December is here and that means seeing more familiar faces. Who else? Not your aunties and uncles coming for a visit, but Santa Claus, and the question is if he’s real or not. Is Santa Claus belief harmful for kids?
What can you read in this article?
- Where did the myth of Santa Claus come from?
- Can the Santa Claus myth be harmful?
- Santa Claus’ influence in Asia
- The Psychology of Santa Claus
Your kids may now be super excited to catch Santa Clause bringing gifts down the chimney. Or have you told them already?
Where did the myth of Santa Claus come from?
The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a real-life monk named St. Nicholas, who was born in modern-day Turkey around 280 AD. He was well-known for being exceedingly generous to the needy, frequently bestowing presents on them.
Fast forward to Henry VIII’s reign in 16th century England, where “Father Christmas” was portrayed as a huge guy dressed in red robes with fur trim who signified Christmas cheer. The two personalities eventually fused, and the modern-day Santa Claus was formed. He has remained popular ever since, primarily within Western Christian culture, but even among Westerners who are not religious.
Santa Claus’ influence in Asia
For many families in Asia, Santa Claus is nothing more than a cartoon character who pops up at the end of the year to herald in the season of gift-giving and cheer. However, some families take it to the next level and adopt the Western practice of encouraging their kids to believe that Santa Claus is real. But is this good or bad for our kids?
It’s a mixed bag. Many say that there’s no harm in indulging in the fantasy when your children are young. After all, who wouldn’t want their kids to grow up with a sense of wonder?
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing for kids to believe in the myth of someone trying to make people happy if they’re behaving,” child psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Lorber told Live Science. “Imagination is a normal part of development, and helps develop creative minds.”
Is Santa Slaus harmful? | Image from Pixabay
The Psychology of Santa Claus
Childhood is a time when the border between fiction and reality is more easily blurred by children’s imaginations.
Children tend to believe that Santa Claus is real because it is repeatedly introduced to them by their parents whom they trust and believe the most. More so because parents are usually a trustworthy source of information for young children.
In general, children (and adults) are more likely to trust something if they can see evidence to back it up. In Santa Claus’s case, parents religiously leave evidence of Santa Claus being real – leaving traces of candy, gifts and other goods in Christmas socks, fireplaces, and other parts of the house.
Some families even start Christmas traditions that involve Santa Claus. For example, leaving cookies and milk for him to snack on when he comes and leaves the gifts. There are also handwritten letters left for children to ready before they dig in on the gifts.
The more evidence and the more it is introduced to children, the more likely for them to believe that Santa is real.
For children ages 5 to 8, magical thinking is a part of their life. Children at this age have a lot of magical beliefs. They believe not just in Santa Claus but also in an Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, unicorns on rainbows, flying carpets, and more.
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When do children find out the truth?
At age 7 or 8, children began to realize that Santa Claus is just a myth. As children grow older, they began to understand that some things are just a product of magical think and imagination.
According to psychologist and cognitive development pioneer Jean Piaget, children enter the “concrete operational stage” of thinking between the ages of four and eight. This stage is defined by interrogation. Children become distrustful and rely on their creativity to solve problems. They test hypotheses, examine evidence, and analyze using logic.
At this time, youngsters tend to figure out the truth about Santa on their own, and their reactions are often pleasant.
While we may associate magical thinking with childhood, it does not necessarily vanish as we grow older. Many adults still have superficial beliefs and are believers of ghosts, spirits, gods, and others. And it’s completely okay. It’s a part of us!
Is Santa Claus harmful? | Image from Pexels
Is it okay for kids to believe in Santa Claus?
Fantasy is an important aspect of a child’s development. Most children start to play pretend on their 2nd year. This increases during their preschool years and decreases as they reach 5 to 8 years old.
Emotional and psychological capacities are being developed in children through their use of imagination. This statement is supported in The Conversation’s article saying that:
“Imagination, pretend, fantasy and play all encourage children to focus, think through hypothetical situations, strengthen their reasoning skills, learn to solve problems, develop theories about how people think, practice social skills, work collaboratively, learn to negotiate, create new possibilities, create a new identity or new worlds — and even develop new possibilities for our shared world.”
Research also shows that the majority of children act positively to the revelation and that any mental distress is brief.
There is no empirical evidence that learning the truth about Santa causes youngsters to be distressed or to mistrust their parents’ trustworthiness. Some children don’t even tell their parents that they’ve figured it out. They just let Santa Claus add a holiday magic in celebrating the Christmas season.
Can the Santa Claus myth be harmful?
The question of whether Santa Clause is harmful can be answered by psychologists. Psychology Today states that parents should avoid encouraging their kids to believe in Santa for 3 reasons:
- It’s a lie.
- You risk damaging your trustworthiness in the eyes of your child.
- It encourages credulity or gullibility.
It is true that many who believed in Santa as kids grew up to be well-adjusted adults. But for some children, finding out that their parents had deceived them for years can be heartbreaking, as some told Psych Central. One parent recounts how painful it was for their family when her son learned the truth about Santa:
“[My son truly felt that] we lied to him for many years. He just told me he doesn’t even want to set up a tree this year because Santa isn’t real, so why decorate. His feelings of betrayal have put a dimmer on the season for us for the last 2 years. If I had it to do over again I wouldn’t play so much into the make believe. I would let the child lead and I’d follow.” — Tina
Finding out the truth about Santa not only causes some children to stop taking what their parents say at face value but can also lead them to lose their faith in more serious things, like religion. After all, if authority figures had lied about other things before, what makes their religious beliefs any different?
Encouraging kids to believe in illogical things “just because it feels good” also discourages them from thinking critically. This could have serious repercussions in the future, leading them to believe in fake news, fake documentaries, and so forth.
Some parents are concerned that telling their children the Santa myth is a form of deception. Not only does this feel unethical to them, but it also raises issues about their children’s faith in them once they learn the truth.
However, research shows the opposite. They claim that the majority of children react positively to the revelation and that any mental distress is brief.
So how do you balance the line between lying and promoting imagination in your children?
Is Santa Claus harmful? | Image from Pexels
How to explain Santa without lying
One of the main arguments around believing in Santa is that it develops your child’s imagination. However, imagination is intertwined with pretending, and one only pretends when one doesn’t believe that something exists. Having your child believe that something is real doesn’t encourage imagination, it actually damages it.
To encourage imagination in your children, tell the truth: that Santa doesn’t exist. Then, come Christmas, just pretend that he does. Make it a game! One mother told PsychCentral how doing this was a positive experience for her family:
“In our house we have always played Santa, but it has always been an imaginative game and she has always known that he isn’t real. She is 11 now and we still play the game and it’s still magical and fun. But that’s always all it’s ever been, just a fun game.” — Tova
Building trust between parents and children is critical for children’s development of strong relational bonds that endure a lifetime. You don’t want to lie to your kids unless you want them to lose trust in you.
So, in dealing with the Santa Claus myth, you might want to talk to them about keeping the tradition of receiving Santa during the holiday season.
Just like your kids pretend to be fictional characters all the time, they can enjoy Christmas and the Santa myth just as well without you having to lie to them and break their trust.
Additional information from Margaux Dolores
Sources:
Psychology Today, The Conversation, University of Texas News, Psych Central, Live Science
