It’s fun reading through the comments and immediately seeing with little difficulty, which people were told as kids (or have told their kids or will tell their kids) about santa clause (and conversely those which weren’t, didn’t, and won’t).
Seems to me that there’s a lot of rationalization going on around this touchy subject from all sides.
I wasn’t told the santa myth and I don’t plan on teaching it to my kids either. I’m probably biased, but that seems right to me. If truth can destroy a thing, then it should.
And Kaj Sotala, I think the point being made by that part is that there are plenty of things in the world that are true that will instill wonder. To continue your argument: tell kids about santa AND give them science fiction AND take them to a shuttle launch AND tell them about invisible pink unicorns that watch over you at carnivals.
If you’re going to allow fictional information to be presented as true for the sake of “creating wonder”, why stop at santa? Why stop at culturally accepted fictions even? Why not create new ones as well? Or you could pull from other cultures too.
I suspect that it’s one of those things where if you experienced it as a child, then it SHOULD be a part of childhood.
It’s fun reading through the comments and immediately seeing with little difficulty, which people were told as kids (or have told their kids or will tell their kids) about santa clause (and conversely those which weren’t, didn’t, and won’t).
Seems to me that there’s a lot of rationalization going on around this touchy subject from all sides.
I wasn’t told the santa myth and I don’t plan on teaching it to my kids either. I’m probably biased, but that seems right to me. If truth can destroy a thing, then it should.
And Kaj Sotala, I think the point being made by that part is that there are plenty of things in the world that are true that will instill wonder. To continue your argument: tell kids about santa AND give them science fiction AND take them to a shuttle launch AND tell them about invisible pink unicorns that watch over you at carnivals.
If you’re going to allow fictional information to be presented as true for the sake of “creating wonder”, why stop at santa? Why stop at culturally accepted fictions even? Why not create new ones as well? Or you could pull from other cultures too.
I suspect that it’s one of those things where if you experienced it as a child, then it SHOULD be a part of childhood.
Related observation: hazing rituals are particularly hard to stamp out. It seems right even to those who hated the experience.