Teach your children (to think) well

** Critical thinking is not anti-artistic. Children taught it do not become glum robots. In fact, knowing the difference between fantasy and reality can enhance the "willing suspension of disbelief" that makes non-fiction so thrilling.

Santa's Clause

By Brent Rasmussen on Holiday Cheer

(Note: this post was written back in 2003. -Brent)

I have always tried to tell the truth to my children. That's not to say that there are times when I make the parental command decision to withhold information from my kids that I do not think that they can understand, or that I think will only serve to confuse them. All parents do that to a certain extent, I'm sure. It's part of raising kids and it comes from understanding how a human brain develops, and then using that knowledge to apply specific and selective choices towards your individual children because they are individuals.

What I have tried not to do is tell my children an outright lie.

However, many parents do not share my affinity for telling their darling little angels the truth. A case in point is Miss. Sandra Jolly of Miramar Florida. She became pretty upset when her six year old son D.J. told her that his teacher had told the entire class that Santa Claus was make believe.*

Now, before you go galloping off in all directions please consider the facts:

1. Santa Claus is make believe.
2. The teacher, Geneta Codner, did not actually say that Santa Claus was make believe. What she did was ask questions that encouraged critical thinking about obviously false things - like a fat man sliding down a chimney, or reindeer flying.

Now, if Miss. Jolly wants her child's teachers to lie to him, that's her business. She should present the school with a list of magical make-believe beings that she wants her little D.J. lied to about. Maybe they'll institute a special class for children who's parents want them to be lied to. This special class can spend their day wide eyed with wonder at the absolutely truthful (*nudge, nudge, wink, wink*) stories of Santa Clause and His Elves, Angels, Flying Reindeer, Tooth Fairies, The Easter Walrus, Fairy Godparents, Binky The Magic Space Clown, Spongebob Squarepants, Jesus, Allah, The Great Pumpkin, Spiderman, and President Bush and his Magic Bullet.

Wouldn't that be special?

Personally I think the rest of the students would be better off without fuzzy-thinking imbeciles like that polluting the classroom. I'd like my children to learn critical thinking and to be, well, told the friggin' truth about the world around them.

Golly. I must be some sort of anti-Christmas freak, huh?

No, not really. I just think that it's perfectly okay to let your children know that make-belief beings are make-believe. I don't think that it blunts their enjoyment of the fantasy one iota - any more than you or me would have trouble enjoying a novel that we know without a doubt is fictional.

I let my kids figure out the whole Santa Claus thing for themselves. They ask me, "Is Santa Claus real?" I respond, "Do you think that Santa Clause is real?" If they answer "Yes", then I'll ask them why they think he's real. After they get old enough to consider their reasons for believing, they'll start to answer "No."

Is Christmas ruined for the Inscrutable household? Of course not. Christmas is a wonderful time of family, giving, good cheer, good food. You know, all of that stuff that makes Christmas real and fun.

No lies, and no "real" make believe beings needed.