On lying to our childrenFollow

The whole Santa thing has been a bit creepy for me ever since the episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip where there was a "To Catch a Predator" skit ambushing Santa (you have to go to about 6:30 to see it.)

My hope for Christmas as Tristan gets old enough to understand it is to try to put the emphasis on giving rather than receiving, since in my life I've been around too many kids who feel this tremendous sense of entitlement when it comes to huge extravagant Christmas presents and I want to try to offset the typical childish tendency toward the "gimmies" as much as I possibly can. I find myself torn between incorporating the fun Santa stuff and the fact that the whole Santa thing really kinda fosters that "gimme" attitude. So I really don't know what I'm going to do on that front.

Paper dolls.


If you focus on 'giving' you're still focusing on the 'gift' as being the highlight of the holiday. I'd scrap the giving and receiving stuff all together and focus on peace and good will if you want your child to find some meaning in Christmas other than a time for material indulgence.








Edited, Dec 8th 2008 8:29pm by Elinda

Santa. The Easter Bunny. God. 'Creation'. Immaculate conception. Ressurection. Heavan. 70 virgins waiting in paradise for martyrs. Etc.

All equally believable to a 3 year old.

Funny how we stop believing in Santa and the bunny, because, you know, its all made up as a bit of fun for the kids.

But grown-ups who really should know better, keep on believing in the other stuff despite all the evidence to the contrary.....

Its a funny old world.....

I had a co-worker tell me on Friday that she's very conflicted about bad spirits and whether or not she believes in them, because she believes in angels and that god can send angels down to us, so shouldn't she believe in the bad spirits, too? That the devil can send them?

Exactly. I know she is probably the 'product of her environment' and all that, but from where i'm sitting, an adult confessing a belief in angels is akin to an adult confessing a belief in Santa or the Easter bunny.

Both should be treated with contempt and ridicule.

So there is sort of a range of belief for me. Basically, it is like a probability. Nothing we're talking about reach total belief (or totally zero - just very, very small - which is a populated area which I ignore for obvious reasons).

Billions practice various religious beliefs and gain concrete benefits from doing so. Many spend a lot of time talking about things which they have no way of knowing anything about - specifically benefits after life's end. If the concrete benefits outweigh the cost of time spent on these other issues, it would be foolish not to attend.

There is an analogy to congress. Much of what they talk about is a waste of time and doesn't change anything. To have the opportunity to participate and not do so is an odd choice.

Ya sometimes people believe hateful things and I don't associate with them but the ones on the fence can be influenced by a dedicated follower or two and a few well placed words. Which is not only a direct benefit to you, but others.

Are you referring to God the Judeo Christian god? Or any god? or just the knowledge that in some way some essence not explainable yet, there is something greater then the sum of you and me? or do you truly mean you have spoken with actual aetheists who do believe in ghosts?

I think there's more empirical evidence for ghosts than there is for God at this point.

There is zero empirical evidence for either. Every time I talk to my mother she tells me how "sad" she thinks it is that Hannah will grow up knowing Santa isn't real. I usually then tell her how crushed and disappointed I was as a child when I received gifts on my birthday from people I knew and not from the Magical Birthday Dragon. She pretty much hangs up on me around then.

Cos

Ghosts are a pretend construction that are based on real people. God is a pretend construction that is based on pretend mythology. Ghosts are only fake once.

You get to give 15% of your gross earnings to the church?

A lot of mythologies are based on actual prehistoric events. The only pretend mythologies are written by authors. real mythologies are written by traditional ethnic memory passed down for 1000s of years.

Edited, Dec 8th 2008 8:22pm by Kelvyquayo

A lot of mythologies are based on actual prehistoric events.

Sadly, no. A lot of actual prehistoric events are later shoehorned into mythos to lend them credibility.