Lying to children about the existence of Santa Claus would ruin their trust in their parents, according to a study.
“Parents never lie! How many children have heard this big lie? In order to establish their authority, parents are sometimes led to twist the truth. To make their children dream, too, they invent magical, magical… but false stories. A proof ? Santa. This is the largest systematic deception perpetrated by parents against their children.
However, under its marvelous air, the tale of Santa Claus would not be trivial, according to researchers who publish a study in the Lancet Psychiatry on the impact of this year-end invention on the psyche of disenchanted children.
Mistrust
Because yes, not all children end up discovering the truth. And by realizing that no reindeer is at the origin of the transport of their gift to the tree, they realize at the same time of the sad constant which wants that all the parents are only liars.
“If parents are able to lie about something so special and magical, can we continue to trust them as custodians of wisdom and truth? “Asks the disillusioned child, quoted by the researchers, who continue:” All children will eventually discover that they have been systematically lied to for years, and this could make them wonder what other lies we have. could tell them ”.
The authors also examine the motives that lead to perpetrate this terrible lie from generation to generation. They suggest that instead of creating a magical world for their offspring, parents could actually make it for themselves.
“The persistence of obsession with stories like ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Doctor Who’ into late adulthood demonstrates a desire to temporarily return to childhood. Many people may be longing for a time when the imagination was accepted and encouraged, which is not always the case in adulthood ”.
Useful lies
The two specialists also believe that the idea that Santa Claus and his elves know absolutely everything each child has done during the year and will judge it by its “nice” or “naughty” actions is, finally, “quite terrifying”. “The question is asked of the moral aspect of making children believe such myths”.
But not all lies are to be put in the same hood, according to the authors. Lying to children to save them from too much emotional shock can sometimes be the right thing to do. For example, when a child loses his rabbit, it is better to explain that the beloved animal has gone to live in rabbit paradise, rather than to say that it ran away and ended up crushed under the wheel of the family car.
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