Jayda Week 5: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

     Earlier today, my friend and I were both brainstorming ideas to use for this week’s blog. She brought up an idea that regards Santa Claus, which she ended up writing about. Her very well-written blog tells a story that implies that believing in Santa is good for a child’s innocence and that they should continue to believe in him. I gained inspiration from my disagreement with that and decided to write somewhat of a counterargument. 

    While I never believed in Santa Claus when I was younger, there were other figures that my parents used in parallel to how Santa is used on children. Santa is thought of as a jolly person but is commonly used as a manipulative way to encourage kids to do good. If they are bad, Santa would put them on the naughty list, and they would receive no gifts. This brings forth the idea in children that they will always be rewarded for doing good, which is unmistakably a bad idea to have. Additionally, allowing your kids to believe in Santa Claus is lying to them. For me, when I found out that the tooth fairy was fabricated, I cried for weeks, and I would rather my mom not let me believe in it. 

    One of the figures that my parents used on me was Hanukkah Harry. He was not used as such because he is not the official figure of Hanukkah, but my parents did tell me that he brought the gifts, and if I did not behave, then I would not receive any gifts. The more prominent figure used was The Man. Whenever my brother or I would misbehave, my mom would tell us that The Man would come and get us if we did not act accordingly. It got to a point where when my brother started to suspect that The Man was not real, my mom dressed up as The Man in an old leather jacket and a hat, then snuck into his room in the middle of the night to scare him into believing in The Man again. My brother, to this day, still talks about how terrified he was that night. 

    While I am able to acknowledge that sometimes having a figure such as Santa can be good, it should not be taken advantage of, as it can end up backfiring. For me, I feel as though The Man was slightly taken advantage of at the time, but now I am able to look back on it and laugh at how easily I believed in him. Do you think believing in fabricated figures can be beneficial?

P.S. It was requested for me to add that my mom, Angela Poller, regrets her past actions and has since grown from them.