A belief in Santa Claus a benign initiation into childhood

For years, children have considered a belief in Santa Claus a benign initiation into childhood. The tale is justified for being magical, traditional, and morally upright. However, good intentions do not necessarily render good deeds. Eventually, pointing children in the direction of Santa Claus can have deleterious effects.

The problem isn’t imagination; it’s trust.

Children need adults to teach them the way the world really is. When parents deliberately Circumstances make this not always necessary, but when they do, they obscure a critical boundary where fiction and reality meet. 

Developmental psychologists have found that children learn norms about honesty primarily through parental modeling (Talwar & Lee, 2002). A common consequence of this happening when children “figure it out” is a silent epiphany: their most trusted adults in life have deliberately deceived them. Even if this consequence lacks overt repercussions, it imparts children with a disturbing belief: deception can be preferable if it’s just more readily available or socially accepted.

One might argue in support of Santa by saying that he assists in moral instruction for children via stories. However, if one believes stories can assist children in comprehending reality, they don’t have to be couched in terms of factual truth. Inductive history, mythical tales, and folkloric practices can inform children of such qualities as generosity, self-control, and kindness without requiring a manipulation of reality by parents. 

One can inform children of stories when explaining their nature. Educational theorist Jerome Bruner argues that symbolic narratives are effective precisely because they convey meaning without requiring literal belief.

Well, in fact, history is learned in a simplified way when children are taught in class. History in itself is presented in a simplified but truthful manner. Historians note that while complexity is reduced for young learners, factual accuracy is preserved (Wineburg, 2001). Of course, we do not create fictional people in history, pretending they exist when they do not just to reinforce learning.

There is, of course, a further irony at work here. Current culture demands utter frankness with children in nearly all other respects of life, frequently thrusting them into awareness of matters meant for adults far too soon. Cultural critic Neil Postman warned that modern society increasingly erodes the boundary between childhood and adulthood through premature exposure to adult realities. 

How, exactly, does this same culture distinguish a narrative figure saying someone is naughty and rewarding good behavior from manipulation based on a supposed puppet master?

Such a conclusion does not mean that parents who teach children about Santa Claus have ill intentions. Of course not; most parents are simply motivated by memories of their own childhood and/or social pressure to do to their children exactly what they were able to do to them in years past. Tradition, however, is a poor excuse for deceiving children when they can just as easily have their sense of wonder preserved without pretending that fiction is fact.

Imaginative thinking is not bound up in deceit. Magic is not bound up in deceit. Children can enjoy stories, performances, and celebrative fun without being presented with a falsehood—and especially so when these falsehoods are offered by people they are expressly cautioned not to deceive.

Overall, “Childhood does not have to have myths offered to it in place of reality in order to have significance. To mean something, it must have trust, clarity, and inspiring ideas without sacrificing truth.” “Wonder fades.” Trust shouldn’t have to.

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