's intellect in the same way the following scenario is: "Come quick kids, let's say a prayer for Daddy to come home from work safely." *Daddy, a generally good driver whose skill in driving evolved over the course of his driving career and can be explained by perfectly good reasons external to the supernatural, makes it home safely* "Oh look kids, (insert supernatural being here) brought Daddy home safely, Praise (insert supernatural being here)!".... It just teaches kids bad ways of thinking is my only complaint.

[Deleted]

It's beautiful as a child to have some sort of magic. Waiting up for him at night, leaving some cookies, milk and carrots. Then waking up thinking Santa has been ^-^

[Grimfrost]

I liked believing in sinterklaas, the easter bunny and all. I believed it until i was 11

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

If I had a child, I would tell them Santa existed. If they didn't stop believing in such nonsense by the age of seven, then off to Uganda they would go.