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Myths serve important functions in society. They can put a people's history and character into easily relatable stories, transmit our shared values from generation to generation, and help us understand the mysteries of creation, the universe, and our place in it. They can convey important moral messages, like Aesop's fables, and sometimes they simply spark our collective imagination.

The myth of Santa Claus is based on an historical person, St. Nicholas, who was known to distribute gifts to children round Christmastime. In some early versions of the myth, St. Nick also put lumps of coal in the stockings of bad children, though that part of the myth seems to have faded in modern times. As a myth, Santa represents the spirit of giving and generosity - certainly a value any parent would want to instill in their children. But is it necessary to teach this principle by trying to make kids believe a purely mythical figure is real?

Very young children may have trouble differentiating between reality and fantasy, but most children, at least by the time they enter kindergarten, are quite capable of understanding that the TV shows and movies they watch and storybooks their parents read to them are not real. They are capable of enjoying an imaginative story without confusing fact and fiction. And they probably know the difference between make-believe and lies. Children can be delighted by the story of Santa, industrious elves assembling toys at the North Pole, and flying reindeer in the same way they enjoy fairy tales they know are just stories. They instinctively understand the meaning of the stories without believing they're true.

But telling kids Santa is real is simply a lie. Children may want to believe it, but they can see people dressed as Santa in every mall, and they know that their parents and other relatives buy them the gifts they get. They soon see that rich children get lots of expensive toys and poor children may get nothing. They may wonder, if they have friends who aren't Christian and don't celebrate Christmas, why those children don't get anything from Santa.

At some point, children who have been told Santa is real are likely to become confused and disillusioned. If they don't actually feel betrayed, they'll probably at least be skeptical of what their parents tell them in the future. I can't see anything useful about trying to encourage children to believe things that are so clearly fanciful and impossible. You don't have to be a Scrooge to tell your

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