Belief in Father Christmas is beneficial — for children, a British psychiatrist said in an article published on Wednesday.
Santa encourages boys and girls to be good, Lynda Breen of from Alder Hey Children’s hospital in Liverpool wrote in the December issue of the Psychiatric Bulletin.
The belief that Father Christmas ”knows if you’ve been bad or good” helps teach children the difference between right and wrong, she said.
Breen said she gave thought to the issue after her nephews reached an age when they no longer believed in the tubby man with a white beard in the red outfit.
”Teaching children about Santa is a useful ace up a parent’s sleeve … it encourages their moral development as they believe he knows which children are good or bad.
”Most of the evidence suggests that children are actually quite positive when they find out the truth, and it is actually parents who mourn the loss,” she added.
Children could in fact be exploiting that parental sadness, Breen said.
”I suspect my nephews know he doesn’t exist but they are pretending he does because of all the associated benefits, such as presents, which go with it,” she said. — Sapa-DPA