7 Scientific Reasons to Believe in Santa | By Dr. Kayden Bradley

We should tackle reality in a slightly joking way... otherwise we miss its point.

~Lawrence Durrell,  Expatriate British Novelist 

We are now officially a week out from the most magical day of the year.  Christmas day is nearly upon us and I can't help, in the spirit of the season, but think about how much imagination plays a role.  For many of us, even as adults, Santa, his sleigh full of presents for children around the world, flying reindeer and toy-building elves continues to exist much as it did in our childhood.  In recent years, however, I have been introduced to those who refuse to celebrate Santa, not because of religious beliefs, as you might yourself imagine, but rather because they refuse to give another, like Santa, credit for all their hard work at Christmas time.  

To each his own, but in this season of giving, I define my giving, as many do, in broader terms.  Admittedly, I am no saint and I could always do a better job of giving so I say as little as I do about the matter.  However, it does not prevent me from thinking about the importance of getting kids to use their imagination and all the benefits that exist, when they do, for their growth and development.   In this way, I would like to give back and share with you 7 scientifically-based reasons, one for each day leading up to Christmas, to believe in children's imagination and he who inspires it most at this joyous time of the season, Santa:

1. Santa teaches children about their emotions.  Physical play is not the only kind of play.  When a child pretends, make believes, fantasizes and symbolizes they create the ability to come up with many different ideas, story themes and symbols.  Dr. Sandra Russ found pretend play to allow for expressions of both positive and negative feelings allowing children to better understand the ranges of emotions in their thinking.  Identifying with the idea of naughty and nice, a belief in Santa  can further help children learn about their emotions and how they affect outcomes positively and negatively. 
2. Santa teaches children self-control and how to self-regulate.  Children's ability to exemplify self-restraint, delayed gratification, civility and empathy are products of imagination.  Research has found toys are often the basis of imagination and children's use of them to create scenarios or friends gives them the opportunity to represent multiple perspectives.  There is a natural progression found within imaginative play that shows it helps children learn social skills such as communication, problem solving and empathy.  The story of how Rudolph saved Christmas is an excellent example of how these qualities children learn exist in imaginary stories.
3. Santa teaches children how to be creative.   Building children's capacities to be creative has been linked to early childhood games about make believe worlds like the North Pole.  The building of the cognitive flexibility required to ultimately be creative has been linked to notable creative types such as Nobel Prize winners and recipients of the "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation.  Each, in comparison to control participants, indicated their playing early childhood games about make-believe worlds contributed to their creative performance.  
4. Santa (i.e. Mom and Dad) inspires the fostering of imagination.   We, as parents, are often the source of children's early and frequent imaginative play.  When we talk to our children regularly about things like nature, society and social issues or read them stories at bedtime or tell them stories about people like Santa, we are fostering pretend play.  This is important.  How important?  Educators have recently become more aware of the power of imaginative thinking in and outside the classroom.  They are now using it to teach the more complex subjects of math and reading.
5. Santa helps children build self-determination.  When you joke or pretend with your child about things like what a funny gift to receive would be or where to put the cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and his reindeer to eat, you are teaching kids how to do things for themselves and giving them a set of skills that are important in childhood and beyond.  Researchers find joking is good for teaching children how to make friends, deal with stress, think creatively and learn to think outside the box.  Pretending there is a Santa Claus can help children practice new skills and learn new information.  
6. Santa helps children build perspective.  Research has found perspective-taking affects how we deal with conflict.  Studies designed to directly teach children problem-solving skills were only moderately effective.  It wasn't until a curriculum was designed to interpret other people's intentions and behaviors through the use of children's books, discussions, writing exercises and role-playing that researchers found more promising results.  The study further represents how naughty children can change for the better.  Children who were less likely to jump to conclusions about the behaviors of others had, as a result, found themselves entering into fewer conflicts--and the reading scores of those who initially had the most substantial behavior problems had gone up, too! 
7. Santa helps children build their working memory.  By allowing children to role play being Santa and we, as adults, role play being children, children learn to stay true to character and remember what they should or should not do in plots that they themselves create.  

In the end, whether you believe in Santa or not, the moral is that having and using an active imagination has a multitude of developmental benefits particularly for young minds.  In this festive time of year, it is both fun and relevant to link a child's active imagination to his or her belief in Santa.  After all Santa represents an aspect of childhood that exists in all of us should we let it.  For children, imagination is something that naturally exists year-round but still needs our help in activating it more regularly.   

References

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). "Joking, pretending with toddlers gives them head start in life skills." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 October 2011. .

Galinsky, E.  (2010) Mind in the Making:  The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs.  New York.

"The need for pretend play in children."  Psychology Today.  Psychology Today, 06 March 2012.  <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201203/the-need-pretend-play-in-child-development>

University of Sheffield. "Want to boost your toddler's development? Put a toy chicken on your head." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 August 2015. .