Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Santa - teaching of him or not

I was reading a blog post this morning about a lady who deliberately taught her children to believe in Santa, partially because she never had the chance to as a child. She watched as her older child struggled with deciding if Santa was real or not, and then made him promise not to tell the truth to his younger siblings. And it bothered her that he knew the truth!

Why would it bother a person that their child KNOWS the truth???

I was never taught about Santa as a child. My mom said "why would I want to lie to you?"

The remains my stance. Why would I want to deliberately lie to my child about the existence of something? Why would I want to set him up to wonder what else I might have lied to him about?

I remember my co-workers being shocked that I didn't teach our son about Santa. "But it's just some harmless fun"! They would say, my response to them then was the same as it is today "it's not harmless fun to lie to your child".

I've talked with our lad about Santa, explaining how some people think that it is fun to believe that Santa brings presents. I've explained how it's funner to really give presents ourselves, trying to guess what someone else might like, and being able to surprise them with a gift that they will truly like and enjoy and possibly even need. Funner than pretending that some fat person who doesn't even really know us gave us a present. Isn't it fun to know that someone who really loves you wants to give you something? Just like God REALLY loved us and he loved us in such a way that he let his son die for us?

People talk about letting their child enjoy the magic of Christmas, and therefore teach them about Santa. I don't get this, don't know that I ever will 'get it'.

Would it not be better, as Christians, that we talk more of the wonder of the season?

GOD sent himself down to earth, as his son, in the form of a baby. A baby with all it's frailties and weaknesses. A baby that would grow up knowing the he would die for us, to bring us back to God.

To me that wonder surpasses any "magic" that a pretend person can bring. I want my boy to see the wonder of Christmas more than the magic of Santa.

3 comments:

Rileysowner said...

The world has to add magic to Christmas when the real wonder is that of the incarnation and birth of the one and only Son of God. No Santa needed for that.

Angie Holladay said...

agreed!!! We've chosen not to lie to Landon either<3

Anonymous said...

Agreed here too. We do not teach our children the myth of santa. Santa is not a part of our family christmas traditions or values.

In fact, we have some strong feelings about santa that need not be recited here.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.


Blessings, RogueMonk