Telling children the truth

[AiA in Atlanta]

Am surprised SN is married to a Catholic ...

[Super Nova]

Never really thought about it until now.

I hope to raise a female Dawkins. If she turns out to be a god botherer I will have failed as a parent.

[IQS.RLOW]

Never really thought about it until now.

I hope to raise a female Dawkins. If she turns out to be a god botherer I will have failed as a parent.

Dawkins is actually a massive prat...and I'm an atheist myself. Don't wish douchebaggedness on your daughter.

[Chard]

blah blah blah dilemma blah blah blah

Children tend to be a good deal more perceptive at spotting bullshit than adults. After all, the little crotch spawn are still learning and their minds have yet to hit the fixed patterns of adulthood that make it so difficult for grownups to change their minds on a topic when shown to be glaringly wrong. Bear in mind, not all children are intelligent enough to independently derive Occam's Razor and its logical consequences, so think of the Easter Bunny, Santa, and the mountains of bullshit learned in Sunday School as a kind of test to see if your children are learning disabled enough to maintain belief in religious mummery past the age of 10. If they make it that far and still believe in fanciful notions like the Tooth Fairy, inherent goodness, and/or can rationalize a kind and loving creator with the real world I'd suggest handing them an application for membership in the Republican Party and that you and your wife take a trip to the bedroom and try again hopefully with better results in ten years time.

Myself, I figured it was all bullshit at age six when I noticed that Santa had the same handwriting as my mother. Once that was solved I went on to catch the Tooth Fairy with her hand under my pillow (mom again), the Easter Bunny hiding eggs in the backyard (that was Pop), and by ten I was asked to leave Sunday school after pointing out to the teacher that saying "the Bible is the word of God because it says so" is the logical equivalent of a dog chasing it's tail.

[Rorschach]

My view is to let children be children for as long as possible. Christmas, Easter etc is an exciting time for kids, so let them enjoy it. You can teach them the religious significance of it without taking away the fantasy.

There's time enough for the real world to kick in.

yep...