Psychiatrists often argue that lying to your kids about Santa Claus can cause more harm than good. In fact, a new essay published in the Lancet Psychiatry suggests that doing so can “undermine the trust in the parent-child relationship.”
But this isn’t always the case. Research shows that the Santa Claus myth is mostly harmless, and can actually help kids develop critical thinking skills.
Watch the video above to hear more, but just make sure your little kids can't hear!
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Worst Ways To Find Out The Truth About Santa
Grandma and grandpa spilled the beans(01 of08)
“When I was 5 I asked my grandpa if Santa was real, in front of the whole family, and he said ‘No.’ My whole family was pissed at him and a riot ensued.” – GotAF*ingUsername“My grandma told me when I was 6, casually walking to church. ‘You know Santa isn't real, don't you? It's your mother.’” – satanaintwaitin (credit:Rebecca Nelson via Getty Images)
Handwriting slip(02 of08)
“I was about 9 or 10 and I realized it because my parents and Santa used the same wrapping paper and had the same hand writing. Plus my mother is very dyslexia and signed half of the presents from: satan. I actually remember that when I realized it I absolutely had to tell my little brother, I felt like my whole life was a lie centered around the conspiracy that is Santa and everyone needed to know about it.” – alappel01 (credit:PeopleImages via Getty Images)
If the Tooth Fairy isn’t real, then…(03 of08)
“I lost a tooth and decided not to tell my parents, just to see if the tooth fairy was actually real. When she didn't come the next morning I was pretty upset. So that night I told my parents what I'd done, and made them tell me everything they'd lied to me about, including Santa. Cue mom crying and dad laughing. In my mom's words I lost my childhood that night.” – HardCallis “Similar thing in my house. Crying over being told there was no tooth fairy and I say ‘you’ll be telling me Santa’s not real next.’ My mum just looks to one side and says ‘well…’ which upped the wailing to nuclear levels. To this day she swears this never happened but you don’t forget the day you lost the Tooth Fairy AND Santa.” – mrmessiah (credit:Big Cheese Photo via Getty Images)
Bad liar(04 of08)
“My mums a terrible liar.” – MssDare (credit:JGI/Jamie Grill via Getty Images)
Reality check(05 of08)
“I was in a car with my mom and older sister. All sisters have big mouths, and she let the secret slip. My genius mind starting putting it all together, and moments later I had surmised there was no Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy either.” – Spastic_Squirrel“Older brother woke me up and pointed out the window into the night, and said ‘look! there's Santa Claus.’ I snapped up looked out, eyes wide, my nose pressed against the glass, to see my dad unloading the car of presents. He said ‘dad is Santa. There's no Santa, it's dad. So be sure to thank him and not some make believe guy. Dad works hard.’” – HotrodCorvair (credit:Betsie Van der Meer via Getty Images)
Technology is not our friend(06 of08)
“I just googled ‘is Santa real.’ What it should say is simply ‘yes’ with no other page results. We live in strange times.” – LearningLifeAsIGo (credit:Kevin Day via Getty Images)
Not everybody loves Raymond(07 of08)
“It was mentioned on an episode of 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' I always hated that show after that.” – thenipooped (credit:Tatyana Tomsickova Photography via Getty Images)
Overexcited parents(08 of08)
“I don't remember how old I was, but I do remember putting clues together. Once there was the time I opened a cassette and my dad blurted out that that would play in the cassette deck I still had yet to open.” – GoogleNoAgenda (credit:Images By Tang Ming Tung via Getty Images)