When Curiosity Strikes

Yes. This is about Santa, fairytales and child-like imagination.

Working in any customer service job you will hear a lot of stories, opinions, and life experiences that will either go in one ear and out the other or they may stick with you for some time. There is one very specific time that left me thinking about the conversation for multiple days following our interaction.

To begin, I did the usual “What can I get started for you?” “Hot or Iced.” “For here or To go.” And eventually left with unresolved questions and reflective thoughts on childhood. Now how did we just get from talking about matcha and egg salad to raising children?? Welp, keep reading.

Full disclosure this conversation is not all we talked about however I wanted to give a small glimpse into this conversation….This interaction was around Christmas time so of course I asked how his holidays were to which he followed “I do not do Christmas with my sons.” Me thinking it was for religious reasons however to my surprise it was a combination of both Christianity and morals. Now this conversation continued back and forth without judgment and instead giving this customer a space to feel heard with his unpopular belief. He believes that raising his children without Santa, Halloween, or any imaginative holiday helps create a safer and more trustworthy home environment. Now I can see how his opinion is helpful in these ways but it leaves me wondering if taking these cultural/traditional holidays away from your children actually decrease their sense of imagination?

Everyone is entitled to their own way of doing things and if it works for you then amazing. However, interactions like this sparks curiosity in me because I think about myself as a child as well as what I will do when I have children of my own. Yes, one of the saddest days of being a child is finding out Santa isn’t real (sorry) but does that out weigh all of the feelings of joy thinking about reindeer, watching Christmas movies, and seeing holiday lights on your neighbors lawn? To me, I am going to have to say no.

I believe that imagination turns into curiosity as a person matures. I don’t think imagination fully goes away because as you get older you still wonder and ask yourself “What If?” questions all the time. Now if I didn’t have the experience that I did growing up wondering how Santa is going to be at all my friends houses in one night and how the tooth fairy is so sneaky grabbing my molar from underneath my pillow, would I still have the curiosity I do today? I value curiosity and without it I would not be the person I am today and I don’t think I would have the career path that I do. Now does all of this heavily rely on my childhood imagination? Who knows. But it does make me wonder, children with limited imaginations that are restricted by parents, will they BELIEVE in love? or more importantly believe in themselves? If they are not taught to believe without seeing as a child, how does this translate to abstract life experiences?