Parenting Bytes

This episode was originally posted on December 8, 2016. This week we're talking about how to keep your kids believing in Santa (if you do that) when it's so easy for them to find things out with google. Plus, teacher gifts: Yes, no, and what? Santa Santa. He's basically one big lie, but so many of us do the dance in order to give our kids a magical Christmas. And the new Macy's "Believe" campaign is trying to bring that magic back. But why do we do it? Andrea thinks we do it for leverage over our kids ("You'd better behave or I'm telling Santa!"). Rebecca thinks that since our kids get stuff all the time, all year, the renewed interest in Santa is an attempt to make Christmas gifts special again. And Amy thinks it's crazy to perpetuate this lie, but she did it with her kids anyway! And is that kind of deception harmful? Last year we did an episode asking if Elf on the Shelf was teaching kids to live in a surveillance state. All of that may be beside the point, however. In the age of google