by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is….) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.patlambchristianauthor.com
Train up a child
Children and Santa
For a long time, Santa has been our society’s focal point of Christmas. He, no doubt, has sold many million dollars worth of toys. He has produced much laughter. He has caused the eyes of children to light up. In reality, he has been the only reason many people observe Christmas.
What is the current status of Santa? Our computer-literate generation of children is not easily fooled. In truth, how many of us grown-ups ever really believed in Santa? Some children were fooled simply because they believed that their parents would never lie to them. Others believed because they thought that by believing, they might get more gifts. Many of us could easily see the impossibility of someone flying around the whole world in one night and stopping at each house and going down each chimney. We felt that it was insulting our intelligence to expect us to believe such a far-out story.
Today, we have many fat Santas at malls, department stores, parades, etc. Do we really think that our children are not intelligent enough to figure out that they are too big to fit in a chimney? Even a toddler can question why there are so many Santas.
A bigger question involves the feelings of a child who truly believes in Santa because he trusts his parents to never lie, and then finds out that the parents did, indeed, lie to him/her. What happens, then, when the parents tell the child about an invisible Jesus? For that matter, can the child believe the parents at any time if they deceived them with a Santa?
Our children cannot be shielded from Santa. Our society sees to it that Santa is visible over and over. It is a situation we must deal with. We don’t want to rob our children of the fun of Christmas, but, at the same time, we don’t want our children to lose trust in us. A parent cannot avoid making a decision as to how to handle Santa.
One idea for parents is to tell the children that to pretend there is a Santa is a fun game that is played at Christmastime. Just as children play pretend in other areas, parents play pretend with the child about Santa. When little girls play pretend “mommy” with dolls, or little boys may play pretend “soldier” with army toys, they do not really think they are grown. It is alright to play pretend as long as children can come back to reality. This stimulates creativity. By letting the children know up front that Santa is a pretend game, future disappointment is eliminated. It would be a good idea to explain that Santa represents giving and making others happy. That is something that Jesus wants us to do.
Santa will probably be around for a long time to come, but deceiving children should end. We should never lie to children.
It is important that we create a pleasing experience for children at Christmas without leaving them with the feeling at a later time that they have been deceived. Different personalities handle this in different ways. Ultimately, whatever means is used, children should be left with understamding the real meaning of Christmas. Children need to understand that Christmas is a celebration of the time that God sent his only son into the world to show His love for us.