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Christmas, Easter, Easter Bunny, Holiday, INSPIRATION, Jesus, POST IDEAS, postaday, Santa, Santa Claus, Tooth fairy, WRITING PROMPTS
Could it be? Two days in a row of Daily Prompt posts from moi? Getting back into the groove, I am. Oh, yeah. I just busted out some YodaSpeak on you. Be jealous. Be in awe. Be both at the same effin’ time.
Hmmm…can I choose all the above? I see no harm in putting these charades on for our children. They enjoy it. It’s fun for them to believe that a mysterious fairy sneaks into their bedroom at night exchanging money for teeth. The absurdity of that thought doesn’t creep into a young mind. It’s warming to see a child’s reaction to finding a bunch of chocolate in a basket Easter morning, and to find that all the eggs they worked so hard decorating have all disappeared and that they have to go find them. It’s especially precious to see your children interact with Santa at the mall and their giddiness on Christmas Eve as they anticipate a visit from jolly old St. Nick.
As fun as it is, however, I also don’t see the point in these things besides how fun it is for the children. Or maybe that’s the entire point. But what does it do to our children’s expectations when they find out these things they’ve believed in for so long are fake? That their parents, who have for so long taught them the value of honesty, have been lying to them? What values does it teach them when the meaning of Easter and Christmas is about receiving things instead of celebrating the life and death of Jesus Christ?
Furthermore, I question how these things even became to be the phenomenons they are. Who came up with the idea that you should get money for losing a tooth? Why on Earth should you get paid for going through a natural part of life? I didn’t get money for going through puberty. What’s up with that?
I understand that the giving of Christmas gifts is supposed to symbolize the giving of gifts from the Three Wise Men to Jesus on the night of his birth, but look what it’s turned in to. It’s a massacre. People have literally died on Black Friday. Riots erupt at stores who run out of that have-to-have gift of the moment. People being rude to each other. Pushing and shoving. Anger and vitriol. And then when it’s all over, we all line up at Wal-Mart to return the gifts we don’t like. How materialistic and sad.
I must confess, Easter confuses me more than the others. I still have yet to figure out how the death and resurrection of Christ turned into a bunny who hides your eggs and brings copious amounts of sugar to your children. Yay for hyper children, cavities, and diabetes?
The meaning of all these things have gotten lost in today’s society and it’s kinda sad. Even after writing all of this I’m still undecided as to which way I’m even leaning towards in response to this question. Again, it’s fun for the kids but what’s the ultimate cost? I don’t know so I guess I can’t honestly answer.
Eh, I’ll let you guys decide. What do YOU think?
Check out these other great Daily Prompt posts
- Daily Post: Fantasy | tel-uh-vizh-uh-ner-ee
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I didn’t get mad when I found out all these were fiction characters; I just thought how cool it would be to do this with my children.
If you research the history of Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny, you will find that these were old Pagan Holidays that the Catholic Church incorporated into Christian Holidays. I’ve never researched the Tooth Fairy, but will have to now. Inquiring minds want to know!
I see. I did not know that.
Live and Learn!
That’s what us ‘old folks’ are for!
Haha! Thanks!
They were better before we started having Christmas begin in October, Easter before Valentine’s Day, etc. etc. etc. Before they all became have tos instead of want tos.
True. It’s all outta control now.
I don’t see the harm in it. Unless you’re telling the stories wrong. The Easter bunny can quickly turn into a giant scary nightmare. And getting paid for losing a tooth must be wrong, but think of how happy it makes kids!
It does make the kids happy, which is why I did it.
“I understand that the giving of Christmas gifts is supposed to symbolize the giving of gifts from the Three Wise Men to Jesus on the night of his birth, but look what it’s turned in to. It’s a massacre. People have literally died on Black Friday. Riots erupt at stores who run out of that have-to-have gift of the moment. People being rude to each other. Pushing and shoving. Anger and vitriol. And then when it’s all over, we all line up at Wal-Mart to return the gifts we don’t like. How materialistic and sad…The meaning of all these things have gotten lost in today’s society and it’s kinda sad.”
Amen! It’s disgusting.
I don’t think the Easter bunny is a problem as long as it isn’t used to distract from the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ (which young kids don’t understand anyway).
I do think Santa Claus is problematic since there’s a lot of emphasis on receiving gifts, even if you have to be “good” to “earn” them. That’s not how God works and that’s not the point of Christmas.
No, it’s not.
There are those who think it’s bad because you can’t see Santa and the Easter Bunny, but you can’t see Jesus either. So if the first two aren’t real, then will the kids think Jesus isn’t real? Since no one has seen him either. I’m not religious, so it doesn’t bug me. And my kids do go to church with their dad, and they never really made the connection between both Santa and Jesus being invisible but one supposedly being real. So eh.
Storm troopers are totally real, though.
Absolutely. I see one in the mirror daily.
This is another valid concern with Santa Claus. I’ve heard stories of atheists who left Christianity because they figured that if their parents lied about Santa Claus then maybe they lied about Jesus, too.
It’s worth noting, though, that virtually no one denies that Jesus was a real person — the question is whether or not he was who he said he was (the Son of God).
part of growing up is being faced with new truths and new realities.
I guess, but it probably jades some people to find out things they hold dear are fake.
Life is jading sometimes.
Sure the hell is.
We taught our children that the figures represent the spirit of the event rather than the event itself. When I was a child, and when my children were young, the tooth fairy only supplied money for good teeth. If there was a filling or a cavity, no money.
That’s an interesting concept.
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At the time is seems like harmless fun, having a strange guy come into your room and leaves you presents and at the same time telling kids not to accept sweets from strangers, must seem strange to a kid to get those conflicting messages.
However no kid to my knowledge throws their toys out of their pram and rants and raves that their mums and dads are just liars about ever special figure that they ever believed in, its accepted, they move on, and tell the same lies (because ultimately that is what they are) to their own kids. Even non religious people (like me I’ll admit) have been suckered into a religious celebration that they don’t actually believe in. good o’l marketing at it’s best.
I do celebrate Christmas, but more as a time to be with family and friends than any other reason.
Indeed, I enjoy those parts of the Christmas holidays
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I just made the best decisions I could at the time with the information I had. When my Female Spawn were little, they got different answers than the Male Spawn gets now. I think it’s more important for kids to have the tools to make their own decisions, than to tell them what to believe. I am also a big believer in teaching future adults tolerance and acceptance.
I guess now I’ll ask them how that worked, lol. Also, you might enjoy the movie The Guardians. Santa isn’t a storm trooper, but he has full inked sleeves saying “Naughty” and “Nice”. Interesting take on the whole question. Thank you for making me think about all of this. Again.
You’re quite welcome.
Good argument. I guess at the moment I’m leaning towards anything that makes children happy, smile, and believe in magic is a good thing. It will be interesting to see what my wife and I do in the coming years.
When I started reading your response, I heard the voice of Robert The Bruce’s father (from Braveheart) in my head: “All men lie, all men deceive. All men lose heart.” (Or something like that.) And the Bruce’s response: “I don’t want to lose heart. I want to believe as he does.”
GREAT movie.
One of my favorites.
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The first time my daughter saw an Easter Bunny she freaked the fuck out. I stomped on that by telling her it was a person in a costume. Now she doesn’t believe in the Easter Bunny. Fine by me.
She does believe in Santa, but not mall santas. She knows they are men in costumes. The Santa one is also fine by me. I can’t convince her he is a character any more than I can convince her he doesn’t live on the moon.
She does also believes in the tooth fairy. Again, I cannot convince her otherwise. Tinkerbell is real, therefore fairies exist, and the toothfairy is just another one from Pixie Hollow. I don’t really mind the money for teeth issue either (ignoring that the ex is the one who actually has to fork over the cash). Her first tooth came with her first real dollar, which also came with a good life lesson. That dollar is real. She has to take care of it, and chose to use it wisely. She understands that once she gives it away in exchange for something else that she has that something else and that dollar will never come back. She may get another dollar, but it won’t be that dollar.
Melanie, you are truly wise and I love your outlook on…everything.
Well we’ll see if my kids don’t get beat up on the playground for not believing in the Easter Bunny or mall santas. At least they’ll be able to agree with their friends that the toothfairy can break through home security systems to leave money.
I’m sure that won’t happen. Not for those reasons, anyway.
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You’re definitely back, buddy! Well done!
Yay?
Yay!
Okay, good. Wasn’t sure.
I think giving my kids a little bit of magic in what can otherwise be a shit if a world is a wonderful thing. They have plenty of time to grow up and realise that there is no magic and life consists of bills, work and taxes. For now they believe in fairies and Santa and the Easter Bunny. They use flowers to make fairy rings in the back garden as they’re convinced the bush fairies will visit them. I want to give them as much of that as possible before reality sets in
Yeah, that’s true. Reality’s a bitch.
Um…. christian holidays overlaid on pagan holidays = easter jesus.
I think having these fantasies is great and I love that my kid loves all this stuff – and he wasn’t crushed when he found out the ‘truth’ – he said he still wants to believe. I love it – he loves it – we love it – it’s all good.
Good, I’m glad he does.
we roll with it in our house
Haha.
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We’re approaching time to decide how to handle the various Holiday Overlords. Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy I’m giving a big “pass” to. Santa’s a tough one. My parents never taught me there was a Santa, and have said they regret it. I like the idea of the “spirit of pure kindness and giving” but (like any parent, I suppose) want a way to ease the crash-landing of “Just kidding! No one is pure kindness and giving!”
I have to say I don’t know how much it affected me or the twins, finding out Santa wasn’t real. I found out from kids at school so I don’t even remember what my reaction was. The twins found out from kids at school, too, so I never had to tell them. It doesn’t seem to have dampened their giving spirit, though.
I’ve never really worked out the Easter Bunny, but the eggs kind of represent the tomb that Jesus was laid in (if you seriously dis-joint your brain) on Good Friday evening until Easter Day morning.
I think things like the Toothfairy and Santa and the Easter Bunny are to try and persuade kids that the world is actually a nicer place than it really is.
I try not to sugar coat anything for my kids. Its tough enough to make it out there without having false beliefs of how the world works.
That is very true.
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