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No they don't need to believe in the tooth fairy, but we need to teach our children that God exists.
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"Many adults are put off when youngsters pose scientific questions. Children ask why the sun is yellow, or what a dream is, or how deep you can dig a hole, or when is the world’s birthday, or why we have toes. Too many teachers and parents answer with irritation or ridicule, or quickly move on to something else. Why adults should pretend to omniscience before a five-year-old, I can’t for the life of me understand. What’s wrong with admitting that you don’t know? Children soon recognize that somehow this kind of question annoys many adults. A few more experiences like this, and another child has been lost to science. There are many better responses. If we have an idea of the answer, we could try to explain. If we don’t, we could go to the encyclopedia or the library. Or we might say to the child: “I don’t know the answer. Maybe no one knows. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll be the first to find out." -- Carl Sagan
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Yes, I believe children need to believe in these things because they learn from those experiences. Seeing an older child with his or her younger sibling is a special sight when the older child knows that Santa and the Tooth Fairy do not exist, yet he or she plays along with the younger sibling simply because it is fun and an unwritten tradition within our society. I wouldn't put God or religion in general into that category because there are far too many elements and attributes that result in children being forced to make a choice of whether to believe, rather than letting the myth present itself and a child realizing it is obviously a myth.
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See? There's a question with more than one right answer. None of these things really exist and we are bald face lying to our children. And spending our days telling them that lying is such a bad, untrustworthy thing. Which it is. Honesty is a virtue everyone should practice. But Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy? Everyone is entitled to thier own opinion, but I would hate to live in a world where we don't encourage a child to believe in magic and the power of imagination. We were so poor when I was a kid, but I remember the magic of waking up on Christmas and seeing all the stuff Santa had left for me. It made me feel like magic was real. We plant jellybeans in the garden for my nephew. Water them everyday for a week. Then he finds lollipops with little ribbons growing out of the ground. Yes its a lie. But he believes in the impossible and it makes him wonder what else is possible in the world. I could never raise my kid without magic. Its a special gift.
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No, religion always confused me as a child because it kinda makes no sense. Its like if you tell a child everything will be ok and everyone will love you, but you have to leave cookies next to the furnace for the old fat bearded man. He will bring you presents. I dont think that santa is bad for children, but he gives you gifts, not the guarantee for eternal salvation, would you promise your child the hope of eternal salvation. Or should I say the illusion of everlasting life, would you risk giving something to your child that might be wrong.
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Yes, yes I do. And here is the reason why: they need practice to ascertain what does or does not actually exist even though they can't be seen. Getting a quarter under your pillow after you loose a tooth is probably an easier start that discussing epistimolgy with a toddler.
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I wonder if we don't give them a few "safe" ones . . . they will just come up with their own? (Like the Boogey-man? I have heard, on apparently good authority, that the Tooth Fairy can take the Boogey-man with one wing tied behind her back -- even when the's not PMS'ing!)
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I've always loved the greek myths, and they can be a lot more entertaining then the scientific theories. They make sense if you believe that kind of stuff.
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When I was a kid and found out the tooth fairy and all that was a sham, I was confused as why my parents even bothered. If I have kids I don't plan on raising them into buying into it. I'd let them know about it and how other kids at school might believe in it but how it's not real and to let the other kids keep believing it.
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IMHO, myth is humankinds explaination for the unexplainable. and somewhere, buried deep inside that "myth" is a tiny kernal of "truth". there is, at the heart of all myths, some kind of basis for it.
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IMHO, myth is humankinds explaination for the unexplainable. and somewhere, buried deep inside that "myth" is a tiny kernal of "truth". there is, at the heart of all myths, some kind of basis for it.
"History became legend, legend became myth.And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. " Galadrial...LOTR
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At all ages, if [fantasy and myth] is used well by the author and meets the right reader, it has the same power: to generalize while remaining concrete, to present in palpable form not concepts or even experiences but whole classes of experience, and to throw off irrelevancies. But at its best it can do more; it can give us experiences we have never had and thus, instead of 'commenting on life,' can add to it.”
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At all ages, if [fantasy and myth] is used well by the author and meets the right reader, it has the same power: to generalize while remaining concrete, to present in palpable form not concepts or even experiences but whole classes of experience, and to throw off irrelevancies. But at its best it can do more; it can give us experiences we have never had and thus, instead of 'commenting on life,' can add to it.”
? C.S. Lewis
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Bruno Bettelheim wrote a book called "Kinder Brauchen Märchen" which translates to "children need fairy tales". Its the way to help them to process reality when reality is sometimes a bit too scarey to grasp. Its about childhood fears and conflicts- childhood development. So the "giant" is an adult, and the "bad stepmother" or "witch" is oftentimes the real mother. In his book he tells of one little boy who is read a bedtime story and at the end he says "Mom- there is no such thing as a giant is there?" and Mom says "No there isnt." Boy ponders this a bit and then says "But there are adults!"
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Bruno Bettelheim wrote a book called "Kinder Brauchen Märchen" which translates to "children need fairy tales". Its the way to help them to process reality when reality is sometimes a bit too scarey to grasp. Its about childhood fears and conflicts- childhood development. So the "giant" is an adult, and the "bad stepmother" or "witch" is oftentimes the real mother. In his book he tells of one little boy who is read a bedtime story and at the end he says "Mom- there is no such thing as a giant is there?" and Mom says "No there isnt." Boy ponders this a bit and then says "But there are adults!"
But that is a phase and at one point- we all know that a fairy tale is an allegory for something else. At least we don`t come across many adults who still believe in Santa Claus.
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Only to the same extent that they need imagination to become interesting human beings.
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Only to the same extent that they need imagination to become interesting human beings.
which means yes...
The Greek myths and most others serve a mixture of purposes.
The long term abuse of myths, by the powerful, to promote primordial fears and create an obedient controllable population should not be an excuse to throw out mythology itself...
understanding that myths are essential and spring naturally from our self awareness, our consciousness, is a good awareness -
along with the obvious essential learning that creation and saviour prophet/God myths are just that -
and never, to be taken literally.
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Mythology is like magic for kids. It fuels their imagination, which is so important in a kids life. It's like having a religion, it gives us hope and so. Everybody likes a good story after all, it's up to the individual whether they choose to believe it. So if a child asks if a fantasy is real, tell them it is up to them to decide. Perhaps this is a way to shape certain perspectives and rationalism early on in life.
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Mythology cannot make sense of the world for anyone, children or adults. Having to grow up and learn that adults lied about and sugar coated so many things for us doesn't sit right with me. Why would anyone feel compelled to bring someone into the world without their consent, and then lie to them about what's really going on? Seems pretty sick to me. You should encourage your kids to have good reasons for the things they believe in. Honesty is the best policy.
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I think most people need some sort of "mythology" to make sense of the world. Any question in life that starts with "why" but has no simple answer can be hard to digest... Sometimes people pick the simplest answer (regardless of it's validity) and run with it because they don't know what else to do. "Mythology" can also help people deal with painful but necessary things in life, whether it be tolerating the pain of losing and cutting teeth because the tooth fairy will leave money under their pillow, or dealing with the loss of a loved one by thinking they're in a better place. Either way, sometimes a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.
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So in short, do children need to believe in the things like the tooth fairy?
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So in short, do children need to believe in the things like the tooth fairy?
People need perspective in the world. Being able to see things in a different light from time to time can be a good thing. Things like the tooth fairy are fun for kids and it rarely interferes with there day to day except on the occasions of losing a tooth. Kids normally come to the conclusions that it is a lie on their own, I think having that lie serves a purpose to help show them the world has tricks up its sleeve that you need to be aware of. Like not be so gullible and believe everything people tell you, rather investigate and come to your own conclusions. :) Night Mr. Tooth Fairy
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I saw the episode in question. Temperance is merely giving Booth a rational he will believe in order allow him to exercise his parental prerogatives without seeming condescending. One wonders if actually delivering her baby in a manger after finding no room at the inn will change her world view.
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