(June 25, 2013 at 1:19 pm)NoraBrimstone Wrote: I think you can judge how smart a kid is by the age at which they realise Santa is real. For example, if a kid is over 5 and thinks Santa is real? You probably don't need to bother saving for them to go to uni. Just focus on their coffee-making skills and ability to offer people fries. So I suppose the lie does serve a practical purpose.
And it does...if you're basing a child's perceptions of reality based on how well they discover that Santa isn't real. Why can't we use other critical thinking exercises to help foster cognitive growth in children though? Why does Santa have to play a part in this?
My in-laws use Santa as this very exercise, and it's proving to be a fruitful effort. Their child is one of the smartest, critically-thinking 5-year-olds that I know. However, though he realizes that Iron Man and the Hulk aren't real, he still thinks Santa squeezes his round belly down a skinny chimney. We're still not sure when he'll figure it out...and my wife and I are actually forbidden from talking to him about it.
More on that note, I would never outright tell a child that believes in Santa that "There is no Santa, kid." That would be cruel, and the child might react badly to the assertion. Instead, I would rather try to reason out the reality of Santa with him/her.
