Santa ... When to Tell the Kids the Truth

[StuartJ]

I don't do analogies ... except when it suits me.

When should one tell the kids the truth about Santa ...?

One knows it's largely make-believe based on a possibly historical character with added magical abilities ... but one plays the game of Pretend for the sake of the kids.

The smarter and older kids catch on pretty quickly that it's just make-believe ... and - for various reasons - they too will continue to play Pretend.

But kids who turn into teenagers still genuinely believing in Santa are an embarrassment to themselves and can be subjected to mockery for their childish beliefs.

Forgone rewards notwithstanding, kids recover and adapt quickly when given the truth ... and the truth can be its own intellectual reward.

So ...

When should one pay the kids the courtesy of respecting their intelligence by informing them of the game of Pretend that has been played with them ...?

And if one knows it's largely make-believe, should one simply not play Pretend in the first place ...?

[StuartJ]

[Replying to post 19 by StuartJ]

My meaningless, atheistic moral compass tells me that perpetuating such lies is plain wrong.

Tap it a few times and see if it starts to read right.

The fact of the matter is, we won't really know whether such lies helped or hindered the human evolution of mind/morals etc. My point was that it seems to be pretty much irrelevant whether people believe in or perpetuate such things or not.

It's relevant if you're about to be blown up by a suicide bomber who believes in such things.

I suggest that meaningless, beliefless Atheism has never put anyone into a state of the mind that assents to the proposition that they should strap on a bomb belt.

I tapped my moral compass and it directed me towards continuing on the direction of helping to rescue unfortunate souls from the mind-and-money trap of the delusions and superstitions of the so-called metaphysical, or religion, or imaginality, or Great Game of Pretend, or whatever else that only happens inside human heads is dressed up as.

[JehovahsWitness]

CHRISTMAS

When should one tell the kids the truth about Santa ...?

I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses, we don't celebrate Christmas for religious reasons; I don't believe one should ever lie to children (or adults for that matter).



If a story or fictional tale is being told then it should be presented as such.


JW






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[StuartJ]

[Replying to post 22 by JehovahsWitness]

If a story or fictional tale is being told then it should be presented as such.

I could not agree more.

No Christian sect has a scrap of independently verifiable evidence for the magical, miracle tales they tell ...

Just the storybooklets ...

Written by propagandists ...

With NO evidence that the propaganda came from "God".

I agree ...

ALL preachers should admit it.

More and more ARE ...

https://owlcation.com/misc/Atheists-in- ... the-Clergy