Should it be shown to children that Santa Claus does not exist?

To what age is it normal for a child to believe in Santa Claus? Is it good to encourage fiction, and create every year the instigation of magical gift coming, or would it be better to tell the truth? And how should a child be managed that an old man with a white beard and a red suit exists only in people's imagination?

Many parents ask themselves such questions as they prepare gifts packages, through their famous letter filled with desire to the North Pole. And although it's not many in number, there are actually some studies of benefits (or damage) of belief in Santa.

The Power of the Picture

First of all, there seems to be no danger of being pushed to believe in Santa. Contrary to supposed late, even very young children are able to distinguish between imagination and reality.

When children are supposedly engaged, they exercise a decisive capacity from an evolutionary standpoint: that of imagining alternative ways to reality”- says Allison Gopnik, psychologists who deal with the contigative development of children.

It is a useful exercise for training the capabilities of counterfactual reasoning. In short, the thought of how old old old man can spread gifts around the world in a single night, or how he comes down with his big belly from the narrow chimney, would be the same imagination that is required to solve a scientific problem.

Not exactly one. lie

Even without realizing that they can encourage the career of future inventors, most experts agree that belief in Santa, like many other fantastic creatures, is a normal phase of the child's cognitive development.

After all, Santa's is not exactly a lie, but a kind of incentive to participate in a fictional history” says Jacques Ulej, psychologist at Texas University, U.S.A. However, there is also a different approach.

For example, philosophy professor David Johnson calls Santa “an useless lie”, which undermines children's trust in adults. Moreover, according to Johnson, revealing the truth can cause relatively little trauma to children.

But this risk is considered nonexistence by psychologist Carol Sloterbek. After interviewing hundreds of students, she claims to have found only one case of severe trauma caused by the discovery of Santa's nonexistence. A father told his little daughter at one point that Santa no longer existed after having suffered a heart attack and died.

The Age of Innocentity

By the age of five, children usually believe unconditionally in Santa Claus. At age seven, many children start to suspect, while at age nine there are hardly any children who believe this story. But unlike the tendency we tend to think about, the discovery of truth does not occur unexpectedly.

Even what appears to be a dramatic incident, such as when Dad or Mom are caught in childhood in the night by placing presents under the tree, this is usually merely confirmation of a previous suspicion. If the child has not yet reached the right age, it is likely that even this will not damage his faith in Santa Claus.

In a study conducted several years ago, two scholars analyzed 52 children's response to the discovery of the truth. In most cases they understood it themselves, and most expressed positive feelings after revealing the truth.

But even when the child was saddened, the heat lasted very little. On the other hand, those who experienced feelings of homesickness and sadness were parents who, as another study shows, play a key role in this regard: how much the child believes in Santa depends on how much they have invested themselves in the imagined account, and how detailed the details are in their story.

Key Data

Sloterbeck analyzed more than a thousand letters to Santa during 1998 03 in Screnton, Pennsylvania, described in her book “Psicology of Santa”. Many children asked the older elder how he was able to carry out his extraordinary travels, and in the end they expressed a lack of confidence in his existence.

Whether because of “ (the child can clearly distinguish the rubber that holds his fake beard, or father's shoes disguised as Santa), or the doubts raised by older friends who have already realized, or because myth has many conflicting points, a certain moment comes for each child when it must face reality.

When parents see that the moment has arrived, psychologists recommend that it is better not to make “sensational revelations” (except when to answer a direct question), but to let the truth be revealed gradually by the child itself... perhaps leaving some useful signs for their “investigation”.

If they arrive only at this discovery, it will be a small milestone for them, a welcome to the adult world. And they'll always be able to comfort themselves, helping create Santa's stage for younger brothers and sisters. / Focus 'world.al