HaysooChreesto!

This topic may not belong in this forum so if it's moved I'll look for it elsewhere.

Anyway, I have a three year old daughter who because of all the Santa talk has firmly bought into the idea of the jolley fat man coming down the chimney and leaving presents.
I didn't like the idea but my wife encouraged it and she doesn't see the harm in it. So I just kind of gave in and now I'm wondering what, if any later ramifications there will be.

To me, it seems that Santa is the average American child's first experience with belief in a mythical entity. It was mine anyway. And when I found out that Santa was a fake, I was kind of disappointed but got over it soon enough when the presents were still under the tree come Xmas morning.
It was more or less the same when I came to the realization that there were no gods and that this life is all there is. But obviously, it doesn't work that way for everyone else.
So I guess my question is this; does the early fostering of the Santa belief (wow, that sounds overblown) encourage religion for people later on, due to their happy first experiences with a mythical character, or can it be a catalyst for agnosticism or atheism-e.g., "remember how Santa was fake, well it's the same thing with God"?

Jayhawker Soule

I strongly favor letting children have their fantasies and exercise their imagination en route to a later appreciation of science, nature, and the arts.

Amos

The difference is that the spirit of santa (in proper form) is real and required a period of denial by the child before accepting that santa himself was fake.

The same is true with religion for adults. Religion in proper form will take the believer from faith to doubt to understanding and after that leave faith behind in the fulness of understanding (mind of God).

Both must be equally true and mythology based to bring this about.

[ December 23, 2002: Message edited by: Amos ]</p>

Shadowy Man

Is there a way we can still let children exercise their imagination, be playful, creative, etc. without lying to them?

People seem to think if we take away their myths that somehow we are ruining their childhood. Is it not possible to have a decent childhood without our parents fostering the belief in mythology?

Jamie_L

Santa can be a fun story and game for kids without having to build a belief that he's a real being.

My kids watch Dragon Tales, Blues Clues, Clifford the Big Red Dog, etc. My oldest is almost 3. I'm not sure how she views these characters relative to real people, but I don't worry about it. If she ever asks me if Clifford is real, I'll say "no". Santa can work the same way.

My wife asked last night if we should encourage the kids to leave cookies for Santa. I kind of drew a mental line there and said "no". We'll have fun telling the kids stories about Santa, but we're not going to try to do things to demonstrate to the kids that we think Santa is more than a story.

And if my kids ask "is Santa real?" I'll say "no". Because he's not.

Jamie

HaysooChreesto!

I think that what I'm lookng for is an opportunity at some point down the road to let my child know that there are no gods. I have two older daughters who due to my earlier uncertainty have gone the way of theism, and I want to somehow bring my youngest up differently but without being overbearing and scary (these things can be scary to kids). So I'm wondering that later on, if the Santa analogy will be effective towards leading her down the road of reasoning.

At least that's what I'm going with now because I feel a tinge of guilt about her being led to believe in unreal things.

doodad

Children tend to fantasize anyway in their play and in their learning process. I see little harm in the myths of Santa, the tooth fairy, etc. There's much worse trash on the TV programs, on video games and in literature that is available
to kids. Oh my, I forgot. The almighty buck is sacred, so trash is ok.

Jamie_L

Give them lots of mythology to read. In addition to being great, exciting, fanciful stories, they are an example of what people used to believe were REAL GODS that everyone (even Christians) now agree was total fantasy.

It's not really a very big leap from saying "The Greeks thought their gods were real, but they aren't," to "The Christians think their god is real, but it isn't". I think mythology was what first got me questioning the truth of any religion.

I mean, how can you so easily dismiss an old religion as untrue, but hold so firmly to your own?

Jamie

HaysooChreesto!

Thanks Jamie L, that's a pretty good idea. I will definately need to keep it in mind in the coming years.

diana

This doesn't seem to be much about Existence of God. Off to General Religious Discussions.

d