Let Santa Clause Live

We took our three year-old daughter (or as she says "I'm free years old. Hey, cut her some slack she can spell her name) to see Santa Claus the other day. It's quite the cute experience to see a child yap through their Christmas list to St. Nick.

As I watched her I thought about the whole "Should we tell our children Santa Clause doesn't exist?" debate.

What a stupid debate.

I think we're over thinking things a little. It's odd. People work more than ever which means they spend less time with their families. Yet they want to "over parent." It's as if they subconsciously want to make up for any short comings they may have. I see the angst (driven by guilt) in people who read every parenting book and watch every Nanny show.

Parenting is not easy. But let's not overdo things. In the case of Santa, just let it run its course. People who start yelping about Santa as a symbol of over-commercialization should just chill a little. In my house, we offset this part of the equation with some good old fashioned Christian stories. My daughter sits and listens as we recount the story of Jesus in the manger scene.

Yeah, yeah. I know about the whole Jesus debate too but the message is more important than anything to us.

The thing I like about kids believing in Santa Clause is that they exercise their imagination. Then, as they grow, their mental abilities through logic begins to kick in. Eventually they'll figure out the whole Santa thing makes no sense. Best to let them deduce it. I don't them acting like Spock in the house. Man, that would be boring.

Now, if you're kid is 18 and still preparing cookies for Santa then you may want to consider an intervention.

However, don't steal Christmas from kids. Especially to satisfy some irrational need to apply logic to something that doesn't have any.

Merry Christmas (and Happy Holidays) to one and all.

Ho! Ho! Ho!