tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post5781575635303138828..comments2023-10-29T05:51:08.295-07:00Comments on Musings of a MysticBlueRose: Santa and my inner child...MysticBlueRosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15206959063908087622noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-7047325849577545302012-02-05T16:16:26.712-08:002012-02-05T16:16:26.712-08:00Fairy tales are much different these days. Though ...Fairy tales are much different these days. Though most parents don't know that they were not meant for children to begin with(and the none Disney versions can be very dark). <br />I don't see anything majorly damaging in teaching my children about Santa Claus, telling them about St Nicolas and reading them fairy tales is something that I love to do. Everyone has their own experience that shapes the way they think and world view. I grew up with fairy tales. And I turned out just fine.<br /><br />“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” <br />― Albert Einstein<br /><br />However, no one should be told that they are "weird" for not having the same experiences growing up. Each family is different.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05553696074948001450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-53174534996099813172011-12-31T06:29:14.462-08:002011-12-31T06:29:14.462-08:00An insight into our excessively left-brained, rati...An insight into our excessively left-brained, rationalistic Western European thinking:<br /><br /><br />“The world of my childhood <br />was filled with wonder and magic. <br />Enchantment was the order of the day. <br />Mechanistic science has no place <br />for enchantment. If it can’t be <br />measured, it doesn’t exist. <br />The problem is, the important things cannot be measured....” <br />--Anne Wilson Schaef (Cherokee) <br />Author- Native Wisdom for White Minds<br />From rear cover: <br />What is a white mind? White minds are trapped in a closed system of thinking that sees life in black and white, either/or terms; they are hierarchical and mechanistic; they see nature as a force to be tamed and people as objects to be controlled with no regard for the future. <br />This worldview is not shared by most Native Peoples. Anne shares the richness poured out to her by Native Americans, Aborigines, Africans, Maoris and others. In the words of Native peoples themselves, we come to understand Native ideas about our earth, spirituality, family, work, loneliness and change. For in every area of our lives we have the capacity to transcend our white minds - we simply need to listen with open hearts and open minds to other voices, other perceptions, other cultures. <br />Anne often heard Elders from a wide variety of Native peoples say, "Our legends tell us that a time will come when our wisdom and way of living will be necessary to save the planet, and that time is now."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-18883600941132143172011-12-31T06:08:47.401-08:002011-12-31T06:08:47.401-08:00You did not "deny" your children the sto...You did not "deny" your children the story of Santa, you shared it as a myth, which is what it is. <br /><br />Children need to be taught the difference between reality and fantasy, or they will confuse the fables and myths that teach meaning with the "facts" that impose limitaitons, sometimes short term and sometimes lasting, on us all.<br /><br />I wonder if the Santa myth is not defended by many parents because the spectre of coals instead of gifts in the child's stocking gives them some extra control over their offsprings' behavior during what can become a hectic Holiday Season. :-PAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-83516801898618296082011-12-29T18:28:02.651-08:002011-12-29T18:28:02.651-08:00That is a whole 'nother issue, Jayiin!!! I hea...That is a whole 'nother issue, Jayiin!!! I hear parents in stores using Santa as an emotional club to get "good behavior" from children and it just breaks my heart. The kid goes away terrified that they will have "acted out" in some way that costs them all their presents. Sometimes I have to almost be physically restrained from intervening and asking the parent to LOOK at what they are doing and LISTEN to how they are hurting their child...Sigh.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing your story. I appreciate that. *smile*Debra Mastershttp://mysticbluerosegarden.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-81679306523611529592011-12-28T22:01:34.719-08:002011-12-28T22:01:34.719-08:00I'm a guy who's always had a vivid imagina...I'm a guy who's always had a vivid imagination. I've always had stories and ideas and crazy interpretations of things. I believed in the starship ENTERPRISE; I believed in the good guys and I believed in Santa Claus.<br /><br />I also have some kind of mental damage where I just don't get most of the way people function or how they interact. Things - interactions, subtle clues, social norms and conventions - I just don't get them. Some docs say it's a kind of autism, others just say I have some kind of other disorder.<br /><br />I dunno. I just don't get things most of the time.<br /><br />Learning Santa Claus didn't exist shattered me a little.<br /><br />If Santa was a lie, what else was a lie? What other parts of society and the world I'd struggled to understand to that point were lies? What other facts of life and 'truths' I'd been told were just falsehoods adults told me to make me feel better or make the world more magical?<br /><br />It was the first conscious moment, I think, I realized I didn't trust or understand. I remember sitting in my room Christmas Eve night, knowing my parents were sneaking presents under the tree for my brothers, knowing that the next morning they would be excited about something that didn't exist.<br /><br />And I was supposed to go along with it?<br /><br />It made me wonder how many people just 'went along' with things that weren't true or didn't make sense or were just out and out lies just to make things 'better' for someone else?<br /><br />I grew up and I found out that there's a lot of things people just 'go along' with just to make other people feel better or give them some false sense of love or security or other warm and fuzzy feeling.<br /><br />I don't like it.<br /><br />I'm a fat man. Every Christmas season, several people will ask me to don a red suit, glue a fake beard to my face and tell children lies to make a holiday I hate more magical for them.<br /><br />The 'magic' of anything - the wonder of imagination - does not come from fake magic other people create and trust is not built and will not hold in the face of creating a lie and telling children - children we are supposed to teach, guide and help grow into good people - that the lie we are telling them is a fact of life. <br /><br />Then tying it into 'good' behavior is even worse. The child can strive and struggle to be 'good' - despite every child's inability to be perfect - in hopes of being good enough to earn some impossible gift. Or that being 'good' equals a material reward.<br /><br />Then, when we think they're too old to be a part of this amazing fantasy we've created, we tell them that Santa isn't real. That being 'good' doesn't equal material rewards and doesn't earn them toys and games and wonderful things under a decorated tree. They have to be good just because they're 'supposed to' - when before, there was a reason?<br /><br />Bah. Humbug. I know I'm a terrible Christmas person. I hate the holiday. I hate the season. More than anything else our society has created, I hate Christmas. I find nothing redemptive about it or wonderful about it or magical about it.<br /><br />So no. You didn't hurt your children by 'taking' Santa away from them. You didn't force them to 'endure' anything.<br /><br />You gave them a great and wonderful gift - and kept from poisoning them and disillusioning them.<br /><br />I know your daughter very well; she's an amazing and wonderful woman who faces life head-on, on her own terms and takes care of her family and friends with love, compassion and passion for being the best friend and sister and aunt and girlfriend she can be.<br /><br />Feel no guilt. I think you did the right thing.jayiin mistayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17854554031176128807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-58074071856960255062011-12-28T20:13:36.694-08:002011-12-28T20:13:36.694-08:00I don't remember ever believing that Santa was...I don't remember ever believing that Santa was anything more than a story. It's something we play along with. that story about your brother is pretty sad. I would feel pretty bad about it too.<br /><br />I am something of a freak. definitely have a warped sense of humour. I am glad that we are all different, and I celebrate it. It's a reason to appreciate other people, not beat them down.greyone40noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-56514335751618609852011-12-28T19:52:31.491-08:002011-12-28T19:52:31.491-08:00I cannot remember ever believing Santa existed, bu...I cannot remember ever believing Santa existed, but we let our mother give us presents from him yearly. When I was 9 I so wanted to tell her, hey, there is no Santa, so I am OK with you not pretending any longer. Pragmatic and empathetic me wanted to spare her feelings. <br /><br />I raised my kids with Santa, but somehow they never bought the myth either, likely because they found the Santa gifts in the closet while snooping during the season...I have no strong feelings either way about it, though I am always surprised that some factions are violently opposed to it. I knew we celebrated Christmas because of Jesus' birth, and Santa was just a fun commercial thing. Shrug. I have other childhood things I need to work through, Santa was never one of them, but it makes me sad it was for you.Arizona mom to eighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01875806984101641881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-67605579558869350582011-12-28T18:13:28.074-08:002011-12-28T18:13:28.074-08:00Thanks, Janis!!! Solidarity!!!Thanks, Janis!!! Solidarity!!!Debra Mastershttp://mysticbluerosegarden.blogspot.com/2011/12/santa-and-my-inner-child.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1109678006957946787.post-4398200236078052072011-12-28T18:03:18.468-08:002011-12-28T18:03:18.468-08:00I am appalled. I did not want to teach my children...I am appalled. I did not want to teach my children about Santa, but their father insisted. I applaud you for not teaching them the lie.<br /><br />I did not taste strawberries until after I was married. My mothers' stepfather had moved the family to Floridafor a strawbeery farm. She resented it as a 14 year old and it carried over. She never bought them or allowed any products made from them into her home!<br /><br />I didn't even hear of cheesecake until I was about 30. Does that make me a freak? Hardly! <br /><br />I think those who are making you feel inferior are a very sad group of people. Perhaps they all grew up in a perfect little home wiht a perfect little family, but reality is most of us come from parents that did the very best they knew how and we in turn have done the very best we knew how ~ even though it was not perfect!<br /><br />And you can tell them I said so!!! ~,~ <br /><br />JanisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com