Question for those of you out there (with children) that do the whole Santa Claus thing at Christmas. Do you tell your child Santa Claus isn't real, or do you wait for them realize it themselves? If you tell them, do you wait until they reach a certain age?
The reason I ask is because I've witnessed that this same premise relates to telling any hard truths to uninformed/ misinformed people that have gone their whole lives believing something that's objectively untrue. Is it best for them to figure it out for themselves and in their own time? What if that never happens? Is there not an inherent responsibility to those of us that do know to share it with those that don't?
Imagine you met a young adult that still believes in Santa Claus. Is it even Right to let them keep believing that into adulthood (without saying anything)?
I understand I'm unable to "make" anyone change, but maybe they'd be willing to change if presented with new (previously unknown) information (based in truth). How do you know if you don't at least try, right? No regrets.
(I'd appreciate feedback from all the fellow Truth-tellers out there)!
I'm glad I came across your post! Not a coincidence that I was just talking about this with a friend! My husband and I have a seven year old daughter, a 15 month old son and a baby on the way. So with our daughter we initially decided to go along with the Santa thing. However when she was about three we were going through major life changes. We did not see the importance of holidays especially ones that placed such a significance on material things. We were teaching her things don't matter, experiences are more important. So it didn't make sense to us to create this facade for her to play along with. We also did not like lying to her. Her whole childhood we taught her the importance of telling us the truth and being honest and here we were lying about something that literally did not even matter. When we told her she was four and she told me she already knew and didn't care! Our family actually cared so much more because they said we ruined her childhood. All I could think of is how silly that someone would think a made up person could ruin a childhood! I say do what you think feels right. I do not regret telling her the truth at all. This life is full of so much more than "Santa Claus" and I am so happy we get to share it all with our children!
Interesting that your family cared so much more and thought you ruined her childhood. Did you ask them why that was? Once I became a parent myself, I realized how important it was for me to have the correct answers to life's questions...and to not look like a hypocrite in the process. Truth discovery has become a big deal in my life for that reason. With that comes truth-telling. Unfortunately many people do not feel the same. Kudos to you being honest.
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