For all those skeptics who said today’s child enjoys no magic, there’s the example of Harry Potter. Benita Sen takes up cudgels for some age-old charming beliefs that cannot be explained by reason.
Imagine with me that it’s already December 24, 2002. Santa Claus will be visiting us tonight. It’s Christmas Eve and we’re preparing the first piece of plum cake, the cookies and candies to leave by the tree for the ol’ man. There’s excitement in the air, there’s hope.
Santa has been visiting us for the past 12 years at the 10 different addresses we’ve lived in during Christmas. The first visit, with a squeaky, garish rubber Donald, was when our daughter was two months old.
DECEMBER 25, 2002
The letter went off a little late this year and the family has seen a couple of anxious moments, wondering if it would reach in time... But Santa has not disappointed us. He nibbled up the cake and quaffed off the water, and he left some great books and natty trinkets.
REST OF THE YEAR — SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!
For today’s child, faith in wondrous people like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy is not easy to sustain.
Posted to a city known for its quality schooling, we considered ourselves fortunate to get our daughter admitted, mid-term, to one of the ‘new’ schools where she learnt a host of ‘novel’ and unusual things. But all that took a toss when the eight-year-old came home perturbed, after her teacher teased her in public for believing in Santa. “There’s no Santa!” she laughed and told the class, for good measure, “It’s your parents who leave the stuff in his name.”
We were stunned. Fortunately, we had just received a letter from Santa’s den in Finland and we sat with our daughter, discussing different aspects of faith. We chose to believe in Santa and also, not to flout our faith. It’s a personal matter and thereafter, we’ve made virtually no announcements to friends and relatives going like, “Ooh! Look what Santa has brought!” In fact, we treat the visit as something exclusive!
Confirms Delhi psychiatrist Dr Sanjay Chugh, “It helps kids retain their sense of wonder and their contact with goodness while, at the same time, learning a lot of positive values, and internalising and imbibing these.” The reverse is just as true. A child brought up on reason alone may grow up to be so matter-of-fact, that she could find the world closing in on her when things go a little awry.
GOOD TIMES TEACH GOOD THINGS
The thought behind such traditions goes far beyond the simple giving of gifts. Rather, they mould personality. A gift or a surprise is a thoughtful social gesture that a child picks up early. Says Kamini Sinha, who lives close to an orphanage, “My 11-year-old decided, some years ago, that we’d play Santa Claus to the Ashram children, and through the year, we collect, set aside or buy small gifts for the 40-odd children.”
The Sinhas pack their gifts and leave them with the authorities on Christmas Eve. The next day, when they visit the children with biscuits, it feels wonderful to see each one of them bring out their gifts to show what Santa left for them.
Such sentiments teach a child to be more giving, not only with material gifts, but with time and emotions as well. At first, the child may be good through the year because Santa wouldn’t visit otherwise, but gradually, such behaviour comes naturally. “All this goes to make up the child’s superego, which is a repository of internalised values, norms, ethics, morals and so on. What better way to do it than this?” asks Dr Chugh.
Even in this cyber age, children enjoy a little that is magical. Says science teacher Sunaina Sharma, “Nothing can prove that better than the phenomenal success of Harry Potter. When I first read the series, I couldn’t relate to it. When my students began gushing over it, I picked it up again and read it with their sense of wonder.”
Today, she discusses Rowling and Roald Dahl with her students and finds that they come up with some very plausible solutions to links her trained adult mind cannot provide. “It took me all these years to appreciate a little magic and mystery in our lives!” she laughs.
O Come All Ye Faithful