I hate to call this woman the "B" word, but...

[Catch22Dem]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-santa03dec03,0,7658758.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

<SNIP>
D.J.'s teacher, Geneta Codner, was reading a story about the Tooth Fairy on Monday and the class started discussing what was real and what was not, said district spokesman Joe Donzelli. The subject of Santa then came up, and the teacher started questioning parts of his story -- How could a fat jolly man fit down a chimney? How could reindeer fly around the world in one night? -- and told the children that wasn't possible.

"I hear complaints on both sides. `Oh, it's harmless fun.' Or, `You're setting them up to think Jesus isn't real,'" he said.
</SNIP>

[artvark]

1. Ms. Silver has it right.

Good ol' Santa's right there in your hearts, never leaves.

[SmileyBoy]

2. The kids were too young for someone to tell them that.

Give those poor little kids some childhood good-feeling.

Now if it was in a 4th or 5th grade class, then it might be a different story. I don't know how I would react if I was 6 and found that out from my teacher.

[Guaranteed]

3. `You're setting them up to think Jesus isn't real,'

Huh?

These are pretty darned young kids, but it's really never too early to encourage the art of critical thinking. It's a must for an intelligent, independent-minded person.

On edit: Let the kids believe in Santa Clause for awhile, though, for criminy's sake.

[dfong63]

4. the teacher was right

there's never a wrong age for the truth. the sooner kids learn to deal with it, the better. if parents are so worried about their kids' so-called "innocence" being destroyed, then why did they lie to their kids in the first place?

[Catch22Dem]

7. Oh please

You can't possibly believe that tripe! You think letting kids believe in Santa somehow equates to bad parenting? WRONG! Letting kids believe in God...now there's a crime!

[Rocinante]

5. It sounds just plain ol' mean

to do that to little kids. Let them be little kids, they will grow up soon enough.

[roguevalley]

6. Doesn't say what grade I don't think but I believe let them believe.

I've done hand puppets with fifth graders and when the
kids talk, they talk to the puppet even though they know
its me and my mouth is moving. I love kids, I love their
whimsy. They are old forever. Let them be kids now. Take
a kid aside who might question but leave the others their
whimsy.

[rasputin1952]

8. There is nothing wrong with letting a child believe...

that there are good people like Santa in the world. There gruelling horrors of the world are still pretty far off for these kids, and the
little time they have to believe in goodness is limited, let them have it.

As for Santa himself....He lives in the hearts and minds of us that still believe that the world is not entirely cruel and cold. For those of us that perpetuate the Santa story, we understand that that the giving of love and gifts is an experience unparalleled in this life. Those of us that do Random Acts of Kindness keep the light and life of Santa bright and warm.O8)