Hannah Devlin, Science correspondent
theguardian, Wednesday 23 November 2016
Spoiler alert: this article contains sensitive information about the
existence of Santa Claus. Children may wish to look away now.
Parents, though, are being urged to re-consider the ethics of the great Santa Claus lie. In
an article published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, two psychologists have raised the spectre of
children’s moral compass
being permanently thrown
off-kilter by what is normally considered a magical part of the
Christmas tradition.
The darker reality, the authors suggest, is that lying to children, even
about something fun and frivolous, could undermine their trust in their parents and leave
them open to “abject
disappointment” when they eventually discover that magic is not real.
Kathy McKay, a clinical psychologist at the University of New England,
Australia and co-author, said: “The Santa myth is such an involved lie, such a long-lasting one, between
parents and children, that if a relationship is vulnerable, this may be the final straw. If
parents can lie so convincingly and over such a long time, what else can they
lie about?”
Levelling with your children so close to the big event may put
a bit of a dampener
on festivities, but parents must sometimes take the long view, according to McKay. “There is
potential for children to
be harmed in these lies,” she said.
McKay’s moral stance
on Santa may collide with
real life in the near future if her three-year-old goddaughter makes inquiries on the
subject. “She believes in Santa at the moment and it’s not my role to go
against her parent’s wishes,” she said. “She’s never asked me about Santa ...
when she does, I’ll tell her because I want my goddaughter to grow up knowing
that there will always be safety and honesty with us.”
The article’s first author, Chris Boyle, a psychologist at the University
of Exeter and the lead author, has a less hard-line position. “I’m not planning to go
through the streets of Exeter dropping leaflets through doors,” he said, and admits that he
would probably play along
with the story if he had children of his own.
However, he is critical of those who invoke Santa’s potential no-show as the ultimate
punishment for bad behaviour. “Some parents use it as a tool of control when
they’re under a bit of pressure in the lead-up to Christmas,” said Boyle. “It’s potentially not the best parenting method. You’re
talking about a mythical being deciding whether you’re getting presents or
not.”
The authors advance several psychological explanations for why the “collective lie on a global scale”
persists. First, humans have a strong tendency to conform, even when a behaviour is
illogical. Second, all the evidence suggests that even adults have a strong urge to escape reality
through make-believe.
“We’re trying to hark back
to our glory days
as children,” said Boyle.
