My Parents Bring Them!

Yesterday, in my Sunday School classroom of six- and seven-year-olds, a strange thing happened. I came face to face with the horrific, almost blood-curdling monster known to many simply as...honesty. "Yes, it's Mr. Nasty" (from film You've Got Mail). A child not yet eight has, like a liberated turtle, burst forth from the shell of belief to encounter the some of the grand absences of adulthood before his time has come. He no longer (sniff) believes in Santa Claus.

Alright, you're being a little over the top with this, you say.

Am I? I don't think I am actually. Let me tell you exactly what happened, and perhaps you will see what I mean.

Boy #1: I have two loose teeth.

Girl #1: I have a loose tooth too.

Teacher #1: Are you going to get money from the tooth fairy?

Boy #1: Yep. I get a dollar for each tooth I loose; sometimes a dollar-fifty. (Note: Talk about inflated rates; the most I ever got from the tooth fairy was seventy-five cents, and one of the quarters was Canadian. Maybe enamel is just in demand right now; who knows?)

Me: That's pretty awesome.

Boy #2: There isn't any tooth fairy!

Me: What are you talking about?

Boy #2: Parents are the ones who give you money. There isn't I any tooth fairy.

Me: Yes, there is. Now, shush.

Boy #2: But I'm telling there's no tooth fairy. It's parents. And there isn't any Santa Claus either.

Teacher #1: Oh, really? Then who brings presents then at Christmas?

Boy #2: Parents go Christmas shopping and they give the presents.

Me: That's ridiculous [Boy #2].

Boy #2: You're just saying that because you don't want all of the other kids to be sad.

Boy #1: There is too a Santa Claus [Boy #2]. He brought me a scooter for Christmas.

Boy #2: Look, I know there isn't any Santa Claus!

And on and on it went.

Does anyone see a problem here? Anyone at all?

He shouldn't have been sharing certain classified information that he had been privy to?

Getting warmer.

Well, what's the problem then, if not that?

At seven years old, he should not have been given that information in the first place. The truth about Santa's existence is a major step toward putting aside childhood and assuming the role of an adult, or at least at a young adult. The poor boy is not only ruining Christmas for the other children who wish to remain children but he has been robbed prematurely of the mysticism of innocent belief.

So, let this be a warning to all parents who think children have a right to know the "truth": they don't. They have a right to be kids, so let 'em be.