Posted on 12/01/2018 6:47:24 PM PST by simpson96
She doesn’t just deserve a lump of coal in her stocking, she should get a whole trainload!
A bah-humbug New Jersey substitute teacher shattered the hearts of a class of first-graders by telling them Santa Claus and his eight reindeer weren’t real — and then it got a lot worse.
“She proceeded to just completely unleash on them,’’ said stunned parent Lisa Simek, whose daughter Emilia was in the class at Cedar Hill School in Montville, on Facebook.
“She told them Santa isn’t real and parents just buy presents and put them under their tree.
“She told them reindeer can’t fly and elves are not real — [and] elf on the shelf is just a pretend doll that your parents move around. She did not even stop there: the tooth fairy is not real because mom or dad just sneak into your room in the middle of the night and put money under your pillow, same goes for the Easter bunny.
“She told them magic does not exist. There is no such thing as magic anything,’’ Simek wrote. “A grown woman tried to crush our 6-year-old’s spirit, along with the spirits of the other 22 kids.”
One parent said the substitute teacher’s rant even targeted leprechauns.
Some of the children refused to believe the Scroogey sub, known as “Ms. M,’’ when she announced the Christmas spirit-stomping news Thursday.
“The children began yelling that everything is real,” one parent, Mayra Aboyoun, wrote on Facebook. “My daughter is completely heartbroken!”
Another woman told The Post that her 6-year-old granddaughter was beside herself.
“My granddaughter came home yesterday and told me, ‘Mimi, Santa Claus isn’t real.’ And I flipped out,” the woman recalled.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I did tell my kids until I became a Christian. Then I started reading the bible and found stuff like this:
1 Timothy 4:6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
1 Timothy 4:7 But reject profane and old wives' fables and exercise yourself toward godliness.
1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
"Profane" means commonly done. Christmas fables about Santa Claus and all that goes with it are the very definition of profane old wives fables. Christians are SUPPOSED to reject them.
More:
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
2 Timothy 4:4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
A large segment of Christianity has done exactly this: Turned their itching ears from truth and embraced fables.
Same with me. I missed out on so much by getting focused on myths and fables instead.
Local radio and tv station followed NORAD Christmas Eve throughout my 60’s childhood.
I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion and I wish you the joy of yours.
You cannot however unilaterally declare that there is no spirit of Christmas. Spirit is something people feel in their hearts and is not controlled by outside opinion or historical references.
Humbug is a negative connotation adjective applied to signal an opinion. The speaker’s opinion. I do believe in Christmas spirit for many reasons that I find true and sufficient.
Christmas is a time that many people mutually agree to wish other well, to think of ways to give others joy or to better their circumstances. Think of all the good Samaritans going around paying off Walmart layaways, people banding together to help children, veterans, the elderly, hospitalized or indigent have a merry Christmas. Even the singing of carols brings joy to the listeners and singers and fosters the spirit of selflessness. We take joy partially because it evokes a time when we felt loved and cherished as children who were part of magical Christmases.
For those who believe it Jesus it is a time to make manifest in the world the kindness, concern and love he showed to humanity in his Father’s name. Young children are told many things that are imprecise, are simplified versions of the truth that they are not old enough to grasp. The idea that this is a special time when we show love and concern for everyone, family, friends and people who need us is embodied in the giving at Christmas.
Very young children understand concrete ideas best. Santa cares for every child and goes all over the world to make each feel special, the reindeer and elves help him, laboring to bring happiness to every household. No one is left out not even Rudolph.
Like organized religion Christmas is a framework to guide children to a code of behavior that is better for themselves and for the world. It starts with the personal and as they grow focuses on the other. If a parent is very lucky the lessons of Christmas generalize to an always not just at the Holiday season. To focus on the concrete is to be a child, yes there is no Santa in that sense but in another sense he is real if you carry him in your heart and do service in his name.
I’m sorry that you suffered. I hope you will be able to help others find peace and spiritual fulfillment.
No one is suggesting a substitution. Your Mother was not kept from telling you about God because she told you about Christmas. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3709931/posts?page=144#144
The NJ children probably already knew!
No, no, no, what I said was there is no sauna clause!
Just look at my contract, do you see a sauna clause in there?
Is this another in the long line of slurs in NJ?
I assure you my NJ kids and my nieces, nephews and their children all believed in Santa at age 7 or 8. Mine believed with out my ever telling them there was a Santa. My husband & I just kept our mouths shut. Movies and books gave them the gist. When they asked them we explained it was a belief, a symbolism of a special time to show caring for people and community and not to tell the younger kids.
as usually typos. “slurs on NJ”
“when they asked we explained...”
Thank you for your posts. I’m really pleased to see so many fellow freepers understanding the many levels of Christmas and how necessary it is to have myths and shared beliefs in goodness, kindness and compassion.
Truth is great in the abstract and we should strive to be truthful to ourselves and others but all truths do not need to be said especially to those not ready to hear them. Destroying the innocent world of a child send them careening into a place where they become distrustful & alienated. The parent loses the opportunity to shape their behavior and to help them embrace good. Stupid liberals; it’s all about them and no thought for the effects of their actions.
A little web wandering puts the lie to your timeline as well.
How St. Nicholas Became Santa Claus
In the 16th Century in northern Europe, after the reformation, the stories and traditions about St. Nicholas became unpopular.
But someone had to deliver presents to children at Christmas, so in the UK, particularly in England, he became ‘Father Christmas’ or ‘Old Man Christmas’, an old character from stories plays during the middle ages in the UK and parts of northern Europe. In France, he was then known as ‘Père Nöel’.
In some countries including parts of Austria and Germany, present giver became the ‘Christkind’ a golden-haired baby, with wings, who symbolizes the new born baby Jesus.
In the early USA his name was ‘Kris Kringle’ (from the Christkind). Later, Dutch settlers in the USA took the old stories of St. Nicholas with them and Kris Kringle and St Nicholas became ‘Sinterklaas’ or as we now say ‘Santa Claus’!
Many countries, especially ones in Europe, celebrate St. Nicholas’ Day on 6th December. In Holland and some other European Countries, children leave clogs or shoes out on the 5th December (St. Nicholas Eve) to be filled with presents. They also believe that if they leave some hay and carrots in their shoes for Sinterklaas’s horse, they will be left some sweets.
St. Nicholas became popular again in the Victorian era when writers, poets and artists rediscovered the old stories.
She was supposed to bring me up in the admonition of the Lord. She did the opposite and that had a deep, destructive consequence in my life.
Jesus had to go deep and rescue me. And that is precisely why I am NOT a phony. I call things as they are without any sugar coating.
We need revival, not Satan Claus. That isn't phony. And I am a million miles away from Baker and Swaggart.
My mother was horrible and taught me NOTHING about Christmas other than merchandise.
Huh? Most of our society has substituted Santa with the prospect of needing Christ. That is objectively measurable. I am not talking about Christians. I am talking about a society that doesn’t get the truth because of the Santa Claus fable.
You ARE a blowhard phony.....
and it’s damn funny to hear you say that you follow the teachings of Jesus.
But, hey, THANKS FOR THE LAUGHS.
Yeah....OK. Rock on humanist.
.... because your “Jesus” has taught you nothing about forgiveness.
All you do is rant about Santa Claus. It’s comical.
Some anger management therapy would serve you well.
But I am not Catholic. I don't believe in prayers for the dead, or the need to forgive them-- their fate is sealed once they took their last breath.
My mom lived stupidly, drank the venom of this world, and then passed it to me.
And righteous anger is biblical.
All parents are imperfect...
so are children(as children and as grown adults).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.