Hello everyone, sorry that I have taken
so long to add to the blog, but it has been a crazy year. However,
with the Christmas season fully upon us, I thought a good festive
blog to finish up the year would be good. Now I know what many of
you are thinking, and 'no', this is not going to be a religious
debate. Even though, no matter the topic it always seems to end up
that way.
“Is it wrong to get your children to
believe in Santa Claus?”
Now I know of a couple of friends of
mine who will be rubbing their hands together with glee at this
topic, but just hear me out. Many people have said that Santa
detracts from the real meaning of Christmas, and to an extent, they
are probably right. However, for very young children, the meaning is
rather difficult to swallow anyway, and getting them to enjoy
something fun as well can be good for them. It is good to teach them
that as they grow up, some truths are fantasy, and some are fact, and
it is also good to teach them how to tell the difference. At the
moment, my children believe that Christmas is Jesus' birthday (See, I
knew it would end up religious, my fault this time) and we celebrate
it appropriately. (This year, they have all written down gifts that
they can give to Jesus such as good deeds, love, etc... on lemon
leaves, put them into boxes, wrapped them up and put them under the
tree. On Christmas morning they are going to open them for him and
throw them into the wind to give them to him.) But, they also
believe that Santa will bring them gifts on Christmas Eve to reward
them for being good throughout the year. As they get older, I will
teach them which things are true, and which are false.
However, none of the above is why I
believe Santa should be encouraged, and it is NOT for the sake of the
children. Think about it, the gift from Santa is always the BEST
gift under the tree. The gift that you have put all years thought
into, and you just KNOW they are going to love it. But do you get
any form of thank you for the gifts given by Santa? No. It is a
selfless gift, given with no possible thank you in return. That is
the reason for Santa. To teach adults how to give selflessly. And
when my children have kids of their own, they too will understand
this special part of Christmas, that I believe helps to embody the
message of Christ.
So, in my humble opinion, I would have
to say no, it is not wrong to teach your children to believe in Santa
Claus, but the sad truth is that the spirit of giving is being lost
to the greed of receiving, and that is the differential that needs to
be recognised.
So, please, let us know what you think.
Do your children believe in Santa? Did you? Do you agree or
disagree? And just for fun, what sort of Christmas traditions does
your family follow at this wonderful time of year?
MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! And may the
true spirit of Christmas fill all of your hearts, enough to last all
of next year!
(That is unless we all die tomorrow...
end of the world you know!)
Thank you - T.J.
To get the ball rolling, I would like to add one of my favourite traditions that we do. Every year, a few weeks before Christmas, the kids get out all of their toys. We then go through them, throw out the broken ones, and pick some that are not really played with to give to the kids who have no toys. They choose the ones that we get rid of, and they do not have to get rid of anything that they really love. My eldest has the problem now that she wants to give away the things she likes the best, as she believes that if she loves it, so must the children with no toys.
ReplyDeleteAll my children believed in Santa and yes it is the joy of carefully choosing something that is really special and if that thing could have add ons then the grandparents were told so that they could say that Santa let them know what else their new thing could do with. ie Barbie - and more clothes.
ReplyDeleteI love that you are developing beautiful traditions for your children to carry on with their children.
I think kids need to believe in everything when they're young. It helps insulate them from all the harsh realities that they'll have to spend their whole adult lives dealing with. I say let them have their 'magic moments' while they can - once its gone it's gone forever
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see T.J. putting out more of these blogs. Bring 'em on- MORE! :)
ReplyDeleteI would also like to make a shout out to Wayne if he is reading. He hasn't been online for a long time, and everyone is very worried about him. We all hope that he is okay, and has a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking that maybe a child that hasn't had Santa for her entire life weigh in on this topic. I had her read the blog and all the previous comments. Before I get her to tell you her point of view ( I've told her to tell it how she sees it not what she thinks I want to hear, I do hope she honours this as I am well aware that children often tell you what they think you want to hear), I want to fill you in on where I'm coming from. I grew up with Santa and even got presents from 'him' even though my parents knew I knew he wasn't real (same goes for Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy). When I had my eldest daughter (the one who will be responding today) I did the same with her, we took her to see Santa, got the photo and the present, she had no awareness of this as she was only 4 months old! It was only after I met my now husband who didn't grow up with Santa, that I realised the implications that Santa can have on their relationship with you as a parent and ultimately with God their heavenly father. I'm not saying it will affect all children into their adulthood but I believe that it can for some children, there's no way of knowing if it's going to be yours! So I chose to stop Santa, Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy when my daughter was about three. I hadn't thought about it previously as lying to your most precious loved ones but that's exactly what it is.
ReplyDelete11 Year old Girl:
ReplyDeleteSome of the things I remember and love about Christmas are the times I've spent getting together with family. This year is really hard because we won't be seeing my Aunty, Uncle and cousins for the second year in a row and we won't be seeing my Aunty, Uncle and cousins who live near us because my Aunty doesn't want to see Daddy. Mummy and Daddy are trying to make it a nice Christmas by taking us into a nature reserve so we can enjoy God's creation. I also enjoy remembering how God sacrificed His own Son for us which all started with the birth of Jesus. We also have a tradition of driving around and looking at the Christmas lights, this year there wasn't as many lights as previous years.
I think that the tradition of Santa is terrible because I think that it is freaky that there's this big fat dude that kids go and sit on his lap and have a photo with him! He comes into your house in the middle of the night while everyone's asleep and you don't know who that person is except that his name is Santa and he lives in the North Pole! You wouldn't be happy if someone else came into your house or wanted you to sit on their lap would you? I also don't like that everyone is trying to make kids believe in Santa, wherever you go there is a Santa or a picture of him. Whenever it is Christmas time they change ordinary kids shows to ones about Santa! I also don't like that everyone I talk to asks me what I want Santa to bring me or that they hope Santa will bring me something nice, these people think that every kid believes in Santa. I remember that last year the news people had a radar to show where Santa was on his trip around the world, this also makes me think they think every kid believes in Santa too!
I also think that Santa makes kids focus on themselves, they write a letter to Santa saying what they want or really want or wish they had because it is what other kids have or it's the coolest thing shown on TV. Some kids may even throw tantrums if they don't get what they want!
This year Daddy's work adopted a family who were not as fortunate us us. They had a Mum, Dad, two boys and a girl. We chose to buy a present for the 12 year old boy because he was close to my age and others at Daddy's work had chosen the girl or the Mum because they're easier to buy for. We've decided to keep doing this each year as a family tradition, we got him something to play with and a Bible where we wrote an encouraging message to him and promised to keep him and his family in our own prayers. I like this new tradition because we can give them something that they can't afford and sacrifice ourselves and we can also spread a little of what the season is really about - God.As an almost teen, it is nice to have my daughter think about what it is she likes and doesn't like about Christmas, what she has learnt and what she may like to continue to do as she gets older. We're also planning to delve into the Bible this Christmas Eve so the girls can see what really happened at the time of Jesus' birth. We'd like to discuss with them why God sent his Son, when He first told the human race he was going to do this and even look at the prophecies that were fulfilled at the time of his birth. I think that most of this will be lost on our youngest but she will at least learn that Christmas is about Jesus and each year she will take more away with her.
I currently am getting very frustrated with how much the Santa phenomenom is spreading throughout our culture. I struggle to explain to my youngest that the man at the shops isn't really Santa, it's just a man in a suit. She even said 'See Santa is real!' As a child I do not remember it being as prolific, a few Santa's at Malls and a few children's movies or shows. This makes it very hard as a parent to combat, on one hand we are trying not to lie to our kids about a fictional character existing(you don't tell your kids the Big Bad Wolf exists, or the Blue Fairy from Pinoccio exists) and yet the whole world that our children live in is saying the opposite! I also find it a conundrum that we live in a country that was founded on Christian morals, values and beliefs and yet God is denied by the world (opposite of Santa) and we're told we're brainwashing our children for teaching that he does!
ReplyDeleteIn short I think that by perpetuating the world's influence and acceptance of Santa as something that is good, is also allowing them to influence our children towards a worldly perspective. I don't think that Santa is something that is compatible with the Christian faith (Look up Exodus 20:1-6 and Deuteronomy 5:6-10), I'd question whether we're asking our kids to break these commandments by teaching them that Santa exists and will answer prayers (letters). God is the only one who answers prayers. I've even heard of children stopping their belief in Santa because they didn't get what they wanted, is it entirely possible they could do the same with God (He does say no, or not yet to us all the time).
Anyway, thank you for allowing me to explain the opposing view on this topic. I don't wish to offend anyone who choose to continue the Santa tradition, perhaps I have given you a new perspective, especially those who know me.