Atheist parents!

What is this I hear about you people not telling kids about Santa Claus? What are you, communists? Don't you (those of you who grew up with the Santa) remember how awesome it was to go downstairs at like five thirty in the morning and see all those presents that weren't there before? Don't you remember that feeling, of impossibilities happening? What, are you going to explain every magic trick they see just to suck the joy out of their lives? What kind of heartless person do you have to be to suck the wonderment out of kids?

What do you think will happen if you DO tell them? Exactly the same that happened to you when you found out. Nothing.

I mean, how can you call it misinformation? wha? Do you really deem it necessary to bring the crushing weight of reality down on five year old shoulders? don't you have any respect of the age of innocence and nativity?

shit. i would feel cheated if i never got in on the Santa.

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Originally Posted by LordsSword

I dont want to sow seeds of doubt about other things I believe in but cant be seen. For the atheist I suppose the same thing could happen. Dont set your kids up for doubting your convictions later in life.

really? Santa is the thing that will put your children's faith at risk? that's a mighty powerful conviction.

I don't know what you're coworker's experience was, but i remember back in the day there was one kid who didn't believe in Santa, and he's the one who got ridiculed. Not mercilessly, but still.

As for useful, there were plenty of times my parent's pulled the "Santa's watching" move on me, year round, and i straighted right up. Maybe that's not as useful as spiritual Kevlar (what is that, like a +4 AC?), but still...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by LordsSword

I noticed we moved on to imaginative concepts and their benefits & consequences.

Ha! I liked how you just lumped your religion in with Santa Claus.

Dismissed.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by PretzelCorps

The only real problem with society today is everyone's damnable fixation on themselves, and what makes them and them alone happy.

Actually, i think it would be better for everyone of people practiced a certain amount of apathy and selfishness. Really, most societal problems stem from too many people trying to get up in other people's business; trying to make everyone else conform to their wants and desires, instead of just doing "what makes them and them alone happy". People care too damn much about how other's act and think.

then again, i'm a libertarian. actually i'm an anarchist, but i like libertarianism just as much.

and now that this thread has served its purpose, long ago, perhaps we should move on?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by PretzelCorps

Yeah, but aren't most people just trying to make others conform, only so that they themselves can feel more righteous themselves, and in the eyes of others with similar beliefs? It's certainly not out of concern for the convertee's well being... Usually, anyways.

if you want to start breaking it down, then eventually it can be said that everything is purely self motivated. everything.

Also, those kinds of people seem to want others to conform to their ideological system because they truly believe that it is the one and only way to behave. And indeed most of those peoples are getting up in your business because they are concerned for your well being (which is at risk because you don't follow their ideology). They consider that a selfless act, in an attempt to save your soul, or your peanut butter or whatever the hell it is they try and save.

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Originally Posted by PhoenixX

I won't teach my kids to accept authoritarian bullshit under any circumstances...I want to teach my kids good judgement, not obedience.

hahahahaha...good luck with that. seriously, you want to be a parent? and then teach your kids to disobey you? that'll work fantastically.

I almost took all that other stuff seriously until i read that, and learned that you have no idea what you're talking about.

Yeah, Santa Clause is the great undoing - he is the epitome of truth and lie (Santa is actually an anagram of Satan, did you know that?) - and if you dare teach your kids to believe in him, it will cause irreparable damage.

Phoenix, your kids are going to be A: brats or B: miserable. And that's not me, that's an actual prediction of Nostradamus.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Sorry, Phoenix, perhaps i should have specified that I live in the real world. It's nice here, you should visit sometime.

There's really nothing i can say to "back up my point" because it's mostly common sense and the ability to not be delusional.

Now i'm not trying to dissuade you from raising your kids however you see fit, i'm just saying that basing parenting skills off of Dawson's Creek or Seventh Heaven or whatever bullshit world you think we live in simply doesn't work. This isn't so much an argument as it is a friendly reminder that kids don't reason empirically- they act to satiate their desires. And if you don't instill some fear into them, as good parents do, they'll just grow up to be assholes.

I know it's not as nice as the bubbly happy time world you think we live in, but it's the way things actually happen.

FELIPE NO