Should children be let to believe in Santa Claus?
29 June 2011
Each child needs to be encouraged to believe in tales and symbols, such as the tale of Santa Claus, up to a certain age (based on its gender and family background).
Tales and symbols are the most appropriate way to familiarize children with various meanings and moral principles.
Based on Greek tradition and folk stories, Santa Claus symbolizes generosity, peace, caring and warmth and it’s helpful to kids to believe in Santa’s existence for as long as they have to resort to his figure.
Parents, however, should follow-up and be aware of their children’s imagination, freedom of thought, innocence, spontaneity and excessive kindness.
Parents should be particularly cautious:
if they notice their child is not interested in believing such tales as Santa, because such negations may be the result of childhood depression.
Children suffering from psychological disorder should not be told of such tales in detail since they run the risk of having difficulty distinguishing reality from imagination.
Christmas, is a family season, and we should all enjoy the holidays with our children sharing with them childhood stories from our own Christmas’ memories.
