Eight Reasons Why the Santa Claus Myth is Damaging to Children
The myth of jolly old Saint Nick bearing gifts to girls and boys on Christmas Eve may not be as innocent as we believe – it can actually be damaging to our children.
1. The Santa Claus myth requires that parents lie to their children. The excitement of the myth itself is not valuable enough to outweigh the damage done by lying to young children. At an age where children trust their parents so implicitly, that trust should not be eroded by such a blatant lie.
2. The Santa Clause myth relies upon weakness in young children’s rational thought processes, possibly inhibiting their cognitive development.
3. In order to reinforce belief in the Santa Myth, parents must stage elaborate deceptions, making up stories, explanations, and laying clues as to Santa’s presence, further ensnaring a child’s developing intellect and trust.
4. The Santa Claus Myth promotes lazy parental discipline and instills unhealthy fear in children by convincing them Santa is watching their actions and will praise or punish accordingly when the gifts are doled out.
5. Santa Clause bears an uncanny resemblance to a god-like figure, in that he reigns from an isolated location but is omniscient in his knowledge of their good and bad deeds, handing out judgment on the appointed day. If parents identify with an organized religion, this myth undermines the power of the true god-figure, and on the other hand, if the parents do not identify with a particular religion, the Santa myth is unintentionally instilling that belief system in disguise.
6. The Santa myth inhibits moral development by simplifying a child’s understanding of good and bad, making them believe they can be classified by either one label or the other, without taking into account the true consequences of positive or negative behaviour.
7. The Santa Claus Myth promotes selfish, simplified behaviour by associating “good” and “bad” behaviour with material gain.
8. The Santa Claus Myth can be found by some children to be frightening and dispiriting; inflicting on them the belief that a stranger can watch their actions daily for the purpose of judgement, and can invade their privacy further by entering their house ind the night can be unsettling to say the least.
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Published in: Family
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someone | Nov 30, 2008 | Reply
I’m sorry and I really don’t want any trouble but I don’t think you should post that on a website which children have access to. You write a story on how it can be harsh to kids, so would you like to be that person ruined the child’s Christmas for years to come? I mean seriously, I searched something on google once and it brought me to this website and I’ve been using it for various things ever since. Have you read those comments on other articles where it says something like,”Hi I’m 11 and what you wrote really helps”???
Bezza | Dec 24, 2008 | Reply
Actually I fully support this. Not because I feel it damages children. I don’t really agree that this is the case as most cultures have more than a few myths and legends. I hate santa claus because this commercial, mythical being is the new golden calf of consumerism. Irrespective of anyone’s religious or personal belief system, irrespective of political correctness, Christmas is a Christian Celebration. There is no getting away from this fact. Christ-mas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the son of the christian god. Wether you are a christian or not, that is what Christmas is about. I bet if someone invented a mythical figure Mohhamad Claus and tried to use it as a selling point at rammadan there would be a outcry against it. Ironic isn’t it, maybe we should have Bhudda Claus, or Krishna Claus. How fast other religions would protest.
Because of this rampant commercialization which is the drive behind santa I believe the jolly fellow in the red suit is a bad influence. By all means celibate Christmas, give gifts and feel warm and fuzzy. But have the common decency to educate your kids as to what Christ-mas is about.
Craig | Dec 24, 2008 | Reply
I agree, you can educate as to what someone believes without subscribing to those beliefs. If my son asked me why my Muslim friend fasts at Ramadan I would have the courtesy to explain it with dignity and respect. That doesn’t mean i am promoting Islam, it would mean i am promoting respect for what others believe. Christmas and Easter are the same. I can explain what they mean without necessarily subscribing to those beliefs. Which means there is no reason to perpetuate the myth of santa. You can have a happy fun filled happy Christmas without the fellow in the red suit.
Netty net | Dec 2, 2009 | Reply
Well, most people see Santa Claus as fun fantastic, We should also teach them that Christmas is Jesus Birthday. Also I have to agree with
Graig that different religious believe different things.
AndreaM | Sep 9, 2011 | Reply
While I agree that SC is a cheap distraction from the great gift that is Yeshua Ben Yoseph, I feel that this deception is even more insidious than people realize. Most spiritually aware people, whatever their religion, are wise to the principle that “thought creates reality.”
Imagine millions of children, all over the planet, focusing their mental/spiritual energy on an entity that supposedly doesn’t exist, but they believe is real. That belief is ENERGY, which once it’s built up enough, can literally drag the Idea of SC into our reality. That phenomenon is called a “tulpa,” known in Asia and India since ancient times.
The whole thing is a trick, used by malevolent forces to gain entry and power in our physical dimension. People even go so far as to leave an alter of food and drink to this thing (milk & cookies). Not only is this completely blasphemous, but they are inviting this entity into their homes!
I still have not figured out what to tell my son about ole nick. Every time it comes up, I change the subject to holier things, (w/o actually blurting out that this thing is Str8 up EVIL) and I cringe at every commercial, holiday special, and “gimme-gimme” attitude I see in the kids at Christmas time.
It’s actually a relief to find this site and people who haven’t bought into this corruption of our faith and laugh it off like it’s no big deal. I hope I’ve given y’all some food for thought, at least, as the Season approaches. Thanx for listening, and Bless You All,
AndreaM