19. The Santa Lie

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2012/12/the_santa_lie_is_the_big_christmas_con_hurting_our_kids.html

In her article "The Santa Lie," science writer Melinda Wenner Moyer argues that telling young children that Santa Claus exists is a not a bad type of lie and can benefit their cognitive development. Moyer grabs the attention of her audience as she first recognizes the possible argument of why the Santa lie is ridiculous for the children to progress; it obviously contradicts them being told "to be truthful" and the teaching "about the laws of physics." In the following paragraph, Moyer also suggests that 'it's generally best to keep" lies "to a minimum, both to develop trust between yourself and your child and to lead by example." However, she claims that there are good lies and bad lies and argues that the Santa lie is a "good lie" which does not harm the health of the children's mind set. Moyer claims that the Santa lie "feeds the imagination" and cultivates "theory of mind," a skill which "helps kids predict and understand other people's behavior." She exemplifies this with a "1997 study by University of Oregon psychologist Marjorie Taylor" which discovered that 4-year-olds who frequently play using their imaginations are better able to "distinguish appearances from reality, understand other people's expectations and know that perceptions depend of the context." Moyer also claims that fantasy play helps develop children's reasoning skills because they force kids to think through hypothetical scenarios. She supports this claim with another professional study by "Alison Gopnik, a psychologist at UC-Berkeley" which suggests that fantasy play eventually "helps children develop models of how the world works." Moyer supports her last claim of fantasy play and imagination being effective "therapeutic for kids going through tough times" with the example of the 2006 study which found that within the "sheltered camps during the end of the second Israel-Lebanon war" children who were asked to "look after" a stuffed animal "experienced fewer stress-related problems" than children without the stuffed animals.

The author's purpose is to persuade the readers that the "Santa lie" is harmless by proving how beneficial it can be to a child's cognitive development. She also wishes to advise parents to recognize and minimize the "bad lies," which parents use to avoid responsibility, while allowing the "good lies" such as the Santa lie, to benefit their children. The author intends this message toward parent readers with young children, hoping to rescue them out of the possible dilemma of whether or not the Santa lie would hurt their children.