For everybody who has posted so far........
I have 7 children. I have reared them in 3 batches.
The first batch was three kids, Laura, Jason and Vanessa
The second batch was Terry Jr.
The third batch I'm rearing with my wife now, Nicholas, Lillian and Helena.
As I grew emotionally and intellectually over my life I've tried different approaches to child rearing. I've had the long term advantage of seeing things that work for them and things that disadvantage them
The first three kids I reared according to JW ideas mostly hate religion as a result of how stupid those restrictions were. The arbitrary aspect was insulting to them. The fantasy of God and the Devil having a bar bet and all humans being the game that decides it---infuriated them.
My second son, Terry Jr. was raised as a traditional child with Christmas, Easter, etc and boatload of fantasy.
This current squad of widdle ones are reared with only true statements about fantasy. They are given fairy tales and Christmas and Easter with a CLEAR MESSEGE of which things are make-believe. They seem to really enjoy the pretending and the atmosphere of holidays. But, they are also vocal and grateful that we didn't "fool" them like other parents.
The word "fool" is their word. We never presented it as a parent "fooling" a child. That was their collective assesment.
They do see other children buying in 100% to things that make no sense to them. They are baffled how how gullible other kids are about all sorts of things.
Is that bad?
Other kids seem ready to grow up and believe conspiracy theories, UFO kidnappings, Area 54 aliens crashes, Elvis sightings, Bigfoot photos, paranormal occurances, superstitious fixations of charms, tokens, spells, etc
Teaching kids that some people TRY to fool them and giving them the skeptical skills to investigate properly is a proper parenting strategy. It never hurts to know how to find out what is true from research.
Just simply knowing when somebody is telling you the truth is always an advantage.
You see, when you don't tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth....you are concealing information. You are witholding evidence. You never know what fact is going to be important to another person's decision making skills!
Grown-ups like full disclosure when they buy something or when they take a medicine or close a deal. Ask yourself why?
Knowledge is power.
Why withold the power of deciding on facts from your own kids?
Children can enjoy stories, books, movies and make-believe without plunging in with a distorted sense of what is real.
Don't cheat children by hiding true facts; it isn't kind, it isn't honest and it smacks of hubris.
That's just my opinion; but, so far--I'm sticking to it.