Santa & Kids - To Lie or Not To Lie?

by sweet pea 139 Replies latest jw friends

  • IP_SEC
    IP_SEC

    Yes, I'm saying exactly that--not that I've had a lot of girlfriends. To tell someone something untruthful deminishes the value of any genuine compliments you give. When I tell my friends something or give them an opinion, they know it's the truth. Additionally, if people don't want to know the truth, they don't ask me quesions about how their butt looks.

    Brotha from anotha motha?

  • John Doe
    John Doe

    Yeah IP, even though I don't always agree with you, you're a man of principle. That's refreshing.

  • beksbks
    beksbks

    Oh good lord.

    Daddy Doe and Uncle IP take little Johnny to the dentist.

    "Will it hurt daddy?" "Well son, in the interests of honor and truthfulness, I'm afraid it will be quite painful."

    3 horrendous hours later.

    "Mr. Doe, we are going to have to sedate your son, so we can get that abscessed tooth out of there."

    Above scene based on actual experience.

  • IP_SEC
    IP_SEC
    "Will it hurt daddy?" "Well son, in the interests of honor and truthfulness, I'm afraid it will be quite painful."

    I totally remember a doctor telling me a shot will only feel like a mosquito bite. Never trusted a doctor since

  • John Doe
    John Doe

    What would you have beks? The kids goes into the chair thinking it's not going to hurt, and then has to be restrained while he's kicking and yelling cause it hurts like hell, and the kid begins to learn that he can't trust what his father tells him. I would prefer to tell him "son, it may hurt a little. But, you're a big boy the dentist will give you some medicine to help you. Son, sometimes we've got to feel a little pain to make things better." Idealized of course, but you get the point.

  • momzcrazy
    momzcrazy

    Let me just tell you a side story John Doe. It's true you WON'T understand unless you have kids.

    My son is married to Fiona from Shrek, he is a knight, he can fly and regularly calls Handy Manny and makes me talk to him. Am I lying to him when I carry on a conversation with Handy Manny? Or when I go to his wedding reception to Fiona? Or when I feel the baby in his tummy kick? (his cousin just had a baby)

    Should I smash his imagination at every turn? No, that is what nourishes their souls. It is magic, Mrs Jones is right.

    So...if you are ever blessed with rugrats don't tell them there is a Santa. Don't play imaginary games with them. Make them adults without the magic of childhood.

    It is up to each family what they do or say. No one is saying you should do one thing or another. We are saying what we do, and as adults, Sweetpea and Besty can decide for their own family.

    Do you even put up a tree man?

  • John Doe
    John Doe
    So...if you are ever blessed with rugrats don't tell them there is a Santa. Don't play imaginary games with them. Make them adults without the magic of childhood.

    You're misunderstanding me. I've never said imaginary games are bad. In fact, they are good so long as everyone knows they're imaginary. Childhood is magic simply because everything is unknown. A walk through the woods is filled with a thousand things young eyes have never seen before. Spiderwebs, grasshoppers, snakes, leaves, trees, caves, rocks, springs, etc. etc. Being truthful about those things takes nothing magical away.

  • momzcrazy
    momzcrazy

    It does if you say, no that rock is not talking to you, no that rabbit isn't wanting to play hide and seek. Kids' magic takes it three steps past what we can comprehend. Butterflies play tag, not just look pretty flying. Tree branches wave hello, not just blow in the wind. There are fairies, not fireflies.

    Kids aren't damaged by this. They don't go to therapy because they found out how things really are.

  • mrsjones5
    mrsjones5

    So...if you are ever blessed with rugrats don't tell them there is a Santa. Don't play imaginary games with them. Make them adults without the magic of childhood.

    Well said Mom. Children are not miniature adults. They are full of imagination and wonder and they have only a few precious years before they have to leave that wonder behind and become adults. They latch on to the silliest things and from one day to the next they pretend to be anything they want. I have known of kids who change their names daily, a neighbor boy insists on being called Dash (if you have kids you know why) and for a while I didn't know his real name (it's the same as my youngest son).

    The Santa years don't last long and I have enjoyed every minute of them

    P.S. With shots it really doesn't help to tell a child it will hurt (some kids panic and that makes the experience worst than it has to be - my oldest was like that), it's best to be there, hold them and distract them until it's over. Afterward tell them it really wasn't that bad was it and how brave they were and what a good job they did. Stickers and candy don't hurt either.

  • John Doe
    John Doe
    It does if you say, no that rock is not talking to you, no that rabbit isn't wanting to play hide and seek. Kids'

    Being truthful doesn't require correcting everything you know to be false. We're discussing several very different things here. Kids know rocks don't talk, and they know rabbits don't play hide and seek. However, they play "make believe" and we encourage this. Once again, the difference is that kids understand they are pretending in those cases. They don't understand that Santa Clause is pretend.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit