Santa ClausI've always heard warnings that you shouldn't let your kids watch the news with you, because it's just not appropriate for the little ones. And now one Chicago TV news anchor has made it so. Yes, Virginia, there is a Grinch! Her name is Robin Robinson, and right slam bang in the middle of a broadcast of the news, she uttered the four words that fill American parents with dread: "There is no Santa."

Come on now! Doesn't she know the cardinal rule of Kris Kringle?

Kids aren't supposed to learn the truth about the fat dude in the red suit from some creepy adult. They're supposed to have their hearts broken the old-fashioned way ... from some jerk on the school bus. Or on the monkey bars!

That's just how childhood works -- in my humble opinion. By and large, I'm one of those "I don't lie to my kid" parents. But the Santa myth -- to me -- isn't really about coercing her into cooperating in the month of December. It's about allowing the magic of childhood to bloom inside her.

And so it is that I think kids' Santa dreams should follow a child-like course. When they're shattered, it should be in a more natural way, preferably at the hands (voice?) of other kids.

I remember the day mine were blown to smithereens. I was lying, sick, in the nurse's office at my school. Joined by a long hallway to the school's main office, it was a spot perfect for a nosy little girl who would grow up to be a journalist. It was not, however, the best spot for eavesdropping in December if you were still hellbent on believing the Santa myth. Because the gym teacher who waltzed into the main office and talked about "playing" Santa to his colleagues also happened to be the dad of one of my best friends. Dreams crushed.

I'm sensitive, OK? It felt like a bomb had been dropped. And I couldn't say anything. I couldn't write it off as "what do they know?" because it was an adult rather than another kid. I couldn't work my way slowly toward the end of a cherished childhood dream. I'd rather the Santa myth have ended slowly, so I could have wallowed.

To be fair, Mr. R. didn't know there was a nosy little girl just down the hall. It wasn't his fault. Parents in Chicago have more of a right to be outraged at Robinson, who punched kids right in the guts on prime time TV (if you want to get right to it, jump to 2:55 . . . obviously, kick the kids out of the room first!):

 

Shopping Mall Santas Scaling Back Kids' Expectations, Profiling Parents: MyFoxCHICAGO.com

It was the 9 p.m. news broadcast, but still, hasn't she heard of families who use the DVR and play these things back later? The 6-year-old who bounds out of bed to demand a glass of water when she's supposed to be asleep? No wonder she apologized in a later broadcast.

I know life isn't perfect. Kids will learn the truth about Santa somehow, some way. I just hope my daughter will learn it from another kid, so she can question, so she can come to terms with her beliefs versus reality slowly and more or less on her own terms. This is, after all, the reason I let her believe in the first place.

Have your kids learned the truth about Santa Claus yet? How did it go down?

 

Image via Bart Fields/Flickr