Thread: Should we lie to our kids about santa?

I never really belived in Santa, so i never had to listen to my parents tell me they lied to me for 7 years of my life. And as i got older i questioned why adults lie to children. Santa is a great tradition, dont get me wrong.


We tell kids that lying is wrong, and yet we lie to them about somthingas big as christmas. Children should not be brought but too belive in santa.

A childs mind is not developed enough to question etc , its like a sponge if you will .They do not test the words of their parents , which can be a good thing e.g "don't walk off that cliff you'll die" a child doesn't understand much as to why , but none the less doesn't test it .

Parents can tell children just about anything and have them believe it without question . This is ultimatly postive I believe as when we further develop we can understand and use logic ourselves.

I see the santa thing as pretty unharmful TBH I believed in santa and wasn't too bitter when i found it to be a lie , as you grow you see the shoping bags your parents sneaking stuff in and I basically said " Yay toys" didn't really care .

That being said their are other illogical things past on through generations such as religion, political views etc which are clear forms of indoctrination .Now this is Harmful.Politics and religion should always be independant decisions no matter how they turn out .I'm a socialist atheist but would never try to raise my kid(I'm speaking theoretically) to follow my beliefs .

I would follow the exact path my parents did for me and give me alot of freedom to make their own mistakes and decisions but always be there to help them if they need it.

If I ever had kids I would explain that Santa isn't real and explain why parent lie about santa and who saint nick really was, like coggy says, a childs mind is like a sponge so treating them like a mature person is far more beneifcial to them in the long run than lieing and patronizing them


plus it would be dam funny to send your kid to school and have him/her wreck the school bullies dreams

It is the responsiblity of parents to be a pillar of reason and logic, but as coggy said, not nessesarly raise our kids as one thing or another.

But as we all now, childhood is a time for dreams and innocence, a time to belive we can fly by jumping out of trees, maybe, just maybe, if we flap our wings hard and fast enough, then we too, like the birds, may fly.

Why would you need to say anything about Santa at all? If you don't celebrate Christmas, Santa is just something that happens somewhere else. Just keep the kid away from delusions, fairy tales, imaginary friends and they'll not be exposed to any of the stuff.

Tell them its stuff that other people do, the ones who believe in imaginary and fanciful stuff.

If you try lawsuits and explain that seeing Santas in public causes extreme mental distress, they may even ban Santa from the public realm.

i never told my children that Santa doesn't exist
after all, i disagree with you that make-believe is the same as lying
in the end they must have figured it out for themselves, but that's part of growing up for you

Originally Posted by marnixR

i never told my children that Santa doesn't exist

My position as well. The boy doesn't make a big deal of Santa... I think he senses it's not real, but the state of uncertainty does not trouble him. For a generation raised with TV and computer games, the issue of Santa's reality is trivial. Their everyday existence swims in quasi-reality.

I like Santa as Mr. Anonymous. As a parent one learns the value of that function. A lot of gifts are bought jointly, or disproportionately by a few individuals. Also LOL when you've been manipulated by all a child's cynical ploys to buy some item.. and you caved... you don't like to sign your slavery on the box. That's where Santa comes in. My point is that giving presents to children is often more complex than it seems, and Santa smooths it.

'Dont do on to others what you dont want done to you' is a rule of thumb I find fair

Did I enjoy the magic of beleiving in santa as a kid, yes. Even if its not true? yes. Do I feel ripped off or abused by having been told this particular fairy tale? no.

I use the type of affirmations that mix in the storytale/legendary nature of it
ex: According to legends, Santa can magically...


What is far more difficult though is being an atheist and having to explain where a dead relative is to your child. Visibly it causes great deal of pain and sadness to the child that the relative is dead and the child is upset not to be able to be with them, so I kind of resort to the fable(from my perspective) of heaven to make it all better. Being an atheist however Im more likely to say something like 'I dont know what happens after death or where relative X is, but a lot of people believe we go to heaven and that we will see them when we go to heaven'.


I do agree however that there is something not quite right about telling children not to lie and doing the opposite by lying to them ourselves.

Much better to tell children what Myth is and what functions it has.

The Santa we know of today has had a varied background and is construed from various Myths.

Christianity acknowledges Santa as being Saint Nicholas.
Some say Santa developed from the Pagan Myth of the Green Man, celebrating Yule and the winter Solstice, and was originally dressed in green.
It was actually an American cartoonist called Thomas Nast who portrayed Santa or Father Christmas as a the man in a red suit and black boots we see today, who's image was then reinforced by the media.

Many legends surround Santa and many interpretations spring from where he originated as well as where he now is supposed to live. The Americans say it is the North Pole and others say it is Lapland.

I believe the myth of Santa at Christmas does no harm to a child and the imagination should be encouraged to blossom. It brings numinous excitement and magic at a time when the spirit should be inspired. It teaches children about kindness and generosity. It gives spirituality to children who might be brought up in an atheist environment in the form of a generous kind and loving old man.

People who are against telling children about Santa seem to be the sort who are afraid of the imagination and seem to even imagine themselves that a child is going to grow up believing all sorts of imaginary rubbish.
Well let's give our children credit for developing minds of their own and having the intelligence to understand mythology.
As a child gets older and is able to comprehend more, then the myth of Santa can be explored more in depth.
Not only does this teach a child about the nature of Myth but also it's purpose, as well as cultural variances.

Even such mythology as fairies explored with a child, teaches them how mankind initially regarded experienced and interpreted the world around him by seeing spiritual forces in nature.
Such things can be a launchpad for increasing knowledge about history, spirituality, mythology, cultural beliefs and function of imagination.

santa isnt real?!