Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Santa Claus and God...
I hear some version of this every year at this time: Santa Claus is how children form their view of God. I hear well meaning Christians who believe we shouldn't do Santa because it will confuse our children later. I don't believe I totally agree with them, but there are a few "Santa thoughts" I would share.
Do we really want to portray Santa as all knowing (you know "he knows when you've been bad or good)? I think I would rather save that attribute for God. And boy does Santa hold to a rigid standard of reward and punishment. Of course, that makes it easy to use him as a threat: be good or Santa won't come see you. We would never view God that way, would we? And of course, as my friend Tim Archer pointed out yesterday, Santa then ignores behavior and brings gifts anyway. I suspect its more a matter of economics than behavior.
Which is why some kids get so much more cool stuff from Santa. Poor kids who are good don't make out as well as bad rich kids. And it doesn't take long to figure that out. So the whole behavior thing is an empty threat. There are no Santa consequences. However, in real life there sure are consequences for behavior. And of course we haven't even mentioned the whole "Santa isn't real" issue.
So Santa doesn't really fit with how the world works, and it sure communicates some poor theological issues. So what to do about Santa? We didn't ignore Santa, but we didn't make a big deal about him either. And we tried to make sure our kids understood some of the real truths about our culture and Christmas: economics, marketing, sharing with those less fortunate...well you get the idea.
I'll say more later about Christmas and Jesus, but for now...what about your kids and Santa? Or your childhood and Santa?
Do we really want to portray Santa as all knowing (you know "he knows when you've been bad or good)? I think I would rather save that attribute for God. And boy does Santa hold to a rigid standard of reward and punishment. Of course, that makes it easy to use him as a threat: be good or Santa won't come see you. We would never view God that way, would we? And of course, as my friend Tim Archer pointed out yesterday, Santa then ignores behavior and brings gifts anyway. I suspect its more a matter of economics than behavior.
Which is why some kids get so much more cool stuff from Santa. Poor kids who are good don't make out as well as bad rich kids. And it doesn't take long to figure that out. So the whole behavior thing is an empty threat. There are no Santa consequences. However, in real life there sure are consequences for behavior. And of course we haven't even mentioned the whole "Santa isn't real" issue.
So Santa doesn't really fit with how the world works, and it sure communicates some poor theological issues. So what to do about Santa? We didn't ignore Santa, but we didn't make a big deal about him either. And we tried to make sure our kids understood some of the real truths about our culture and Christmas: economics, marketing, sharing with those less fortunate...well you get the idea.
I'll say more later about Christmas and Jesus, but for now...what about your kids and Santa? Or your childhood and Santa?
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Here at the Jones house, we try to really focus on Jesus. In fact, if you ask Natalie what Christmas is all about, she will smile and say, "Not presents! Christmas is about loving each other and celebrating Jesus' birthday!" (But don't let that fool you! She still comments after every tv commercial that she wants to ask Santa for "that cool thing".) As for gifts, we try to carry our focus over...three. After all, Jesus received three gifts for His birthday! There will probably even be a round of Happy Birthday lead by Natalie! She is a big fan of that song :) We try to think about giving to others by choosing ornaments from the giving tree, placing money in the bell ringers red pots, and other things. Just a bit of what we Jones' do!
Just this morning, I told Abbie that Santa know when she's fighting with her brother. I regreted it immediately - it's such an empty threat. Santa's already bought her her presents (Kenny knows this and knows it's an empty threat.)
We, too, do three presents from Santa (just like Jesus) but mom and dad give underwear and clothes. And just last night Abbie told me she knew the most important thing about Christmas was Jesus. "Not all those silly presents." But she better have a scooter .....
We, too, do three presents from Santa (just like Jesus) but mom and dad give underwear and clothes. And just last night Abbie told me she knew the most important thing about Christmas was Jesus. "Not all those silly presents." But she better have a scooter .....
Santa was never a huge deal for us growing up. I think I always suspected that there was no real Santa. I think it was the logistics of covering the whole world in one night. Also, we didn't have a chimney, so how could he get in. Funny, the flying reindeer and elves never occurred to me as a problem.
We have never had a problem with him. I don't think we have used the "always watching" threat. My biggest problem with Santa is that the 2 times this year Natalie has talked to Santa, he has said "Yes" to her request for a trampoline. Seriously, what are they teaching in Santa schools these days?! Oops got on my soapbox about a fictional character. I'll step down now ;-)
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We have never had a problem with him. I don't think we have used the "always watching" threat. My biggest problem with Santa is that the 2 times this year Natalie has talked to Santa, he has said "Yes" to her request for a trampoline. Seriously, what are they teaching in Santa schools these days?! Oops got on my soapbox about a fictional character. I'll step down now ;-)
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