For the sake of tradition, we deceive our children with a variety of myths, from flying reindeer to a giant Easter bunny to the tooth fairy. While most consider this practice to be harmless childhood fantasy, stimulating imagination and bringing happiness into their lives, it may produce unintended consequences, if only at the subconscious level.
Would the holiday season be less joyful if we eliminated these myths? Are we unable to celebrate peace, charity and good will without the jolly man in the red suit? Are gifts less appreciated if we are honest about their source? All of this may sound like psycho-babble from a holiday humbug but I'm not sure we need to protect our children from the realities of life by creating fantasies that we must debunk as they begin to mature. Trust is fragile and should be handled with care.
There are certainly good reasons to protect our children from fear and worry during their formative years and their understanding of life must progress in a gradual, non-threatening and age-appropriate manner. But our willingness to sustain traditional myths, however cute and entertaining, says more about our own discomfort with reality than it does about our devotion to childhood fantasy. After all, we have adult myths that are difficult to abandon.
