Academics argue parents are damaging their kids by lying to them about Santa
PARENTS who tell their children that Santa is real are participating in a damaging “collective lie on a global scale”, according to an article penned by two Australian academics.
University of New England social scientists Kathy McKay and Christopher Boyle argue that lying is wrong and makes it difficult for children to trust their parents.
The article, A wonderful lie, is published in the latest issue of the Lancet psychiatry journal.
“Morally, making children believe in myths such as this has to be questioned,” the paper states.
“Is the world so bad that we decide that it is better to spend around 10 years lying to children about a large jolly man who gives presents to all children with the help of mythical creatures, because it makes for more enjoyment at Christmas?
“Why should children question the parent who tells them to be careful touching a hot stove or crossing the road, when they tell them about a jolly man who apparently bends time and space to deliver presents to every child in the world at Christmas?
“If they are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth?”
Dr McKay is currently working on Nauru and claimed the children are happy not believing in Santa Claus.
“I think it’s easy to get that tradition to change, the Santa tradition is a relatively new one. Where I’m teaching now a lot of the families don’t have Santa, it’s not part of their tradition and their children are deeply happy, they’re not lacking for anything,” Dr McKay toldThe Daily Telegraph
“It’s not about necessarily getting rid of Santa but understanding why you’re choosing to have Santa and why that’s important to you and having those really important conversations about lying.”
Child psychologist Michel Carr-Gregg said Santa was an important part of Australian culture.
“For many families the excitement of leaving stuff out for Santa, watching through the window at night, they’re just lovely traditions,” he said.
“It makes Christmas magic and none of (my kids) have every been traumatised, it is part of growing up.”
Last Christmas, comedian Kitty Flanagan caused a storm on The Project, when she said Santa wasn’t real.
During a segment about scientists who study the big man in the red suit, Flanagn joked that they must be drunk to believe Santa exists.
“How else do you explain intelligent, educated, folks studying Santa — a man that doesn’t even exist,” she said.
She quickly tried to recover from the slip up, saying “Oh sorry — spoiler alert. If you have kids in the room, you should probably have covered their ears and gone ‘la, la, la!’ or something.”
The Project was later forced to apologise and even crossed live to Santa at the North Pole to reassure any confused or upset children watching.
Originally published as Parents damaging kids with this innocent lie