When we’re young our parents instill in us the decades-long traditions of the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, the tooth fairy, and countless other fictitious individuals whom we place our pride in at a very young age. This may seem like a sweet, timeless tradition passed down through the generations but could it be a disastrous affect on a child’s mind? This instillation of imaginary people who supposedly are “real” and grant our wishes and wildest dreams that are just in fact farces. Many children, when discovering these people don’t exist, are devastated, crushed at the news and often suffer for a period of time afterwards. My question is what good is providing this false hope to children, only knowing that they are going to find out the truth in the end? Do all of the stories, lies, efforts to keep the truth hidden, and struggle to keep them believing in these people really worth it if you’re just going to crush all of their hopes and dreams? Then, they will realize that, that guy at the mall in the red suit is actually an unemployed mechanic with a fake white beard and that quarter under your pillow was put there by mom before you even went to bed. Also, that fairy dust is actually glitter your grandma picked up at the craft store. All I’m asking is, are all of these time-honored traditions doing more harm than good?