← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Conservative
Thread ID: 10467 | Posts: 12 | Started: 2003-10-14
2003-10-14 01:04 | User Profile
I believe in teaching offspring to be rational right from birth, thus I believe parents should not put superstitious thoughts in the heads of their kids such as Santa Clause, tooth fairies, and the like.
What are your thoughts on this?
Conservative
2003-10-14 01:47 | User Profile
When I was little, I would leave cookies and milk with a note on the kitchen table hoping Santa Claus would take the note and eat and drink what I had left for him. If I lost a tooth, I left it under my pillow and the next morning would find a dollar bill where that tooth had been.
Yes, me and my older sister engaged in such legends and superstitions when we were young. It was just a part of the tradition, I suppose, of folklore. I consider Santa Claus to be a part of folklore, especially one of Germanic folklore. I don't think there is anything wrong with children knowing of the Santa legend, but I don't believe one should tell a child such a man truly exists. That would be like telling a child the Easter Bunny is real.
2003-10-14 11:16 | User Profile
My parents played these games, but I always knew mom was both Santa and the Tooth Fairy, even without being told. It was just a game, a little pretend. They didn't make the necessary effort to fool me. Besides, who can believe in Santa when every Christmass TV show presents a contradictory image of Santa?
Objecting to Santa seems a bit like objecting to games of pretend.
2003-10-14 12:06 | User Profile
What does this topic have to do with anything? :huh:
2003-10-14 13:43 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Conservative]I believe in teaching offspring to be rational right from birth, thus I believe parents should not put superstitious thoughts in the heads of their kids such as Santa Clause, tooth fairies, and the like.
What are your thoughts on this?
Conservative[/QUOTE]
I agree with you completely, Conservative. Santa Claus, Halloween, tooth fairies, Easter Bunny, etc. are from pagan folklore and have been used in the last hundred years more as merchandising schemes. I do not want to promote paganism in my children or society because God created all things through Christ and thus I do not worship nature, or Gaia, as some pagans call it. Halloween is basiclly a pagan holiday and I get flack from my family because My husband and I do not celebrate it nor let the children participate in any activities like trick or treating. I personally, like many of the early American colonists, do not believe in celebrating Christmas because Dec. 25th was the Roman Feast day of Satunalia, which Christmas was supposed to replace, and also because Jesus was probally not born at that time because lambing time in the Middle East is in early fall and spring and not in the middle of winter. The only time that shepherds are out all night with the sheep is at lambing time and that is when the angel announced Christ's birth to them. I live near my extended family and to keep harmony we do celebrate Christmas with a tree, gifts , and a nativity, but no Santa Claus, otherwise if we lived far away we would not celebrate it. The Easter Bunny and eggs are Roman symbols of fertility and the time of the vernal equinox, which many pagan traditions clelbrate. There is no mandate in the Scriptures to celebrate either Christmas or Easter, or rather the times of Christ's supposed birth and his resurrection, but rather that we are to worship Christ at all times, especially Sunday, the first day of the week, when he was resurrected. As for the tooth fairy, we don't tell my son about it but we do tell him that he will get two dollars under his pillow for every tooth that he loses, more to compensate for his pain and to celebrate a milestone in his life.
2003-10-14 14:21 | User Profile
[QUOTE=skemper]I agree with you completely, Conservative. Santa Claus, Halloween, tooth fairies, Easter Bunny, etc. are from pagan folklore and have been used in the last hundred years more as merchandising schemes. I do not want to promote paganism in my children or society because God created all things through Christ and thus I do not worship nature, or Gaia, as some pagans call it. Halloween is basiclly a pagan holiday and I get flack from my family because My husband and I do not celebrate it not let the children participate in any activities like trick or treating. I personally, like many of the early American colonists, do not believe in celebrating Christmas because Dec. 25th was the Roman Feast day of Satunalia, which Christmas was supposed to replace, and also because Jesus was probally not born at that time because lambing time in the Middle East is in early fall and spring and not in the middle of winter. The only time that shepherds are out all night with the sheep is at lambing time and that is when the angel announced Christ's birth to them. I live near my extended family and to keep harmony we do celebrate Christmas with a tree, gifts , and a nativity, but no Santa Claus, otherwise if we lived far away we would not celebrate it. The Easter Bunny and eggs are Roman symbols of fertility and the time of the vernal equinox, which many pagan traditions clelbrate. There is no mandate in the Scriptures to celebrate either Christmas or Easter, or rather the times of Christ's supposed birth and his ressurection, but rather that we are to worship Christ at all times, especially Sunday, the first day of the week, when he was ressurected. As for the tooth fairy, we don't tell my son about it but we tell him that he will get two dollars under his pillow for every tooth that he loses, more to compensate for his pain and to celebrate a milestone in his life.[/QUOTE]
Oh for crying out loud! I'm a devout Christian and I don't see anything wrong with Easter, holloween, or santa claus. But then again I'm just a pagan Catholic(as many non-denominational f*cks like to always tell me).
2003-10-14 15:55 | User Profile
Really, all those things are part of our American culture now. What is wrong with letting children be children and having some fun. It's hard to be an adult, and childhood fantacies are great to look back on. It's fun, as an adult to share your childrens fantasies too. Lighten up!
2003-10-15 02:02 | User Profile
Would there be a particular age of the child that you would stop playing pretend? I've been thinking of telling my oldest son (9) although I think he knows already.
2003-10-15 02:24 | User Profile
Teach our children the legends and myths of Olde.
[url]http://www.asatru.de/[/url]
2003-10-15 03:18 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ritter]Teach our children the legends and myths of Olde.
[url]http://www.asatru.de/[/url][/QUOTE]
Well theres more value in those stories than the stupid PC Diseny crap that push on children these days(now the old Disney movies are ok).
2003-10-15 19:45 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Cracker of the Whip]Would there be a particular age of the child that you would stop playing pretend? I've been thinking of telling my oldest son (9) although I think he knows already.[/QUOTE]
That's about the age when I had already figured out that it was my parents. So did every other kid.
Maybe someone could argue that it is hypocritical to tell your kids about Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny but insist thay you be truthful about other more important things... but I really don't see the harm in it.
If it matters, I do not have kids of my own.
2003-10-16 05:23 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Conservative]I believe in teaching offspring to be rational right from birth, thus I believe parents should not put superstitious thoughts in the heads of their kids such as Santa Clause, tooth fairies, and the like.
What are your thoughts on this?
Conservative[/QUOTE]
Conservative,
What are your thoughts on religion and children?