Teacher tells kids Santa is 'make-believe' (1st graders)

AP ^ | Thursday, December 4, 2003

[presidio9]

Sandra Jolly said her 6-year-old son's Christmas was spoiled when his teacher told the first-grade class Monday that "Santa Claus is make-believe."

"He had this sad, lost puppy dog look on his face. This unhappy, empty look," Jolly said. "He said his teacher informed the entire class that Santa is make-believe."

[SouthernFreebird]

So you think it is OK to lie to your kids, just for fun, eh?

Actually it's none of your damn business what she or any other parent here tell our children.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Richard Kimball]

That's funny. Sick, but funny.

[Iowegian]

Let's just get right down to it. Is there anything you can say that is exactly 100% for sure forever totally true?

Of course there is, are you a moral relativist? And there are many things we can say that we know are lies, such as saying the tooth fairy and Santa Claus are real.

[zoso82t]

Well when I figured out Santa wasn't real, I didn't all of the sudden have a great mistrust of my parents. Sure I was sad, but I got over it. I just think it's okay for children to have fantasies. Plus if I kid doesn't get all 90,348,590,345 things they want for Christmas, they will blame it on Santa and not the parents :)

[Hodar]

Is there anything you can say that is exactly 100% for sure forever totally true?

Yup, Cinderella is just a story. The Tooth Fairy never has existed, Santa is folklore, The 3 Bears is a story, Finding Nemo was a fun movie, but that too was fiction. Any more questions?

[Iowegian]

I'll that as a "yes" from you. Thanks.

[Junior_G]

and some parents can't handle the truth

Parents can't handle the truth about Santa? That's one of the more stupid statements on this thread, if indeed it was meant to be taken seriously.

[Howlin]

I'd have been right with you! The nerve.

My "grownup" kids were just laughing this past weekend about things that happened to them relating to "finding out." They love talking about it. Not one of them is "deeply scarred" by it.

[Howlin]

So you think it is OK to lie to your kids, just for fun, eh?

I think if you're emotionally wounded because you found out your parents loved you enough to pretend there was a Santa, maybe you have bigger emotional problems that you're letting on about on this thread.

[FLAMING DEATH]

Me too. Parent's are ignorant if they expect anyone to help them cover up an ongoing, intentional falsehood so that they can have fun at their kid's expense.

[Hodar]

I didn't all of the sudden have a great mistrust of my parents.

Different people, different reactions. I remember quite vividly when I confonted my parents about Santa. First they insisted that Santa was 'real'; then they 'laughed' about it. Laughed... I HATED them for that. I trusted them implicitly, I wanted to believe them, and I was betrayed over something as stupid as Santa. So, if my parents would lie to me about Santa; everything they have said and promised since then has been suspect.

[timydnuc]

I agree with you! First, I was taught the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then I was taught the reason for gift giving on the anniversary of His birth, then I was taught that Santa Claus was the spirit of Jesus to give gifts to all the world so that the giving and celebration would last forever in His name. Between the priests and nuns and my parents I fully understood the meaning of Christmas......and I still do. I even believe, way back there in my mind, that there is a Santa Claus, and I'm 56! This broad knows as much about Christmas as a pig knows about Sunday.

For years and years the left has tried to separate Santa Claus from Jesus, and it seems to be working. What a shame for the little kids.

[SouthernFreebird]

I'll that as a "yes" from you. Thanks.

Well that makes about as much sence as you have on this whole thread.

[dmanLA]

"Let's just get right down to it. Is there anything you can say that is exactly 100% for sure forever totally true?"

Yes. Jesus Christ IS Lord and Savior.

Christmas is about Christ NOT a white bearded man in a red outfit named Santa.

So what if a teacher tells a kid that Santa is make-believe. It is!

[SpaceBar]

I will spell it out for the more intellectually challenged individuals on this thread who think the fable of Santa Claus amounts to worthless lies heaped on impressionable children.

Santa Claus is a fable, yes, and such a human being does not in fact exist with such extraordinary powers as knowing who's been good and evil, and posesses magical flying animals able to circumnavigate the globe in hours. We all know that. On the otherhand, the fable of Santa Claus is a construct that has been used for centuries in the Christian world to inspire children within their world view to consider such intangibles as love, charity, honesty, giving, and humility. Most well adjusted children look back at their younger years of the belief in Santa with a certain nostalgic reverence, and value the simplicity of the tale and the enormity of the humanistic lessons that were instilled by the contrived story of the kindhearted old man who did good things for people out of the goodness of his heart. I have yet to read a story about a psychopath or mass murderer who committed vile acts because of the mental anguish of being the target of a well planned and systematic campaign to feed them childhood lies of a nonexistant philanthropist. So all you black-and-white do-gooders who think the fable of Santa Claus is worthless rubbish, may your children grow up to be as cynical, cold, and spiritually dead as yourselves.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Unless the children were in fact adopted your little story is pointless and an invalid comparison.

Ah. I see. You're just interested in playing silly word games, rather than discussing the topic at hand. All right, then... try it this way, instead:

In a related story: teacher Codner also informed several of her students that their beloved grandparents would someday die, possibly soon; explained to them, in graphic and meticulous detail, just what it is, precisely, that child molesters do to small children; and talked to them, matter-of-factly, about what "fisting" is, and how it's done.

All of the above are "true" things, too; and no more any first grade teacher's responsibility to break to a room of helpless, captive six-year-olds than it would be the "Santa" issue under discussion.

"Get" it now...?

[Charles Martel]

Actually it's none of your damn business what she or any other parent here tell our children.

Bingo. If, for example, the parents want to tell those kids that instead of receiving gifts, the teacher will suffer a visit by the Icelandic Yule Cat (good productive people get gifts; bad, lazy malcontents get devoured by an enormous feline), well, that's just fine, too. :-)

[Iowegian]

No, my parents didn't lie to me, but that psychological misconclusion will do in place of a good argument I suppose.

[SouthernFreebird]

I HATED them for that. I trusted them implicitly, I wanted to believe them, and I was betrayed over something as stupid as Santa. So, if my parents would lie to me about Santa; everything they have said and promised since then has been suspect.

Your a frikkin lunatic...get some help dude and move on... sheez of all the scars you can aquire in childhood this is the best you ca do...? Puleeze