What would happen if Santa didn’t exist ?
Many people are thinking, well he doesn’t exist. True, but what if even the idea of Santa didn’t exist? How would that holiday season compare to the current one that (technically) lies about his existence?
Is it even healthy to lie to our children about a mythical man that delivers gifts to “every” child in the world in one evening? Many children do not receive gifts on Christmas or ever, for that matter.
Is American society’s cultural “white lie” about Santa actually damaging our children?
An article by Slate.com purports that the Santa myth can be put in the Good lies opposed to the Bad lies that are mostly used to deflect blame or avoid responsibility – we cannot go to the park because it is closed today.
This type of good lie helps children adopt fantasy play. This form of play may cultivate a set of skills known as “theory of mind,” which helps kids predict and understand other people’s behavior.
Go ahead tell them Santa brought it.
Typically children, by age eight, stop believing in or stumble upon irreversible information that concludes, Santa Claus doesn’t exist anyway.
A 1997 study conducted by Marjorie Taylor, a University of Oregon psychologist, found that 4-year-olds who frequently engage in fantasy play are also better able than other kids to distinguish appearances from reality, understand other people’s expectations and know that perceptions depend on context.
Taylor’s recent study on school aged children with good fantasy lives suggests that they tend to have a better understanding of emotions as well. The study’s findings were that school-age children interact with imaginary companions and impersonate characters as much as preschoolers and overall, 65% of children up to the age of 7 had imaginary companions at some point during their lives.
The study also found that school-age children who did not impersonate scored lower on emotion understanding.
How do I burst the Santa Bubble in a Positive Way ?
Jacqueline Woolley, a psychologist at the University of Texas says to give children the tools to figure it out on their own. Leave the stocking stuffers in a way to obvious hiding place. Write a reply letter from Santa in your own hand writing.
If your child asks you point blank, “Is Santa Claus Real?’, she suggests, in true psychologist fashion, to answer back with more questions such as, “What do you think? Are you staring to think he doesn’t? Why?”