by Kris Masgai
We were both stood on his desk Blu-tacking paper chains to the air conditioning ducts when he said it: “We’re not going to tell Ben there’s a Father Christmas”.
He and his wife have talked it over. They both believe that it is wrong to lie, wrong to mislead your children, wrong to say “do as I say, not as I do”. And the upshot is that Father Christmas will be sacrificed to integrity. “How”, he reasoned, “can we expect him to learn right from wrong if we don’t tell him the truth”?
Ben is not quite a year old, so he won’t be asking Father Christmas questions this year. But as soon as he does, his parents say they will “not confirm the existence of Santa Claus”.
There was uproar in the office.
Ours is a big team in a big open plan space. We like a good argument. Ideally one that lasts for the best part of a day, fanned by new people arriving and lobbed-in, googled “facts”. Everyone has an opinion. But, for the first time in living memory, we were all – but one – unanimous. (more…)