I don’t remember the point in my development where I could tell the difference between make-believe and actual beliefs that something is factually true or false.. I don’t think I was scarred by being misled about Santa by my parents, but I think I was pretty much a non-rational being for at least the first 18 years of my life. My main reason for not trusting people was probably that my Dad was violent, controlling and depressive, so a position on Santa one way or the other is not likely to be the most significant factor there.
However, for some reason, I’ve eventually coalesced into a collection of mind-parts that really don’t like lying. To the point where I just couldn’t tell my kids that there was a Santa (and even though I am a theist of sorts, and was “more wrong” than I am now when my kids were young, I couldn’t tell them there was a God—only that I believed there was and it was OK to make up your own mind about it.)
Funny thing is, my wife is an atheist, but she wanted them to believe in Santa. [shrug]
I don’t remember the point in my development where I could tell the difference between make-believe and actual beliefs that something is factually true or false.. I don’t think I was scarred by being misled about Santa by my parents, but I think I was pretty much a non-rational being for at least the first 18 years of my life. My main reason for not trusting people was probably that my Dad was violent, controlling and depressive, so a position on Santa one way or the other is not likely to be the most significant factor there.
However, for some reason, I’ve eventually coalesced into a collection of mind-parts that really don’t like lying. To the point where I just couldn’t tell my kids that there was a Santa (and even though I am a theist of sorts, and was “more wrong” than I am now when my kids were young, I couldn’t tell them there was a God—only that I believed there was and it was OK to make up your own mind about it.)
Funny thing is, my wife is an atheist, but she wanted them to believe in Santa. [shrug]