Xmas Question (construed realities and psychological damage)
Okay, this is a serious question regarding the "xmas spirit" and such. What I'd like to know is A) how many of you believed in Santa as a youngster, B) whether or not you think that belief was ultimately healthy, harmful or somewhere in between, and C) if you foresee your kids believing in Santa (indoctrinating them, so to speak).
The motivation for this question is as follows: I believed in Santa and, while crushed a bit when I found out he was not "real", maintain that it was a psychologically beneficial experience despite its core essence of parental deception. I recently discovered that a great deal of my college buddies did not believe in Santa as children, as their parents deemed such inconic worship as hopelessly un-intellectual. More shocking was the sheer number of these people who maintain that they will not deceive their kids with the falsity known as Saint Nick. Now, maybe I was just stuck in a liberal, intellectual waste hole, where anything not empirically validated by a scientist or addressed in the "Great Books" is dismissed out of hand, but having heard this and inquired about it, I'm shocked at the negative connotation belief in Santa seems to carry in the new millenium. Any thoughts??
one day when there is a little partyboy i want him to believe in santa
so that i can tell him santa got jacked on the way to our place so i can get off cheap :D