Raise your hand if you believed in Santa
Is the belief that children believe in Santa Clause a myth?
It's one of the greatest analogies used in our language; when you find out something you held as a Absolute Truth, but it was exposed as a lie, people like to say, "It's like when I found out Santa wasn't real."
But is this catchphrase based on any truth or personal experiences? Perhaps I was a skeptical and perceptive child, but I knew there's just no way a guy could deliver presents to everyone in the world in one night. Even if he had "little helpers". I also knew that toys were bought in stores and gift-wrapped. (No one in my era got wooden horses or dolls that were not in some pre-made factory box anyway.)
Also, I knew many kids didn't have a chimney- so how's Santa supposed to get in your house? My basis for Santa was the animated Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.
I was never gullible enough to believe my family was in league with Santa. He was on par with the Tooth Fairy- I knew my family pretended. I went along with it to get the cash or gift, and even at 5 years old, I told them I knew it was fake.
Perhaps the worst way to keep this "secret" happened when I sat an "Santa's" lap at a Brooklyn mall (Kings Plaza). He looked drunk. I knew that there were numerous "Santa's". I saw The Honeymooner's episode when I was 6 that featured Jackie and Art buying the Santa costume.
I happen to know that my co-worker's nephew is afraid of Santa. His uncle believed in him, but began to put "2 and 2 together" when he saw his parents pick up mystery items at department stores before Christmas.
But generally speaking, it seems to be the act of believing in Santa is really an adult convention. I think the MEDIA and journalists like to overdo it to maintain the myth of childhood innocence and naivety. "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus". It seems to me like lazy and safe journalism. At it's worst, trying to keep such a "secret" is blatant misinformation. There was a case where a teacher got into trouble for telling kids Santa wasn't real.
As someone who is generally against traditions, I want to bring up that our modern conception of Santa's image is due to a Coca-Cola marketing campaign, and the aforementioned animated cartoons. Christmas was originally a pagan holiday anyway, and Jesus wasn't even born on December 25 according to scholars. It's become commercialized to help the economy. The irony is that all of the "smart" adults have been hoodwinked into shelling out the big bucks to buy gifts every year.
My questions for DailySkew readers are:
- If you are a parent, do you tell your children that some gifts are from Santa and some are from you? Do you try to "work" the angle that Santa is real?
- Did you ever truly believe in him, and when you finally found out, was it a huge eye-opening "ah-ha experience" shocker, that people use in the analogy?
- Aren't kids smarter and more resourceful than this alleged myth?
- Do you agree that it's not really a secret anyway, because of TV, Internet, word-of-mouth, and just getting gifts from relatives anyway (not to mention the logistic problem)?
posted by DamianHospital @ Friday, November 30, 2007
12 Comments:
I guess I just wasn't as perceptive as you, Damian. I believed in Santa: hook, line, and sinker. And I was very upset at my mother for lying to me all of those years. She finally told me when I was 21. It was a dark day in my life- I torn up my room, and knocked the Christmas tree down. Suffice to say, I got grounded that Christmas, and my dad was very disappointed in me.
My daghter never believed. My wife and I even tried to sneak in her windows, but she knew it was a joke when a gift was there in morning.
My mother was always up front with me and my sisters about where all the expensive gifts came from- HER!!!!!!
why not let the children retain their innocence? so what if it may not be 100% true? i believed in santa.
i found out one day, by looking in my mother's closet when she was working, and i was that she had bout me the gijoe figures i asked for because she wnet to the mall with her boyfriend the day before. so then i knew my mom was pretending to be santa.
i do agree that it wasn't a major tramatic experience, like you said it was overblown by other writers- that's true.
i actually felt smart knowing i figured out my mother's little game. i didn't tell her, though, i wonder if she still believes i believe in santa.
It is an adult concept. Most parents wish to preserve the innocences of their child's sense of wonder and they will feed this notion of a fat old man that breaks into houses to give away toys. What harm is it?
In prehistoric times and up to today they would tell stories of monsters or bad men that would take children away for misbehaving.
It would be like telling your child that ther is no God. Have you seen God? Have you meet God? Doubtful, but people still need to believe. I'd rather have my believing in Santa and having hope in their hearts than believing life is a desolate, evil place like the news portrays everyday.
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I don't recall my parents taking it seriously ... and the Santa Claus thing is a low-pressure sell to my kids. If they choose to believe, that's fine. When they see something at the store, I might say, "Don't worry. Santa's working on it."
I don't recall an A-ha! moment. I suppose the song, "Take on meeeeee...." would've started playing.
Anyway, it was just an awareness that slowly dawned on me, around age six or seven.
I remember, years later, recalling a "Mystery gift" moment at Consumers from right before I figured it out (as if if anyone remembers that place! I loved those catalogs). I wasn't disappointed.
White people make a big deal about X-Mas, cuz they aint got anything better to do with their time and money.
Anyone with a ethnic background aint raised to believe in some stupid myth of the white honkey in a red suit coming down the chimney to bring gifts to the yellow man, brown man, or black man. Child, please.
Now, the first time I had sex ... that was an A-ha! moment.
ba-DUM-DUM
:-)
I agree...does anyone really believe that kids "maintain their innocence" by believing in a fat white dude?
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