The Christmas Debate: Benefits of Children Believing in Santa Claus
Shortly after the trees appear barren after losing all their leaves, most houses and businesses also alter appearances for the season. Many families drag out boxes of red and green decorations to transform their homes for the holidays. Parents may brave the line stretching down the mall so their child can tell Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, what he or she wishes to unwrap on Christmas morning. Some question the effect on a child’s health or morals associated with the belief in Santa Claus, but with research and psychologists weighing in on the subject state there is no traumatic evidence apparent in letting a child have faith in Santa Claus. Evidence gathered by these studies may suggest a benefit for youth. Children should have the opportunity to believe in Santa Claus because it enhances creativity and can improve mental health, shows young individuals an example of giving without expecting anything in return, and when the time comes, forces kids to distinguish the difference between fantasy and reality. Fraser (2015) found that the individual whose story inspired the mythical Santa, also known as Saint Nicholas, originates from a bishop living in Turkey during the third century. Nikolaos of Myra refused to worship the then Roman Emperor Diocletian, and was imprisoned until Emperor Constantine freed the Christians five years later. He went on to show kindness and compassion by anonymously giving gifts
Within in many literary works, the writers provide a moral lesson for their readers. The term moral refers to an action that demonstrates the difference between right and wrong. Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Suess usually provides some type of moral lesson within all of his literary works. Within the poem, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Geisel provides a moral lesson by showing the realization of what is really important during the holiday season. The Grinch goes through a transformation which includes: a lack of morals, a realization of meanings, and the development of his morals.
In the story, the Most Dangerous game, written by Richard Connel, a world renowned hunter is stranded on an island, and learns what it means to be hunted. High noon, written by Carl Foreman, is a film about a marshal who protects the town from a returning criminal. Even though the characters in the film and book are different, the setting and the theme are the same in some way, which affects the whole story as it is.
The kids drop Santa down the chute, and an evil laugh rises from the darkness. “A poker game we shall play, but you must know, dear Santa, that I do not play fair!” the Oogie Boogie exclaims. This is a scene from The Nightmare Before Christmas. This movie is both scary and joyful. But if you had to choose one, which would it be? Some people say it is a spooky Halloween movie, while other’s say it’s a jolly christmas movie. I believe it’s a Halloween movie. Want to know why? Keep reading, and you will find out.
For the last three years, I have helped organize and assist in coordinating my town’s Breakfast with Santa program. Each year the program is hosted at a local daycare. The program provides each child with a wrapped gift and a Christmas related book. They are also given the opportunity to take pictures with Santa and make crafts. For many of the children, the only gifts that they receive for Christmas are those donated by volunteers. As a
This leads into the most important difference between the book and the movie. In the movie it depicts that going to the North Pole to see Santa was all a dream, while in the book it made it all seem real. When children go see this movie, they might think that since the boy is having a dream that Santa must not be real. A lot of research has been done about kids believing in Santa. Gail Vines wrote about “the Santa delusion” from psychologist’s perspectives. According to Gail Vines (2007), children are able to
So you don’t believe in Santa Claus. It’s understandable. We find ourselves in an age of pure skepticism. We question everything. Science has taken hold of our lives, providing answers for all questions and dismissing anything that cannot be explained as either myth or fiction. So it’s quite understandable why you don’t believe, with no physical proof of his existence. It’s indeed understandable to lose sight of Father Christmas with the transformation of this holiday into one that, as of late, is used commercially as a lucrative crutch solely to make profit. It’s understandable to abandon Santa Claus after hearing countless people deny his very physical or even spiritual existence. After all, one tends to
The Loss of Innocence: An Explication of “The Death of Santa Claus” by Charles Webb Children often are told the lie of Santa Claus. When kids find out that Santa Claus is not real they do one of two things: they freak out or they are completely calm. On the inside though they’re all freaking out. The mythical amazing man that they’ve believed in all of their lives is a fake and thats a devastating blow. Being told that Santa is not real is often when most children start to lose their innocence.
Ever since Elsie died, he had grown more bitter. Elsie had left for work just as Cyril was coming back. Then when he woke up again, she wasn’t there. And she still wasn’t there when he got back. They never found her body. For all Cyril knew, she had run off. But that wasn’t like Elsie. She would have stayed and helped her family. That’s what she wanted most in the world.
Attention Device: “The United States of America, the land of the free, home of the brave, has earned a new disturbing title as the world’s greatest jailer. The U.S represents just 5% of the world’s population, but we hold 25% of the world’s prison population (ACLU, 2017).”
Christmas is the annual festival celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th December, at least that is what it began as initially. Since it has expanded into an international phenomenon for consumption, taking priority over our everyday practices of life (Michel De Certeau, 1980). Our time we spend divided between work and leisure in accordance to the codes and conventions of society shifts, Christmas derails these expectations. Yet surprisingly Christmas gains little attention in terms of social research, despite the fact that it can be explored diversely. The inquiry ‘What is Christmas?’ links to multiple aspects of social research. The aspects of Christmas can be subdivided into the following; religion, commercialism, gift-giving, social relationships, sensualism and mythology. This essay will analyse these fundamentals of Christmas through both psychological and sociological perspectives, as the theories among these two social sciences are best suited to the elements which make up Christmas itself.
It can be argued that Christmas as a holiday is far removed from the way it was first envisioned. That said, there are certain element that many people share or celebrate making it an arguably complex holiday. As the preeminent children’s author of his generation, Geisel serving heavily on the minds of his young readers helped shape what Christmas means for many people with his narrative How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Though at the surface the work is a simple morality tale that promotes unity over consumerism, it has subtle nuances that make the work interesting on several
A child learning about the myth of Santa Claus helps the process of development, and stimulates their cognitive development. Children will become interested in other ideas once they come to the realization of it being no Santa Claus. On the Today Show, Karri-Leigh Mastrangelo, a television producer and mother of two children, signified her belief that “there is a huge difference between telling your child a lie and allowing them to believe in the magic and mystery of the holidays.” It is One-Hundred Percent healthy for your child to believe in Santa Claus according to multiple psychologists and researchers. You cannot compare lying to your child about situations they could not understand versus allowing them to believe in Santa Claus. Dr. Janet Serwint a professor at the John Hopkins School of Medicine also stated, “Teaching your kids the myth of Santa Clause will not scar them for life.” While supporting my argument, this simple statement brings about questions amongst parents. If it does no psychological harm, then there should not be any concern of fraudulence towards the
This small reading, it focuses on the theme of belief, morals, and society. The belief of Santa for an eight year old girl is questioned by her friends (society) because their morals don't add up to hers. One person's morals can be affected by society just because they stand out due to a difference. The young girl writes to an editor for a question on the big question- if he's real or not. The editor relies with a positive message, telling her to belief what she thinks, and to not listen to her friends. She explains how her friends only disbelieve because of society, and they're at the questionable age for this topic. My favorite quote from this story is, "The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see."
Santa Claus is the one thing children believe in unfailingly. I mean, the exact gifts they want for Christmas always appear under the tree overnight, and for a child the only explanation is magic. But in today’s world of over parenting, the
One of the modern mythological people is Santa. The Santa Clause story stretches all the way back to the 3rd century. The legend can be traced back to hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nichola was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern day Turkey. Nicholas became the subject of many later told legends. It is said that St. Nicholas gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping out the poor and the sick. One of St. Nicholas’s best story is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their