Believing in Santa helps children develop a sense of wonder and use their imagination, Rutgers expert says
The mom who told her son that Santa was “Satan’’ with the letters switched around didn’t do him any favors, says Cindy Dell Clark, an anthropologist with the Center for Childhood Studies at Rutgers-Camden.
"She wanted to remind him that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because of the birth of Jesus. But because of the way she told him, he became very angry and was terribly conflicted,’’ says Clark, who has researched childhood belief in Santa and other holiday figures. “He ended up being anti-Christmas and he didn’t believe in anything.’’
Santa is an example of an “age-graded belief system,’’ meaning that it exists at a certain time in life, explains Clark.
The age at which children surrender their belief in Santa can vary widely, from 5 to 13, she says. But according to Clark, when they decide Santa isn't real, they aren’t giving up on him entirely. They’re just transferring their belief from the literal to the figurative.
The enduring fiction of the Jolly Old Elf serves an important purpose, for individual children and society, says Clark, author of a 1998 book called Flights of Fancy, Leaps of Faith: Children’s Myths in Contemporary America.
"The capacity to use your imagination to make sense of something, that brings you a sense of peace and sustenance is a muscle that gets exercised by Santa Claus,’’ says Clark. "When children give that up, what's lost is not the faith in Santa Claus, it's the literal belief. Adults might think of Santa in a more literal way but children understand that the real entity is transcendent.'''
In a child’s mind, Santa is more than a fat man in red who brings toys, she says. He has a lot in common with God.
“He's a moral enforcer, he's capable of supernatural acts, and he’s omniscient and ever present. These are traits we all associate with the Judeo-Christian God and ones we talk about when we’re teaching children about God,’’ Clark says.
In interviews with more 60 children as part of her study, nearly all of them drew a parallel between God and Santa, says Clark, an ethnographer and visiting associate professor at Rutgers.
“Over and over again, kids were telling us that God and Santa were connected. Some thought they were friends. One boy thought they lived next door to each other and they talk over the fence about who’s being bad and who’s being good.’’
When children stop believing in Santa, it’s often because they are able to replace him with a set of ideas about generosity and love.
Clark calls it the “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus’’ school of thought.
“What children learn is that literally having Santa deliver the presents is not the important part, the important part is the spirit of giving,’’ she says. “The point of Santa is not about losing belief. The point is about keeping faith and having the capacity to believe in the unseen.’’
She thinks it’s important to allow children to navigate the space between belief and doubt on their own and make the decision when they’re ready. “Youdon’t want to pull the rug out from under them too abruptly,’’ she says. “Children believe in things that give them a sense of meaning. They need to hold on to this until they’re capable of making the transition.’’
Although the myth of Santa draws upon other traditions--including Saint Nicholas and Sinterklaas, a similar figure created by the Dutch--Clark says he’s a quintessentially American figure, born during Victorian times to fill a cultural need.
“He wasn't invented by Hallmark. He emerged out of the melting pot,’’ she says. “Santa emerged in a culture where there was a readiness for him. People were moving into industrial jobs and they depended more on the nuclear family. Before that, in more agrarian societies, they depended on extended families. The pressure to care for a child became more persistent. Santa reinforces the value of putting children first and honors what families do for their children. It’s a time of year when we show great generosity to kids.’’
In this way, he’s in keeping with the other symbols of the holiday, she says.
“The Christmas tree, the lights. Christmas is about warmth and love being enough to survive the cold. It’s about the domestic relatedness of each other and how powerful that is, even in seasons that are hostile to life.’’