I was told it’s ‘unethical’ to let your children know the truth about Santa Claus New research claims that lying to our children about Father Christmas coming down the chimney to deliver presents is a form of bad parenting.
But now I’m questioning the whole thing: new research claims lying to our children about Santa – and presumably the elf – is a form of bad parenting.
Last week he argued in The Conversation that enabling children to believe in Father Christmas is “unethical” and “manipulative”, that it “breaches their trust” and is an example of “parenting by lying” – meaning being deceptive in order to control a child’s behaviour or emotions.
Dr Joseph Millum, a philosopher at the University of St Andrews, has been researching the ethics of lying to one’s children for a bigger philosophical project on the ethics of parenting.
And I have my own suspicions that Lola, eight, already knows the truth despite her claims otherwise – some of her friends, at least, definitely know Santa and the elf aren’t real.
