The Naughty List

Continuing on my holiday theme. I will use this story from today's headlines as a starting point.

I think what the teachers did in this story is pretty darn stupid, and I don't mean to apologize for them in any way by my comments. Really I don't even care about the story itself. I really want to ask the question: Why do we tell our children that Santa Clause is real?

Here are a few quick thoughts:

1) Technically, in true Augustinian harshness, parents are lying to their children.

2) Not one single child in the history of the world has ever had a good experience when discovering the truth about Santa Clause. (perhaps this is a gross overstatement, but I will use the outrage of the above story as my proof)

3) The best and most frequent reason I hear for promoting the fable - its fun

Not to get too carried away, I will qualify my comments slightly. I'm not saying take away the stories about Santa, the books, movies and music. They can be viewed like many other children's stories, as wonderful narratives that exercise their imaginations and promote positive morals. I'm also not saying that the parents can't stay up incredibly late to set up all the toys so that the children will fall asleep with eager anticipation and wake up with uncontrollable excitement. I'm merely saying that we stop telling them that the guy from all those fairy tales actually put them there.

In fact, rather than spending so much time and effort promoting the farce, perhaps we could more properly focus on the Truth about Christmas. I would contend that the actual Christmas story also entices the imagination. It is an investment that will never disappoint our children, even should they choose to stop believing. And in the end, the "magic" involved in the Almighty, Eternal and All-Knowing God taking the form of an infant boy is infinitely more compelling than the magic of a fat man getting down a chimney.

Perhaps it is wrong to think of it as an either/or. Perhaps I am playing the Scrooge, here. It will certainly land me on the Naughty List. But in the end, when the children have discovered that Santa is not real, what have they lost?

And yesterday their parents criticised teachers for taking the 'magic' out of the festive period.

I am upset because it has taken away a magical part of Christmas for my daughter and a teacher should not have the right to do that. My little girl was very upset.

Angry parents at Calcot Junior School in Berkshire said the teacher had 'ruined' Christmas for their children.

It is like a loss of innocence. Children should have the right to stay innocent for as long as possible.

In response to the first two comments, I think I've made my point. As for the other two, I think they are a bit overexaggerated, perhaps in the interest of an imminent law suit. If you ask me, the only thing that the children have really lost is trust in their parents.

Maybe I am crazy, but I would be interested to see what others think.