In a couple of days, the whole country will celebrate the onset of the next New Year. But now, in all institutions, matinees, Christmas trees, and corporate parties are in full swing. And their regular is a character familiar to us all - “Santa Claus”...Recently on the Internet I came across two publications about how people got into trouble with the law (and a young teacher lost her job altogether) only because they denied the existence of a Western analogue "Father Frost" - Santa Claus. They say that the children and their psyche were simply irreparably damaged. Meanwhile, are these people so far from the truth?! On the one hand, “Santa Claus” and his foreign “colleagues” help create and maintain a feeling of fairy tales and magic. And this is good. It’s good because in the modern world, children should have the opportunity to experience a miracle, even an artificially created one. But this is good only up to a certain point. Because children inevitably grow up and develop. And fueling their belief in something unreal (which DM, in essence, is), to some extent inhibits their psychological development, because Such fairy tales are good only for children, but not for older children. And then... sooner or later the children will still find out the truth. Just like they learn about “storks and cabbages.” And then they will understand that their parents were simply deceiving them. Even if it was done seemingly for the good. Deception is deception in Africa too... and this can cast a very thick shadow of mistrust on the relationship between children and parents. This is one of the “minus” points. Another such point is purely financial. If, for example, in Soviet times, children found a gift “from Santa Claus” under the Christmas tree, it could be anything. And the children were happy even with inexpensive little things. Nowadays, the practice of writing letters to “Santa Claus” is gaining momentum. And here lies the big catch. Because it’s good if the child understands that asking for something extremely expensive is not worth it. And if not? Let's imagine a situation: a modest family from a small town with little income. And then the child writes a cherished letter to his kind grandfather, and asks for no less than the latest model iPhone. It is clear that parents will not be able to afford this. No, of course, they can get into debt and loans, just so that their child is not disappointed. What's the point? Still, I am inclined to believe that gifts should be not only according to one’s means, but also according to one’s age. It is somewhat strange to see a junior high school student (unless he is the heir of some oil tycoon) sporting a fancy pipe. Those. – in the situation there are several options for development: a) parents will go into debt and still provide an expensive gadget so as not to upset their child, b) there will be no iPhone under the tree, and then Santa Claus becomes almost enemy No. 1. c) the child is so confident that Santa Claus will not “throw him away” that he begins to almost harass his parents, saying that you are bad, but he is good, he will give it to me... or another option - Santa Claus will give me an iPhone, and you, please, a Lego set from the latest collections. As we see, in this case, the parents ended up not only buying an iPhone, but also buying a set... This is how a seemingly “innocent” lie can backfire. Perhaps it is also worth mentioning that “Santa Claus” himself appeared in our country during the heyday of communism. That is, just when Christianity became prohibited, and everything connected with it (including the celebration of Christmas) was also prohibited and actively condemned. Those. the character of Santa Claus himself served as a substitute and, in fact, represented a substitution of values. Because who is the main character at Christmas? That's right - the Christ child. And in the Soviet years, it was impossible to even think about Him, let alone celebrate. Actually, “Santa Claus” is also not so harmless and good. Firstly, in the West, he also “pulled the blanket” over himself, overshadowing the whole essence of Christmas with himself and his elves/gnomes/deer (note: abroad it is this that is the main holiday, not the New Year). Meanwhile, many Western/