I don’t understand the whole Santa Clause / Easter Bunny thing. Parents lie to their kids about the existence of an imaginary character, only to have to deal with breaking it to them that it was just a lie.
The larger that they build up this imaginary character only makes it worse for the child when they realize that it doesn’t exist. Luckily for me my mother didn’t mention it too much, and it was in some way treated as if it was imaginary (implicitly).
What does this contribute to a childs life or childhood. A sense of fantasy that they somehow need?
My friend Marshall sent me a link to an article on the issue. I conclude from what it says that its OK to play along with the issue because children like fantasy. However its not a good idea to straight up lie to them, or to straight up tell them the truth. Its best to wait until they inquire about the exis! tence of Santa/the bunny then ask them a question which provides them with the logic to answer the question to themselves.
“Do you think that a man can go to all the houses in one night?”
“Don’t you think a fat man would get stuck in some peoples chimneys?”
I don’t think I’ll ruin this if I ever have a child because it may be fun, and I wouldn’t want my own child to be alienated by their friends because I’ve been blunt with my child and made them a logic robot. Hm…In the end I guess this teaches them to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Or perhap to half believe, and half not.