by Danielle Zarcaro

Created on: July 03, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2009

Santa Claus has no practical use. The only possible argument might be that he stimulates the imagination of children. But there are so many other things out there that can do that - and that don't perpetuate a lie. While I was very thankful for the gifts I received as a child and was excited for Christmas to come every year, as an adult I realize that the reason for having the Christmas holiday has been lost.

Creating this idea of Santa Claus only further complicates the real reason for Christmas. Equating a non-secular holiday with a secular figure baffles me. There are myths that there was a type of Santa Claus who brought gifts to children, and if we continued the tradition of Santa Claus to benefit those who need more than us, Santa Claus would not be a problem.

Why can't we treat Santa Claus as a type of fairy tale; we know there are no talking wolves who will dress like Granny and try to eat us. But there is a type of message to be learned from the story without treating children like they deserve to be lied to. My partner and I have agreed that if we were to have kids, we would not tell our kids there is a Santa. We would instead stress the importance of helping others and celebrating life instead of hoping Santa will give them good presents.

Each person is allowed to parent in any way he or she feels fit, but it is important to think about what you tell your children before just going along with what everyone else does. The age-old saying, "If your friends jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you jump off too?" If your friends decided to feed their kids only peas for three years, would you do the same? No, you would think logically and decide if there was enough nutritional value in peas to last for three years; could your child benefit from a decision like this? The same goes for Santa. Parenting is a hard and full-time job; you must always be thinking about your child's welfare.

I am not telling you how to parent your child, especially since I don't have any children of my own, but I am stressing the importance of the issue at hand. There's a chance you might feel like you have no other choice but to lie to your child about the existence of Santa - you wouldn't want your child to be the only one who doesn't believe - but how much harm could telling your child the truth really do? With the amount of technology and entertainment today, children are finding out the truth about Santa sooner than ever. Why not keep the trust lines open with your children and tell them the truth?

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