by Keith Redfern

Created on: November 24, 2008

Perpetuating a myth is tantamount to continuing a deception. Do we wish to deceive our children? Is our need to generate a feeling of magic at Christmas so great that we are prepared to mislead them?

How can it be good for a child to be misled? How can it be right to teach a child something not factual, when the later discovery of reality can lead to disappointment and disillusionment?

To feed a child's lively imagination with stories which are at least essentially euphemistic and at most mythical inventions is unnecessary and misguided.

When a child loses a tooth, the tooth goes under their pillow at night to be magically replaced by a coin. And we invent a tooth fairy to explain the transformation.

Why not tell the truth? The coin is recompense from a loving parent for the pain and discomfort of losing the tooth. What is wrong with that?

It can be difficult and embarrassing to tell the child the truth when faced with a challenging question asked at an awkward moment. Where do babies come from has led to stories of gooseberry bushes, storks and whatever else to avoid a truth which may be difficult to tell.

But the story of Santa Claus does not even evade a difficult question, it invents something unnecessary. What is wrong with telling a child that Christmas presents have been given by family members and friends who love them? What are we trying to hide?

The gifts all bear labels: With love from Uncle John and Aunt Catherine. That's honest enough. And what about presents bought by the child to give to someone else? Do we say they have to come from Santa as well? Do we want to take away from the child the pleasure of giving?

Why invent a story? And why such an improbable story filled with all the embellishments like reindeer with names pulling a sleigh that flies? Do we expect the child to believe that family and friends have dispatched their presents to the North Pole for Santa to distribute later? That Santa is able to deliver to the whole world in one night? And what about houses with no chimney? The whole thing is too ridiculous and unnecessary, and yet we insist to the child that it is true.

Tell the story of St. Nicholas by all means, but as a story, not as the truth. Don't fill a child's mind with inventions. Don't ask a child to learn something they have to unlearn later in life. How can you expect them to trust you in the future?

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