I'll tell you what's ****, ****ing relatives sending

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Originally Posted by Monty92

It's not just about religion. I think credulousness is essentially a bug in our human hardware that can mestastise if you don't catch it early. I know I risk sounding a bit fanatical, but it's really about nothing more than wanting my kids to fulfill their intellectual potential (something I personally feel short-changed about).

Regarding Christmas, I have no problem with traditions and customs deriving from religion that have taken on secular veneers. There is no conceit to Christmas.

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I'm not really clear how believing in Santa as a five year-old can stop one from fulfilling one's intellectual potential, tbh. It's a simply massive leap from believing in Santa to an all-consuming life of religious devotion and one that I'm not convinced has any basis in fact.

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Originally Posted by Monty92

It's not just about religion. I think credulousness is essentially a bug in our human hardware that can mestastasise if you don't catch it early. I know I risk sounding a bit fanatical, but it's really about nothing more than wanting my kids to fulfill their intellectual potential (something I personally feel short-changed about).

Regarding Christmas, I have no problem with traditions and customs deriving from religion that have taken on secular forms. There is no conceit to Christmas.

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Simple, relevant and pertinent question here, I feel.

Monty, would you describe yourself as a control freak? Or, at least, partially one?

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Originally Posted by World's End Stella

Simple, relevant and pertinent question here, I feel.

Monty, would you describe yourself as a control freak? Or, at least, partially one?

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I've always found that phrase a bit meaningless. Not least because everyone seems to call themselves a control freak as soon as they want something done properly that isn't entirely in their own hands.

So occasionally, yes, but not pathalogically. And I don't think anyone's ever suggested I am, that I can recall.

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Originally Posted by Burney

I'm not really clear how believing in Santa as a five year-old can stop one from fulfilling one's intellectual potential, tbh. It's a simply massive leap from believing in Santa to an all-consuming life of religious devotion and one that I'm not convinced has any basis in fact.

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As I said, it's very much not just about religion. You can be credulous about literally anything, Jeff.

Maybe you're right and it's unlikely to make a difference. But I don't see sufficient cost-benefit in letting the lie endure.

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Originally Posted by Monty92

As I said, it's very much not just about religion. You can be credulous about literally anything, Jeff.

Maybe you're right and it's unlikely to make a difference. But I don't see sufficient cost-benefit in letting the lie endure.

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Does this cost-benefit analysis include such things as them spending their adult lives moaning about how they weren't even allowed to believe in Father Christmas when they were kids because their dad had weird, North Londoney ideas about parenting?

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Originally Posted by Burney

Does this cost-benefit analysis include such things as them spending their adult lives moaning about how they weren't even allowed to believe in Father Christmas when they were kids because their dad had weird, North Londoney ideas about parenting?

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I don't worry too much about that, to be honest. I reckon I'm sufficiently non-weird about most other stuff to just about compensate...

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Originally Posted by Monty92

I don't worry too much about that, to be honest. I reckon I'm sufficiently non-weird about most other stuff to just about compensate...

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You'd be surprised what kids hold deep resentments about. I still get grief from my 18 year-old about a particular incident where I made her eat ratatouille when she was about 7. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Burney

You'd be surprised what kids hold deep resentments about. I still get grief from my 18 year-old about a particular incident where I made her eat ratatouille when she was about 7. :rolleyes:

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Rightly so, I think. Tyrant.

You, not her.

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Originally Posted by Monty92

It's not just about religion. I think credulousness is essentially a bug in our human hardware that can mestastasise if you don't catch it early. I know I risk sounding a bit fanatical, but it's really about nothing more than wanting my kids to fulfill their intellectual potential (something I personally feel short-changed about).

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Without credulity we'd never have come down from the trees in the first place. Seriously, without belief, the sun would fail to come up in the morning.

Instead a mere ball of flaming gas would appear over the horizon. You could grind the whole universe into dust and not find a single speck of justice, compassion, or love. All of these are our creations, from our imaginations, that make us human.

Also, you should have more belief in your child's abilities and more respect for their freedom. With an attitude like yours they might rebel and go off and become radical god-bothers of your least favourite variety, or something.

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Originally Posted by Ash

Without credulity we'd never have come down from the trees in the first place. Seriously, without belief, the sun would fail to come up in the morning.

Instead a mere ball of flaming gas would appear over the horizon. You could grind the whole universe into dust and not find a single speck of justice, compassion, or love. All of these are our creations, from our imaginations, that make us human.

Also, you should have more belief in your child's abilities and more respect for their freedom. With an attitude like yours they might rebel and go off and become radical god-bothers of your least favourite variety, or something.

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Nope. Justice, compassion and love are all driven by our evolutionary instinct. How they manifest is of course socially and culturally constructed but the instincts are innate.

And there is absolutely no need to believe in anything supernatural for anyone to live their lives according to these innate instincts.