Kids Don’t Live in Bubbles, Don’t Try

December 4, 2011

It’s Christmas time, and we’re just three weeks away from the magical journey of our saintly rotund Arctic friend, Santa Claus.

With this anticipation comes the question of whether this kindly figure in fact exists or is merely an imaginative festive icon or a parental lie.

First of all, there’s no question over that. I’ve been over this. Santa Claus is real.

But then you get parents and others getting all upset because someone tells their children that Santa Claus isn’t real. How could the teacher say that to a second grader!

Oy. *facepalm*

With this comes the issue of parents controlling what information their kids receive, whether others have the “right” to say anything contrary to what the kids are told at home. That to say such a contrary word is to infringe upon “parents’ rights”. Rights to control any and all things said to people whose existence they happened to have a hand in.

Yeah, such a thing is not only a violation of right to information for the kids, but also incredibly delusional on the part of parents who think this. You can’t keep your kid in a bubble. It isn’t actually possible, and if you care about raising someone who’s supposed to be a productive member of society ever, don’t even try.

Don’t hide. Guide! Enable to deal.

The bubble will burst eventually. What then? What will you be left with?

A child you now hate because he no longer believes your bullshit, that’s what. And you’ll blame this newfound awareness and cynicism on teenage hormones or some shit.

Because you deluded yourself into believing you were Frankenstein or Pygmalion, that the child is there for you to fashion exactly as you see fit. And now your own bubble burst. Now your child is not your personal programmable robot but another human being with personal opinions who must be convinced of things and has free will.

Maybe live in the real world and save everyone involved a lot of trouble, hmm?