Jolly Old St. Nicholas...

Now, first off, to each his own about whether or not to tell your kids about Santa Claus but in case you are a fence sitter I decided to share why I love sharing the idea of Santa Claus with my kids...

Here are a couple quotes from random people I found on some forum...

"Some things are difficult to teach. Like altruism, unconditional love, dedication to a cause, sacrifice, etc.

Santa Claus is the personification of many qualities that are difficult to find in people. At least as unwavering virtues. Parents want their children to know him and love him. Great experience with giving, hoping, receiving and yearning can lead to terrific introspection. Even for very young children."

"Santa Clause is spiriturly real, he is the spirit of giving..."

And this is from a study done by child psychologists on this very subject...

"While Santa may not be a flesh-and-blood person, the cultural truth of St. Nicholas is key to a child's developing imagination, Smith said.

"Santa Claus is a shared cultural image of benevolence and kindness and you don't want to undermine that," he said.

"With Santa Claus, you are trying to enrich the child's life by sharing something that you both enjoy," he said. "Santa Claus embodies the whole idea of the Christmas season as the time of caring, togetherness and magic."

Smith said that a child's belief in the story of Santa Claus enables the child to develop a sense of wonder about the jolly character and use their imagination. Using their imagination to consider the possibilities is key to problem solving and other mental tasks down the line, he said.

"Santa Claus is a loving, merry person who cares about kids so much that he wants to bring toys to kids throughout the whole world," Smith said. "If you take Santa Claus out of the picture, you diminish that child's sense that they are special.

"We know that Santa is not real, but the truth of Santa is the shared cultural commitment to kids, to bring happiness into children's lives," he said.

Some parents may think teaching their children to believe in Kris Kringle is setting them up for big disappointment when they find out he doesn't exist.

Smith said that children who discover Santa isn't real rarely blame their parents. In fact, the most common response is to keep the story going so they not only continue to get presents, but because they recognize the joy their parents get from the experience, he said."


And here is a great thing from my friend Kathy's blog post about this very same thing...

All our lives, truths are placed before us in symbolic form - not to deceive us, but to impress the truth upon us more convincingly. And, of course, when we are very young we comprehend only what we can see, feel, hear, smell, or taste."


In the end...I tell my children about Santa Claus because in an increasingly dangerous and toxic world, why not let their be another MAN of goodness, love, purity, and kindness?  We need more good men out there - more goodness in general.  So we will always celebrate and LOVE Jolly Old St. Nicholas at our house...