Dog Gone It

[shanmonster]

I've been disquieted by one of the feel-good memes floating around on the social media sites lately. It is superficially adorable. It starts with a picture of a cute little girl hugging a dog. Then the flavour text goes on to say how the girl and the dog were inseparable until the dog died of old age. The little girl was devastated, so the

Comments

[shanmonster]

I know kids who were raised by atheist parents who didn't use ruses. They turned out just fine.

Children aren't there to provide audiences for cute lies. They are sapient beings who question everything, and are learning much. I think it's disrespectful to lie to them.

I have no issue with imagination or playing let's-pretend, though. I do have issue with assuming kids are unable to handle critical thinking, and think that "magical thinking" has done a lot to dumb down the populace.

[shanmonster]

Not specifically religious, although that counts, IMO. I'm thinking of things like the Easter Bunny, tooth fairy, Santa, etc.