A very happy Friday, everyone. One of the most famous newspaper editorials of all time is Francis Church’s piece for The Sun in 1897, “Is There a Santa Claus?” A little girl, Virginia, had asked her father to resolve the matter of the reality of Santa Claus authoritatively, and deemed
The issue of fantasy is one of very few on which I disagree with Maria Montessori. I believe that fantasy has an important role to play in informing our reality, especially as concerns our conception of the future.
When our children were young, my husband and I went to great lengths to keep the Santa myth alive. We used different wrapping paper, gift tags, pens and handwriting for the gifts which were from Santa and those which were from Mommy and Daddy. When another child told our daughter that Santa wasn’t real, we simply said that Santa didn’t visit children who didn’t believe in him.
As each child got older and questioned his existence on their own, we explained that St. Nicholas had been a real person and that Santa Claus was the Spirit of Christmas. This spirit is kept alive by parents and others who are generous in spirit. We said that now they were ready to start helping to sustain the Spirit of Christmas by giving gifts and by not spoiling the magic for younger children. Each of our children embraced their new role joyfully and somewhat solemnly.
The issue of fantasy is one of very few on which I disagree with Maria Montessori. I believe that fantasy has an important role to play in informing our reality, especially as concerns our conception of the future.
When our children were young, my husband and I went to great lengths to keep the Santa myth alive. We used different wrapping paper, gift tags, pens and handwriting for the gifts which were from Santa and those which were from Mommy and Daddy. When another child told our daughter that Santa wasn’t real, we simply said that Santa didn’t visit children who didn’t believe in him.
As each child got older and questioned his existence on their own, we explained that St. Nicholas had been a real person and that Santa Claus was the Spirit of Christmas. This spirit is kept alive by parents and others who are generous in spirit. We said that now they were ready to start helping to sustain the Spirit of Christmas by giving gifts and by not spoiling the magic for younger children. Each of our children embraced their new role joyfully and somewhat solemnly.