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You should not teach kids to believe in Santa Claus

Armenuhi Arabajyan

West Coast University

SPCH 142: Oral Communication

Brian Paulin

6/6/2021

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Introduction

Around the world millions of parents make their children believe that a fat man in a red

suit named Santa Claus will come down the chimney of their house and give them gifts on

Christmas night, only if they have been good all along year, and parents do their best to maintain

this belief as long as possible. They alleviate doubts with magical explanations and some even

invent false evidence, so that their children continue to believe. Many of you probably will think,

if this tradition is so much fun for children, then, what is the problem with it? It's not that the

myth should be eliminated from Christmas, but we must stop fooling children about this, and I'm

going to explain why.

First of all, let's start with the fact that it is a lie, and lying regardless of the reason is

always wrong. The Santa Claus lie is supposedly fun for kids because it creates awe and

excitement during the Christmas season. Belief in Santa is not necessary for children to have the

Christmas spirit; in fact, it would be much better if we produced emotion without a belief in

Santa and without gifts. What if we better teach children that Christmas is a time of solidarity,

and of helping people in need?

Some parents want their children to believe in Santa, arguing that it is an imaginative

game, that it is good for them. Other parents just like to have the Santa's Nice List and Naughty

List system to comfortably invoke when their children need incentives to behave well. However,

lying to a child about the existence of Santa Claus, beyond being something morally wrong,

could hinder their moral development. According to Robert Feldman, a professor of

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psychology at the University of Massachusetts, dishonesty is something that children

grow up to. The reason they start to lie is that adults show them how to do it with their

behavior. Human beings learn to be virtuous by imitating virtue, even if the imitation is

motivated to avoid punishment. If children think that material reward is the main goal of good

behavior, what will they think when don’t get a reward? For example, when family finances

prevent a child's good behavior from being rewarded, but the bad guy in the class receives a

generous reward, a child's understanding of good behavior can be disrupted.

What about the truth? The most important concern has to do with the consequences of

discovering the truth, not only because, for the child, Santa no longer exists, but because he

learns that those he trusted the most have lied to him for a long period of time. They are learning

about the world and they trust their parents to tell them the truth about it. When that trust is

violated, they feel betrayed.

Did you know that beyond the moral, these lies affect from a psychological point of

view?

When children begin to doubt, parents often suggest that the child continue to believe, despite

the evidence. Parents will also try to explain doubts with false explanations. But these

explanations are not good for the development of the child's logical skills, as this distorts a

child's ability to decipher good evidence from bad and encourages him to find compelling bad

evidence, again, distorting critical thinking skills.

Many will believe that critical thinking skills are not that important, but if we analyze

some American surveys, it reveals that many Americans believe that the sun revolves around the

earth (18%), in creationism (42%), spiritual healing ( 55%), ESP (41%), Ghosts (32%). ),

Telepathy (31%), UFOs (24%), clairvoyance (26%), communication with the dead (21%),

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astrology (25%), witches (21%) and reincarnation (20%). Most of these beliefs may be

unsubstantiated, but one can tell they are false if you simply have the critical thinking skills to

evaluate the evidence. I am not saying that the Santa Claus Lie is entirely responsible for our

ignorance, but it is certainly not helping to improve our critical thinking skills.

To end, I hope I have convinced you to avoid preserving the myth of Santa Claus over

time, and to not let the wish that your child believes in magic or have faith, get in the way of

doing the right thing. Let's think that no matter your efforts, there will always be someone - an

older child, a cousin - who will end up telling your son that the fat man in the red suit is just a

fantasy. And with that comes disappointment. How do you explain to your child that he has been

living a lie? We all feel that it is important to teach children not to lie, but that is exactly what we

are doing when we make them believe in Santa Claus.

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References

Johnson, D. K. (2010). Against The Santa Claus Lie: The Truth We Should Tell Our Children.

Against The Santa Claus Lie: The Truth We Should Tell Our Children. Published.

Fetters, A. (2018b, December 11). Should Parents Protect Kids’ Belief in Santa? The Atlantic.

Https://Www.Theatlantic.Com/family/archive/2018/12/parents-kids-belief-santa/577819/

Ketteler, J. (2019, December 20). Should You Be Lying to Your Kids about Santa? Time.

Https://Time.Com/5752951/Lying-Kids-Santa/

Should we let them believe in Santa? (n.d.). Montreal Children’s Hospital. Retrieved June 7,

2021, from https://www.thechildren.com/health-info/conditions-and-illnesses/should-we-

let-them-believe-santa

- The. (2018, December 18). Washington Post.

Https://Www.Washingtonpost.Com/Education/2018/12/18/Your-Kids-Believe-Santa-

Scientist-Says-Tell-Them-Stop-It/

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