Christmas is just around the corner, and millions of children around the world are already looking forward to Santa's gifts for them. While this has been the Christmas tradition over many years, psychologist Christopher Boyle and mental health researcher Kathy McKay argue in a new essay in the medical journal Lancet Psychiatry, saying that parents who make their children believe in Santa Claus can actually cause more harm than good, and that it may have a detrimental effect on a child's behavior.And here are the reasons why.
1. Your child will only feel disappointed when they find out that Santa wasn't real. According to Boyle and McKate, it could create a so-called "JFK effect" - this is when the tendency of people to remember the exact details of where they were, or what they were doing when they receive the bad news. And because of this, Christmas may not be as magical to them anymore.
2. According to a research, kids have a belief that adults only tell truth but because of the Santa experience, they might start to doubt their guardians or parents. This will lead to your child's distrust.
3. The myth about Santa is not just beneficial to children, it even serves the parents better. Why? Because making up stories about Santa gives the parents a chance to escape to a better place through their imagination. It gives them a certain kind of feeling that relieves them from the reality of life.
"All children will eventually find out they've been consistently lied to for years, and this might make them wonder what other lies they've been told," Boyle concluded in a statement. "Whether it's right to make children believe in Father Christmas is an interesting question, and it's also interesting to ask whether lying in this way will affect children in ways that have not been considered."
