The little white lies that we tell our children

As my husband and I headed to the grocery store, my weird little brain had a thought -- why do we as a society talk about Santa knowing if we are good or bad and use it as the reason we should be "good". What brought this on in early October? We won't do Elf on a Shelf because we don't do Santa in the traditional sense nor do we like the message sent that you should be good because someone is watching. I had seen the beginning of Christmas pins on Pinterest some related to the Elf. I then started thinking of the song, "Santa Claus is coming to town". "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake." Besides being creepy as all get-out (and I love all things Christmas), we tell kids in to be good for the sake of goodness but then say that someone will judge them if they are not "good" enough. Woah. No. I don't like that at all. 

So because my brain is a little weird and thought of this, I shared my thought with my husband. He hadn't ever noticed that line either. Then he mentioned that it is kind of like telling kids to be nice because God is watching. Again, no! Jesus never, to my knowledge, preached that we should follow His teachings only because He is watching. My understanding and belief is that we should follow them because that is what we are called to do. Whether anyone notices or watches or what have you, I want my kids to follow those teachings: treat others with kindness, be honest, treat mom and dad with respect, don't be jealous of others, don't cheat, honor God and put Him first, don't steal, don't murder, don't take God's name in vain, keep the Sabbath. There are a few of those that I need to work on too. ;)

It has become such a common theme in our society to do something because we are being watched, because someone will notice if we do/don't do whatever, because there will be a consequence that we don't even notice it anymore. But the truth is, there is no physical or monetary reward to being nice, be nice anyway. The reward that you reap for being kind/honest/respectful is that you know in your heart of hearts the you are being good. This is why if anyone ever teaches my children to be good because Santa and/or God are watching, I will swiftly tell you, and my children, that they are to be good even because that is what they are called to do, no matter who sees or doesn't see them.