I was doing research for a COMS speech and came along an interesting story about John Michael Barton.
A South Carolina man, dressed as Santa Claus with a stuffed Rudolph in his motorcycle sidecar, took an eight-year-old girl from a convenience store and drove away. The incident began with a family stopped at a convenience store and saw Barton, 55, dressed in a Santa Claus suit and putting gas into his motorcycle. He invited the children to come see the stuffed Rudolph the Reindeer he had in his sidecar. Before they could respond, Barton drove off with their eight-year-old girl. The father chased the motorcycle at speeds up to 80 mph, flashing his headlights. He caught up to them and Santa was arrested. Apparently Santa had been drinking. This was also not the first time like something like this has happened. He found many other victims in his scheme of kidnapping.
For this reason, I think that parents should not lie to their children about the existence of Santa Claus. This is an example of a harmful situation parents could unknowingly put their child through all because the child was told just to believe in Santa. When and if I have children, I will tell them that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. I will tell them that people dress up to pretend to be him and tell them the true meaning of Christmas. That is something that will not harm my children and not crush their hopes and dreams.
Here is a video clip of the incident between the 8-year-old and John Michael Barton.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/19/national/main2279998.shtml
4 comments:
I definately disagree with your idea of telling children that Santa Claus isn't real. I believe that everyone needs something to believe in and Santa Claus is a concept that young children understand. I grew up in a very Catholic family and went to Catholic school and they would never think about telling us that Santa wasn't real because we knew that it wasn't just about presents, but about Jesus being born. So I think as long as you explain to children that Christmas isn't just about getting presents, I don't see any harm in telling children that he is real. Another reason is that, there really was a "Santa Claus" at one time. St. Nicolas went around to poor children and gave them presents and again as long as children know all of the background information of Christmas they should be allowed to believe that he is real. Another thing is that, in the situation with thee kidnapper, the parents should have either watched their child better or they didn't teach her very well not to go with strangers no matter who they are or what they say. By telling your children too early that Santa Claus isn't real, you also run the risk of the child telling other children that. This could cause a lot of conflict between parents because they want their children to have something magical to believe in. In a way I think your hurting children more by telling them too early that Santa isn't real because they could feel left out of the Christmas spirit that other young children have, who believe in Santa.
I both agree and disagree with telling your children that Santa is not real. Yes, the meaning of Christmas is almost completely lost these days. that saddens me. I think that is the most important thing about Christmas.
On the otherhand, I think children should be able to emagine Santa Clause and other fictional characters, such as the tooth fairy, while they are young. Tell them at a younger age and maybe things won't happen as much. Maybe they will not be as crushed as they might be if they find out when they are older.
Wait a second, I’m sorry that some kids are stupid enough to be abducted, but simply telling your children that there is no Santa isn’t going to help. Let the parent’s do their job and inform their own children; if they’re not smart enough to tell their children to know trust strangers, then they shouldn’t be parents. And besides, what gives these children the right not to be lied to? It’s the parent’s job to lie to their children. If you want to start telling children the truth about Santa, then tell them the truth about the Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy, and what really happened during the first Thanksgiving. Our parent’s lied to us, so we should have the right to lie to our kids. If you start telling children the truth right from the get go, then they’ll realize what a cruel and unsatisfying world we live in, and I think that’s worse to do to children than trying to expand their imaginations.
I also disagree with you here. How are you going to take something like Santa Clause away from children all around the world, who look forward to “meeting” him on Christmas? It’s not fair or right. Children begin to realize that Santa can’t be real around the ages of eight to ten, and by then, they aren’t crushed. All Santa’s aren’t going to try to kidnap kids. According to the story, Santa had been drinking, so he did not know what he was doing. You can’t judge every Santa for what this one clown did. Also, like the previous blog says, there was a man named St. Nikolas, who did give presents to children. Many people believe in the spirit of this man, so that’s why Santa is believed in. I know a lot of parents tell their children this and that’s the way I’m going to tell my children when they come up to me and ask the infamous question, “Daddy, is Santa real?”
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