Along those lines, the other night she came out of her room and asked, "Are you sure Santa is coming? How do we know he's real?" I was able to evade the questions by pointing out it wasn't time for Santa yet and to go back to bed but it got me thinking. As other parents have said before, it's a little strange to lie to her about something so significant in her life. Generally I try not to bring it up too much. She has been able to pick up the whole Santa thing from the world around her but we don't use him as a threat to be good or anything. Of course, if she's asking pointed questions like that at 3, I have a feeling I'm either going to have to spill the beans while she is quite young or start lying through my teeth.
The other part that got me thinking was how Anna knows that the things she can't see are real. My initial thought was to tell her that he is real because we, her parents, have told her he is. I found that I was wary to say that because the same can also be said of Jesus and I don't really want to create a crisis of faith when we tell her the truth about Santa. There are some similarities between the two men: you don't see them, only what they leave behind, there are books and songs about them and they are both very kind and do nice things for others. Yet, there is a big difference in that one is real and the other is not. Fortunately, there is the Holy Ghost who can testify of the reality and divinity of Jesus. I realized that as we teach Anna about Jesus, we have to be sure to point out when the Spirit is there so she can recognize that feeling too and be able to know the difference between what is really real and what is just her parents lying to her.
1 comment:
That does sound a bit tricky, now that you mention it. There's a Calvin and Hobbs that sort of fits.
Post a Comment