Grinchy remark sends kids home in tears

Lebanon Daily News ^ | 12/23/05 | RORY SCHULER

[lp boonie]

"I taught my sons that "Santa Claus" was not only fake, we didn't adhere to pagan customs. We didn't act like iconoclasts, (wanna bet?) but we didn't cater to other children's myths either."

"I have never lied to my children. Never. Don't justify lying by saying it is "loving". What a crock."
______________________________________

You are a bundle of Christmas joy. I want to "Holiday" Party with you.

[NittanyLion]

But a substitute music teacher almost came between the 6-year-old and a Christmas Eve spent dancing cheek to cheek with sugar plums.

Odd thing about substitute teaching...sometimes you can go for a long time without ever being called in to teach a class. It'd be a real shame if this b**** was unable to find work in any school system.

[Howlin]

You may not lie to your children, but if you tell them not to tell other children, you're telling them to lie.

[Howlin]

Keep telling yourself that.

What exactl is the difference in YOU not telling your children about Santa Claus and them not telling their friends?

Not one thing.

[freedumb2003]

“I had to call the school,” said Schaeffer, a part-time custodial employee for the school district who is on temporary leave after complications from her last child’s birth. “I had to do something.”

Why does the writer feel the need to defend why this woman was at home?

[radiohead]

My children still got to enjoy Christmas. This teacher is just hateful.

Yeah. My late husband and I didn't want our son to think that some fairy determined whether he got a gift or not. We didn't encourage a belief in Santa Claus, but said that his parents loved him, he was always our good boy and we provided the gifts at Christmas.

That said, Santa Claus is all over the place. His grandparents talked about Santa, the school (back then), the commercials, the TV shows, the music at this time of year all mention Santa. I'm not sure if his dad and I got thru all that. I know he thought 'Santa might be real' and we just let it go at that. I would never, ever tell someone else's child that there was no Santa. Jeez. What is with people?

[safisoft]

You may not lie to your children, but if you tell them not to tell other children, you're telling them to lie.

Your contention is false. Not mentioning it is not the same thing as lying.

I have two grown sons, and a third is growing up. They never lied about "Santa Claus" because they never had to - and they never heard anything about "Santa Claus" from us, except that it was a silly myth. BTW, this is the same thing I was taught by my parents nearly five decades ago, I don't ever recall a discussion about the "reality" of "Santa Claus" with other children as I was growing up.

I don't know who most of the people on this thread are - all the people I know are against participating in "Santa" nonsense, and teach their children the same as we have.

[Protagoras]

Government schools should be abolished.

[safisoft]

What exactl is the difference in YOU not telling your children about Santa Claus and them not telling their friends?

Because some parents chose to lie to their children about a silly myth, we are ALL supposed to lie to our children?

This is a Nazi-worthy-reverse-PC line of logic. Lie away, but don't force the rest of us to lie.

It is bad enough that we have to turn the TV off during the last half of the month of October because the "innocence" of Halloween horror propagated on our children...

[Howlin]

Keep telling yourself that; a lie of omission is a lie.

I don't know who most of the people on this thread are - all the people I know are against participating in "Santa" nonsense, and teach their children the same as we have.They are ordinary people who enjoy passing a wonderful legend on to their children.

And there certainly are many more of us than there are of you "purists." Thank God.

[Howlin]

Actually, a modern Christian should really consider not raising their childern on the reality of myths

I'm betting you really wanted to post "a real Christian," but thought better of it; I'm sure you wouldn't want to imply that those of us who celebrate Christmas are not "real Christians," would you?

[Howlin]

My kids are 26 and 23, and Santa Claus still comes for them.

Us, too! Right down to their presents being wrapped in tissue paper because that's what Santa uses. :-)

[Eagles Talon IV]

Thanks, I see you live in NJ as I once did. Get out while you can.

[safisoft]

Keep telling yourself that; a lie of omission is a lie.

What a sick place this has become when not lying to your children about the myth of "Santa" is called a "lie". You are dreaming. The fact that I did not lie to my children about the myth of "Santa" is not a "lie of ommission" - what a joke!

That kind of logic says that if there are more Democrats lying about something, and we don't repeat the lie, we are "lying by omission" - breathtaking!

And there certainly are many more of us than there are of you "purists." Thank G%d.

Now, that does sound kinda like 1930s Germany.

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20

[d-back]

Nobody "forced" the teacher to "lie." She could've simply avoided the subject. Instead, she decided that her supercilious view of Santa Claus (which sounds a lot like yours) should trump the views of the parents of the Christian children who choose to let their kids be kids. That's the wrong in it.

And I resent your overheated criticism of the "silly" myth of Santa Claus--now we're "Nazis" and "PC" because we resent someone intruding upon our decision to let our kids be thrilled and entertained by the story of a man who dispenses gifts on the birth of Jesus Christ. What rot. The Santa Claus story, in a variety of forms, has been part of Christian culture for hundreds of years, and we'll tell our children what we wish, thank you very much, without the intrustion of malicious teachers. Or name-calling Freepers, for that matter.

[Howlin]

That kind of logic says that if there are more Democrats lying about something, and we don't repeat the lie, we are "lying by omission" - breathtaking!

You have that wrong; if the Democrats were LYING (about Santa Claus) and we don't CORRECT THEM, that's a lie of omission.

I stand by my statement; tell your children what you want, but don't pretend by telling them NOT TO TELL OTHER CHILDREN, you're not asking them to lie.

Now, that does sound kinda like 1930s Germany.

Godwin's Law (also Godwin's Rule of Nazi analogies) is an adage in Internet culture that was originated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states that:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.

Although the law does not specifically mention it, there is a tradition in many Usenet newsgroups that once such a comparison is made, the thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress.

[Kingosaurus]

I was raised on the "reality" of Santa until I was old enough to figure it out for myself. I consider my time of belief in Santa to be some of my greatest Christmas memories of my life, and something I would never wish had not happened. By the time kids figure out the truth, they are usually old enough to be able to handle it, perhaps barring some brief period of disappointment.

All kids are different and there are exceptions, but Santa is basically a HARMLESS myth that children OUTGROW.

[safisoft]

Nobody "forced" the teacher to "lie." She could've simply avoided the subject.

If you read my posts, you would have seen that is precisely the point I made. But, having said that, some on this thread make the point that if I don't also lie to my children about the myth of "Santa" then I am "lying by ommission". That is the silliest thing I have read on FR.

[Zionist Conspirator]

It's strictly up to parents to rear their children, but (and I realize I'm going to catch a lot of flack for this) I actually believe telling little children there is a near-omnipotent old bearded man who knows all about them and then telling them later that it was all just a "fairy tale" is a very bad thing.

Am I the only one who sees it as sort of inevitable that the child thus lied to will naturally assume the same about what his parents told him about A-mighty G-d? And am I the only one who has noticed the similarity between all the "Santa Claus isn't literally true, but he's true in a much more important sense" rhetoric and liberal, non-Fundamentalist theology?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Farrisi doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and she doesn’t think anyone else should, either.

And there it is folks...the basis for the disease "Liberalism"...displayed for the whole world to see.

If this woman were a Conservative, she would not give a hoot about making sure that everyone else think as she does.
She would want the children to discover the truth for themselves...a true learning experience.

Personal responsibility. Liberals hate it.