parodied nicely by Banksy<\/a> this year). Essentially, the modern Santa myth\/reality serves to get children associating Christmas with what gifts they’ll get\u2014and even worse, it ties the notion of material gain to whether they’ve been “naughty or nice.” I have nothing against giving gifts at Christmas, but I (from experience) think it’s preferable for children to know the actual sources of their gifts. When the gifts are from an ethereal fat, bearded, magic man and are the result of their having been “nice,” (and yes, I’m aware that not all parents will push this part as much), it fosters ingratitude and a notion that good behavior is properly rewarded with material goods. It serves to build a sense of entitlement\u2014I’ve been good, now Santa owes me presents.<\/p>\nOn the other hand, if the children know that their parents (or others) bought the gifts, it fosters thankfulness (or at least it should). In addition, it emphasizes the other side of the gift\u2014the giving part\u2014in addition to the receiving part. The reciprocal and relational aspects of giving are already too de-emphasized in our culture; the modern Santa game further inculcates one-sided conceptions of giving that we should be avoiding. (I could go further about the inherently reciprocal notion of grace in Paul and how standard modern presentations of the Gospel ignore this reciprocity, but this would be a lengthy digression beyond the scope of this subject. Suffice it to say that Santa\u2014a “one-sided” supernatural entity who expects nothing in return for his gifts\u2014reinforces this bad modern theology and impoverished conception of grace.)<\/p>\n
Again, I have no problem with storytelling, imagination, or anything of the sort. But I’m not much of a fan of willful deception. Children can quite enjoy the mythology of Father Christmas, St. Nicholas (a whole different story from the modern Santa at that), and Santa Claus just as well without being conned into believing in Santa. I had no less enjoyment of the various Santa-songs or stories as a nonbeliever than the kids who were fooled. I\u2019ve become increasingly convinced that more parents tell their children about Santa for their own sake than for the children\u2019s sake. Just look at the lines in the mall\u2014half the toddlers who get to Santa are terrified by the strange bearded fat man. But the parents get quite a pleasure out of keeping up the illusion, all the while telling themselves it’s really for the children. I’m not so sure that’s always the case.<\/p>\n
Na\u00efve personifications in children’s imaginations are fine and dandy, and take it from me: the kids can still enjoy Miracle on 34th Street<\/em> without ever having believed in Santa. That’s not a concern. But we adults are fools if we uphold myths and narratives that guide these impressionable imaginations towards materialism, ingratitude, and the very flaws of consumer culture we critique the rest of the year (they don’t need any help getting there anyway). So, it’s not necessarily that Santa (or playing the “Santa game” with kids) is inherently evil, nor that Santa is the embodiment of all things Satanic, but that fooling children into believing in Santa is unwise both on an individual and cultural level. If we’re going to use myths, we should pick them more carefully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It inevitably comes up every year: the question of how parents of young children should handle Santa Claus. For some, this is a highly impassioned subject; with many liking to remind everyone as often as possible that “Santa” is an anagram of “Satan”\u2014or, if not giving this trite spelling lesson, at least asserting that Santa…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,4,5],"tags":[59,63,105,722,138,186,218,219,271,288,289],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Children and Santa Claus \u2013 Lying or Harmless Fun? - Jason Staples<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n