THE LIES WE TELL THE CHILDREN
WHAT ARE THE LIES WE TELL OUR CHILDREN?
We tell the children so many lie. We love our children and we want the very best for them. However, through the years, many well meaning Christian parents have lied to their children without thought of the consequences.
God
GOD
I agree. This is not a lie. We tell the children all about God and how much he loves us. Our children can not see God but they believe everything we tell them. That is a good thing. We want them to grow up knowing God for themselves and believing in Him.
Santa Clause
Santa Clause
We tell the children wonderful exciting stories about Santa and how he will come on Christmas Eve. to bring them toys.
Oh! the catch is that they have to be good. If they are not good Santa only leaves a chunk of coal.
"I must be good then."
Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny
We tell the children about a magical bunny who brings candy and eggs and toys on Easter morning (to the good children).
Again the children can not see Santa or the Easter Bunny, just as they can not see God.
That is OK because we have the children being good to "earn" their reward from both, Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny.
"I must be good so I can get candy, and toys, and pretty eggs." "I'll feed the dog the eggs."
Tooth Fairy
The Tooth Fairy
Then we tell the children about a mythical fairy that will leave money under their pillow in exchange for the tooth that just fell out.
We will go to great lengths to perpetrate these lies. Letters to and from Santa are big business now days.
I have no idea how many people have called the Tooth Fairy because she "forgot" their child the night before.
The Easter bunny has to have help from the children to make all of those colored eggs he hides during the night.
All those secret codes between Mom and Dad so they can keep their stories straight. Must not let the children know that we are lying to them.
This is where it gets strange. One by one the children learn the truth.
There is no Tooth Fairy.
There is no Easter Bunny.
There is no Santa Clause.
Parents made the whole thing up. They lied to their children. These 3 characters are very important to the child who believes in them just as we want God to be very important to our children.
The kids start to thinking about the whole situation. They could not see Santa, or the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy, or GOD.
Everything else is a lie so God must be too.
Children are no different than adults when it comes to trust. If you continue to lie to them then they will stop believing anything you tell them.
Of, but they are good at making you think they believe you. You see, they learned how to lie to you by watching you lie to them.
As soon as they get out on their own they will be more likely to stop attending church and try all of the things that you told them not to do.
Please be careful how you approach things with your children.
THEY TRUST YOU. KEEP THEIR TRUST.
Did you teach your children to believe in any of these
Comments
Very thought provoking! Where was this advice before I started telling my kids these lies? I repent even though it's kind of too late to do any good. Voted up!
Some good thoughts. The most important thing is to teach children about God. My parents told us about Santa and the rest. These "stories" didn't cause us any harm. I think sometimes we don't give them all the credit they deserve. Children aren't stupid, just young. As they mature they are smart enough to discern truth from fiction. Just the way we did.
I never told my son about the Easter bunny or Santa Clause or the tooth fairy. I have always told my children about God.
Children need to know about God. True a supreme being is a concept that adults struggle with, God is a very important part of our existence. You are right, it is important not to lie to our children, even because of tradition
This article wasn't what I thought it was going to be about...Yet I was suprised about much of your writing, because I wrote an article beginning of this year that was very similar.. It was a response to a mission who proclaim the gospel, yet on the top of needs they had requested was a "Santa Claus" outfit! I was upset, this is not something people should be promoting when they should be using every opportunity to share God's love...I suggested they get an angel costume, and have a man, prayfully, who truely is a man of GOD,(since angels are portrayed as men not women in the Bible) to pray with and for the children for what they want for Christmas, and explain the true meaning of Christmas! They did take the item off their list...don't know if they will use the angel idea? Looks like we too have allot in common...I will try to publish this article soon, maybe you will see it:) Continue to "Live Writefully!"
God's Child
You are completely right in your thinking! Do not be discouraged when people tell you that they understand what you say, but do not agree with you.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Leviticus 19:11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
1 Timothy 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Isaiah 28:15 We have made a covenant with death, and with death, and with hell are we at agreement; ... we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
The truth shall set you free.
God bless.
Enjoyed your hub and understand what your saying but I don't believe the way you do.
Children grow up and they soon learn nothing is exactly as they thought. When you talk to them and teach them that it was just a fun thing to do when they were little, Easter Bunny, Santa etc and they will tell the same stories to their little ones. When they see you go to church and live by God's way they will know that God is true way. MAYBE AND MAYBE NOT.....I have seen kids become christians that never had parents that went to church or cared for God and children that had christian parents stop loving God as soon as they get away from their parents.
You can talk to your kids till your blue in the face and nothing really matters they do what they want. Don't smoke...they do anyway. Don't take drugs....they do anyway. So believe me the little lies that are told about Santa are not going to affect them and is it truely a lie or just a story to give kids something to look forward to.
The true meaning of Christmas is Jesus and I think that is what should be taught. Santa should come in second. My favorite figurine is Santa kneeling beside the baby Jesus.
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