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New York Teacher Tells Kids There Is No Santa Claus
- Thread starter mandym
- Start date
I'm not surprised by this. Teachers haven't been allowed to teach the truth for decades.
Well, I guess they also believe that three little pigs can build houses, that a wolf will eat Grandma and sleep in her bed, that a princesses can kiss a frog.....
I don't have a big problem with little kids believing in a fairy tale- they will grow out of it.
I also am very careful about a very young child being baptized as I want to be very sure he understands about salvation.
Bottom line - let kids be kids....
The difference is they don't get real life gifts from the Three Little Pigs or the Big Bad Wolf. That event brings Santa Claus out of the fairy tales and into the real world. Kids believe that Santa is real, not a fairy tale. They are encouraged to believe this by the people they most trust.
I believe that kids that are led to believe in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and other fairy tales are more likely to also believe the Bible to be a fairy tale. When we teach our kids that something is real and then they come to find out that we were lying the entire time, it brings them to a place where they question whether we are lying about Jesus.
FR7 Baptist
Active Member
My fundamentalist aunt said that Santa Claus is of the devil because children eventually realize Santa is a myth and they might think God is also a myth. She doesn't let her kids talk about Santa at all and when others do she tells them it's of the devil.
If I ever have children, I'll teach them about Santa but make clear it's just a fun story.
If I ever have children, I'll teach them about Santa but make clear it's just a fun story.
I agree with your opinion on this. I don't think Santa Claus is evil or of the devil. I believe that it is a well intentioned fun thing to do, but I worry about the consequences of it. I just don't think we come across as good witnesses for Christ, or as good role models, when we lie to our children.
I think lying about characters such as Santa Claus is especially damaging. The things Santa Claus does are extraordinary. When children find out it is a lie, it's easy for them to also start disbelieving in the extraordinary things God has done.
Santa (along with the Easter bunny and tooth fairy) is basically a sort of counterfeit Christ/God, because he essentially plays the same roles: omniscient, virtually omnipresent, apparently eternal, and also a rewarder of good and bad.
Yes, it was exciting as a child, but (especially in an agnostic "scientific naturalist" family), it did make Jesus appear to be the same exact kind of thing.
Yes, it was exciting as a child, but (especially in an agnostic "scientific naturalist" family), it did make Jesus appear to be the same exact kind of thing.
Well, there isn't one so she didn't teach them anything false.
I always tell the little ones to ask their parents about it.
I never told my kids Santa was real, just that the idea comes from the spirit of generosity and that is what Santa represents, and that the concept of generosity is real.
What's funny is that my one kid didn't believe me and insisted I was wrong and that there is a Santa. She's outgrown it and believes me now. :laugh:
I always tell the little ones to ask their parents about it.
I never told my kids Santa was real, just that the idea comes from the spirit of generosity and that is what Santa represents, and that the concept of generosity is real.
What's funny is that my one kid didn't believe me and insisted I was wrong and that there is a Santa. She's outgrown it and believes me now. :laugh:
This is how we've handled it with our children. We never told them that he's real or going to bring them gifts. They do know about the original St. Nicholas. Same deal with the Easter bunny, tooth fairy, etc. They know it's not real and "just for fun or pretend."
As a kid, I never understood why we were told never to lie, but then adults would turn around and lie to their kids about Santa or the Easter Bunny. It confused me.
preacher4truth
Active Member
I've always told folks, if you see the silhouette of a man in your home on Christmas Eve, with a sack slung over his back, uh, it aint Santa!!!!
:wavey: :laugh: :thumbsup:
:wavey: :laugh: :thumbsup:
freeatlast
New Member
Good for the teacher. She was teaching a class and gave the proper answer to a question or statement. It is too bad that some parents think it is permissible to lie while they make liars our of their children. A two thumbs up for this teacher. :thumbs::thumbs:
So the week before Christmas, a subsitute tells a class of 3rd graders that Jesus Christ was not a real person. As an athiest, she believes it to be the truth. and then......
...Especially if his "sleigh" is backed up to the house with the trunk open.
:laugh:
freeatlast
New Member
Big difference. The teacher this OP is about KNOWS santa is not real and is responding to a statement or question which involves the lesson.
preacher4truth
Active Member
Apples and Oranges, you're comparing Truth with myth.
I recall family becoming irate because we wouldn't teach our children about Santa Claus. Who cares what they "think."
If this were about the Tooth Fairy or Boogey Man there'd be no issue. Since it is an opposing view against the celebration of the birth of Christ, there is great interest in this, and I don't believe such an interest to be limited only to the level of the human realm alone. Plainly such teachings are a lie. Is this stand against the traditions of men, and will my take on this cause me to receive rebukes and angry responses from others? Of course, but I really do not care!
I don't believe Jesus would teach children about Santa Claus, do you? Do you think He'd sit down and teach them this?
Instead He would teach them truth, and has instructed us to teach our children about His Word, not myths and fables which I believe we are to avoid, no matter what the status quo says, or what the traditions of a culture state. Is it popular? No. But tell me when truth has ever been popular.
preacher4truth
Active Member
LOL!!!! :laugh:
Just told my wife what you said, she thought it hilarious!!!!!!! :laugh:
Me too!!! :thumbsup:
preacher4truth
Active Member
What do you think? Does it sound like it?