The Integrity of Santa Claus 1
The Integrity of Santa Claus
A Moral Argument
Ashleigh Hartsel
Virginia Commonwealth University
Author’s Note:
This paper was prepared for Focused Inquiry II, section 008, taught by Dr. Nelson in the fall of
2014.
The Integrity of Santa Claus 2
Abstract
In this paper, I move to debate the morality of the popular Christmas icon, Kris
Kringle/Santa Claus. This widely known character, while not immediately seeming ethical, does
create a dilemma as to whether or not it is better to maximize happiness or to avoid lying to your
children. I move that the detriments of deceiving your child is worse than the benefits of
maximizing happiness. Santa Claus creates too much deception, despite the good he’s meant to
give.
The Integrity of Santa Claus 3
The Integrity of Santa Claus
A Moral Argument
If a child grows up in America, it’s safe to assume that he or she will at some time in their
early childhood come in contact with the notion of Kris Kringle, who is more commonly identified
as “Santa Claus” by their parents, friends, or by the media. This mythical character is particularly
notable in the month of December as the decorations for the most prevalent winter holiday,
Christmas, fully begin to arrive. Kris Kringle, or Santa Claus, who is believed by many children
to bring gifts on Christmas Eve which they may typically find under a Christmas tree and open the
following morning. Finding roots in Christianity’s St. Nicholas, this character is known for his
integrity and goodwill particularly in the holiday season. When faced with Santa Claus, ethics is
met with two predominate opposing sides: the maximization of happiness for all parties involved
versus the immorality of lying to children at such a young, vulnerable age.
When asking about how they feel about lying to their children about the concept of Santa
Claus, little to none of the parents tend to feel particularly guilty. Many of the parents feel that by
instilling the notion of Santa Claus, they maximize the happiness of both their children and
themselves, especially around the holiday season. The children themselves tend to feel delighted
in the notion of an unknown man coming to their houses and delivering presents when they’ve
been good for the year. The parents feel connected to their children in the knowledge they have
supplied memories and traditions throughout their sons’ and daughters’ childhoods, and at times,
the parents seem devastated when their children learn the truth of Santa Claus. Anderson and
Prentice (1994) would statistically support this notion when they found that after their children
had found out the truth about Santa Claus, 40% of them had a predominant feeling of sadness
because they felt “a certain ‘magic’ had been lost from the holidays (p.80).” In Anderson and
The Integrity of Santa Claus 4
Prentices’ (1994) study, it is also notable that this was the most common feeling amongst the
parents interviewed about the Santa Claus reveal (p. 80). This data is important in supporting the
notion that the parents had really received such a period of joy because the parents who are greatly
saddened are likely the ones who got so much enjoyment out of the Santa Claus façade in the first
place. The parents were able to invent and facilitate this experience in which their children tore
open gifts after a year of anticipation to find that they had received their wishes for their good
behavior throughout the year. The parents were able to look at this experience with the knowledge
that they had created this momentous event which brought so much delight to their children under
a façade which made the holidays all the more sweet. This notion tends to be undercut though
when looking at another one of Anderson and Prentices’ (1994) statistics which stated that the top
4 emotions experienced amongst the children were bad, sad, disappointed, and tricked (p. 78). This
counter statistic reminds us that after years of this mythical creature, many children are cut down
at the unearthing of the fact that this treasured holiday experience was nothing more than a lie
orchestrated for years at time by their parents. This maximization of happiness is temporary and
often leads to a period of grief or heartache for all parties involved.
On the other side of the integrity of Santa Claus, ethics turns to the notion that lying to a
child is not only questionable, but even more, ethically divergent. First, ethics must question why
it is that parents tend to lie to their children. Heymen, Hsu, Fu, and Lee (2012) found that that the
“vast majority of parents in the US and in China lie to their children to obtain behavioral
compliance (p. 1183).” This means that most of the parents who are lying to their children are
doing so in order to condition their behavior in such a way that reflects the parents’ desires. These
parents are using the notion of Santa Claus most often to administrate the idea that the children
The Integrity of Santa Claus 5
had better be good, or they would encounter a Christmas morning with nothing more than a
stocking full of coal.
The Santa Claus myth often seems extreme when actually facing the logistics of it all,
though. Gail Vines (2007) was particularly interested in why so many children believed such an
outlandish lie for so many years and speaks of a man named Wooley, who “believes it's because
the adults they count on to provide reliable information about the world introduce them to Santa.
Then friends, books, TV and movies shore up that belief, along with the ‘hard evidence’ planted
by their parents (p.1).” This means that young children, looking to their parents for an accurate
and correct model of how to live their lives are thrown this notion of Santa Claus with a variety of
proof cleverly orchestrated by their parents. This means that even though most children have it in
their capacity to actually distinguish reality from fantasy, they will use their parents as a
mechanism that, most times, will actually hinder them from using their full potential. So many of
the children, after questioning their parents, will turn back to their fantasies and let them trace back
into their realty. These fantasies will lead many kids into school with the hard-pressed belief that
Santa does exist, because their parents don’t lie. As stated before in Anderson and Prentices’
findings (1994), upon learning the truth about Santa Claus, many kids find themselves wrapped in
a negative veil of emotion which includes “disappointed” and the feeling that they had been tricked
(p.78). Morally, they seem to feel great injustice in the fact that their parents were so heavily and
comfortably deceitful. These kids see injustice in the fact that their parents were so easy able to
deceive them. Not only do they feel hurt, but also disappointed in themselves for falling for it all
along. Lying to children is so wrong and deceitful when realizing how much of their knowledge is
founded in the adults they encounter. The adults deliver such a great lying injustice in the Santa
Claus myth, leaving many kids hurt and ashamed. Using a Christian icon for lying and deception
The Integrity of Santa Claus 6
is wrong on so many moral grounds that it’s a little unnerving that so many adults are able to do it
without a second thought.
Kris Kringle, or Santa Claus, is an iconic holiday character known to many a children and
adult alike. While he may bring joy for a short period of time, it is undoubtable that he brings a lot
of sadness, at the reveal of his reality, and a lot of injustice to a susceptible audience. While it is
agreeable that it is okay to use this character to maximize happiness, it is still heavily disturbing
to think that adults would use this lie to mold their children. Kris Kringle is a common deception,
but he’ll remain popular until parents begin to feel remorse for the lies and injustice they award
their children. Kris Kringle, beloved holiday character with such a virtuous historical root and
passion, parenthood has failed ye.
The Integrity of Santa Claus 7
References
Anderson, Carl J., and Norman M. Prentice. "Encounter with Reality: Children's Reactions on
Discovering the Santa Claus Myth." Child Psychiatry and Human Development 25.2
(1994): 67-84. Web.
Heyman, Gail D., Anna S. Hsu, Genyue Fu, and Kang Lee. "Instrumental Lying by Parents in the
US and China." International Journal of Psychology 48.6 (2013): 1176-184. Web.
Vines, Gail. "The Santa Delusion." New Scientist 196.2635-2636 (2007): 36-37. Web.