Monday, 28 January 2013

Comment from a Jigsaw puzzle

So, as part of my course we have what's called 'Jigsaw'. (I can only assume it comes from 'filling in the pieces of what it is to be a Dr'; as Jigsaw covers a lot of emotional intelligence, ethics, morality, personal development etc that can't be formally taught in a hospital setting)

As part of these we're asked to debate certain areas and one of these that took our tutor's particular interest was whether children should be told about Santa or the tooth fairy or gods or so on.
My reply to the argument strain on the private forum we have as a group is below: Just thought it provoke some opinion in many other people too, so why not share:
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So the question is; Is it fair on children to tell them something that is untrue for example Santa, the tooth fair or a god?
It may well be the thing to do culturally or because it's an easily accessible medium through which to tell children right from wrong, but I feel that children will make up their own imaginary friends; mystique and wonder, and find it in books and movies without the need to tell them that these myths are the (gospel) truth.
I feel even Santa, the omnipresent coal giver is as bad as a god in sense that he can see everything you ever do (which I always found rather perverse). It takes the stance that fear of even thinking badly will result in consequences and I think that this shouldn't be the way to raise a child.
Not only that but it primes children to a world of the other supernaturals, ghosts and ghouls, which with parental endorsement may act to create a sense of fear and powerlessness in the child, imagine if a parent told their child Harry Potter was completely true and they became fearful of dementors, basilisks and nargles... I know I was scared of ghosts after my mom told me she thought they existed then proceeded, a few months later, to tell me the previous owner of our house hung himself in our garage; bitch). With children's imaginations running amuck as they do anyway, I see no need to add to it with parental confirmation of omniscient, omnipresent judges of character (especially when these sprites involve themselves with sexual matters and other areas where the person may have a hard time figuring it out for themselves).

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When the debate gets fully underway I might compile some of the best arguments and re-buttes into another blog post so we see a following argument.

What'd'you think?

Until next time xx

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