The Surfin’ Dad

Ever since we’ve had children we have wrestled with “The Santa Dilemma” on an annual basis.

For those of you not familiar with the dilemma, here are the two warring factions:

• Santa is a harmless, fun, endearing icon that represents everything good about Christmas
• You will betray your children’s trust if you’ve been outright lying to them for years

While one of the statements seems a little extreme, I can see the logic behind that thought process.

Although you are just “fibbing” with your kids to keep the “magic” alive you are in fact, by definition, lying to them. We’ve Santa Claus discussed “little white lies” with our kids on several occasions and explained to them that they are still being untruthful.

I have even heard psychologists say that it is unsettling to children when they find out there isn’t a Santa because it makes them wonder how many others beliefs that they hold are false.

In all honestly, we still haven’t figured out the best solution. Our eldest two children (both 10 and over) were told that there isn’t a Santa. We’ve pondered telling our young daughter (6) but every year around this time she gets so excited talking about Santa that we just haven’t had the heart to.

So, how about a little contest to get everyone in the mood for the Holiday season? Here’s all you have to do:

• Send me an email at “thesurfindad at gmail dot com”
• Tell me how you handle “The Santa Dilemma”

At the end of the month, I’ll gather all the responses and select 2 winners; one will be selected by a random number generator based on the order received, the second will be the best response (in my opinion) to “The Santa Dilemma.”

The only rules are:

• I must receive your email by 12:00 a.m. on 10/31/2007
• If you win the “best response” contest, you must agree to allow me to post your response in a comment to this post. Don’t worry, I’ll remove your children’s names, your name, your email, and any identifying information. In fact, you’ll have a chance to edit the post before I post it.

The prize will be your choice of either:

• A phone call from Santa
• $10 via Paypal

So, take advantage of this free, relatively no strings attached offer and net a little extra Holiday cheer or cash for the season!

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