WHAT IF WE DIDN'T POISON CHILDREN'S MINDS WITH FANTASY? (page 11)

Xena

lol Pole I was just messin with you

I'm still working on my perception of you

xenawarrior

Okay, settle down. The vigilantes are restless!
I'm just yanking your collective chains.

If you really believe that telling parents that they are being abusive and that they are liars and their parenting skills lack integrity is "yanking their collective chains" then you have a great deal to learn about humor. None of that is funny at all.

This is the JW DISCUSSION forum right? It means we discuss. But, some people cannot discuss without having their hands held and a cold compress laid on their forehead when they get feverish.

And some people cannot discuss without attacking the character of other posters in the thread. If it means "we discuss" you ought to go first and drop the condescension and actually be interested in listening to the views of others instead of your "I know best" approach that is obviously viewed that way by several who have read here and responded. And you might want to try having some respect for the people you are targeting with your "discussion" What you've said previously was enough. Now to say that those who had a problem with your approach or your words are also "feverish" or somehow in need of hand holding and a cold compress? Sorry, but to me that is sheer arrogance.

I meant to keep it on an intellectual level. (i.e. non-emotional and rational)

Sure, insult people and then blame them for feeling insulted, go on and insult them some more and then say you were trying to keep it all intellectual? Passive/agressive perhaps but intellectual- nope.

So, close the thread and we'll all pretend we agree.

Isn't "pretending" just a lie? Throw up your hands and declare that you simply can't discuss this because everyone else won't do it right. Oh God, the humanity!! Quick, grab some cold compresses!

I extend to you the peace pipe..................

Isn't a "peace pipe" just a fantasy or does smoking a pipe actually create peace somehow? Tsk Tsk. And BTW:

I guess I'm looking at the crazy beliefs of adults with fully formed intellects and scratching my head wondering how they could actually buy in to them. UFO kidnappings, just a small example, requires an imagination + total intellectual collapse to believe. It just seems to me that somewhere in childhood the child was (setup) prepared for nonsense in a way that made it palatable.

Yeah, it was Santa and the Easter Bunny that made them go on to believe these types of things. If you really want a substantive answer to this -why don't you do some real research instead of assuming ? I'm sure if you searched for it, someone may have actually done a study about it somewhere!! XW

Terry

Simon says:
So fantasies are lies? Is LOTR a fantasy or a big lie? Fiction = Fantasy or Fiction = Lies?
It would be a lie if you were trying to tell people it was TRUE
As it is, it's just a story. The same way things like santa or whatever should be portrayed.
When you start telling your kids that it's real and trying to blackmail or bribe them into thinking it's real then I think that is just dumb.

Thank you Simon. Maybe it just sounds better when you say it because you aren't arrogant and condescending.

You've summed up everything I've been trying to get across and you did it without offending anybody. If you weren't a guy I'd give you a smooch.

GentlyFeral

Terry,

Now you're beginning to piss me off.

Lying to children does no harm? And I have to PROVE that?

Terry, don't you recognize a "straw man" when you erect it yourself? I only referred to:

your repeated assumption that the Santa Claus story actually does harm.

Still respectfully,

GentlyFeral

Frannie Banannie

I think it would probably be effective to introduce fantasy to children as what it is.....a training ground for imagination and creativity....not as a basis for viewing reality.

Frannie B

kls

I wasn't going to get involved in this but here goes,,,,,,Fantasy is something all some kids have . If i had to face what i was living through as a child and did not have my fantasies i could not have lived through each day. Fantasy lets a childs mind wonder ,pretend , explore and wonder. If i was told as a child that fantasies were bad and wrong ,i would be totally insane because that was my escape to a place i could hide and get away.

mpatrick

Thank you Simon. Maybe it just sounds better when you say it because you aren't arrogant and condescending.
You've summed up everything I've been trying to get across and you did it without offending anybody.

Actually Simon has been offending, so far he has said that my children are "stupid" if they believe in Santa and that I am "dumb" if I teach them that Santa is real.

By the way Simon, I do teach my kids about Santa and they believe he is real, but I have never blackmailed or bribed (emotionally or otherwise) them...they just believe the whole fantasy. Actually, I never though I would teach my children about Santa, my oldest just was taken in by the holiday cartoons and movies and I just found it enjoyable to play along. She is now seven and she still believes!

I take great pride in raising my children. I think they are beautiful and well adjusted for their ages. I am more worried that they may grow up and get mixed up with the wrong crowd, start doing drugs or have babies at 13 or 14 years old, than if they grow up believing in UFO's. I take the necessary precautions to stop the real dangers that may affect my children rather than spend my time nit-picking the harmless things.

That is just my opinion though, I am sure not all here will agree.

Michelle (of the "I hope to raise great kids" crowd)

truthseeker1

This is one of the dumbest arguements I have seen on this site.

When the world can't decide what is fantasy and what is fact, you say eliminate fantasy? Some people believe in witches and spirits. Some people believe in god, so don't. One man's fantasy is another man's fact.

teejay

I don't think it's stupid for kids to believe in Santa Clause. Or the Boogie Man. Or ghosts.

Just as I don't think it's wrong for adults to believe in a god they've named "Jehovah", an after-life, a burning hell, a Paradise Earth?, that the governing body is spirit-directed, the wisdom of George W. Bush. *insert rolling eye thingy*

As we all know, kids are smarter than some seem to think and can usually, in time, separate the fiction from the fact with no harmful side effects. Adults, unfortunately, aren't always so clever.

meggidon555

Actually Simon has been offending, so far he has said that my children are "stupid" if they believe in Santa and that I am "dumb" if I teach them that Santa is real.
By the way Simon, I do teach my kids about Santa and they believe he is real, but I have never blackmailed or bribed (emotionally or otherwise) them...they just believe the whole fantasy. Actually, I never though I would teach my children about Santa, my oldest just was taken in by the holiday cartoons and movies and I just found it enjoyable to play along. She is now seven and she still believes!
I take great pride in raising my children. I think they are beautiful and well adjusted for their ages. I am more worried that they may grow up and get mixed up with the wrong crowd, start doing drugs or have babies at 13 or 14 years old, than if they grow up believing in UFO's. I take the necessary precautions to stop the real dangers that may affect my children rather than spend my time nit-picking the harmless things.
That is just my opinion though, I am sure not all here will agree.
Michelle (of the "I hope to raise great kids" crowd)

woman what happens when your kids find out from some other kid that santa dosen't exist

and they confront you on it, or when you do finally break it to them then

they go into this what else are you hiding from me mood.

kids don't like being lied to period, even from mommy!!!

when I was growing I felt sorry for kids like yours.

then when they get older you suffer

tell them the truth or else watch that additude of not listening to you grow because their trust of you was abused.

WHAT IF WE DIDN'T POISON CHILDREN'S MINDS WITH FANTASY?

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