Jeff—I agree. I think there are lots of design features of these traditional holidays that look irrational, outdated, and silly from an adult’s point of view, but that suddenly make sense when you have kids enjoying them.
Kids seem to have a deep hunger for ‘special times’, holidays, and celebrations, when the normal routines are set aside, and parents make special efforts to interact with extended family, neighbors, and friends, and when there are special foods, feasts, activities, and gift-giving. My speculation is that in hunter-gatherer times, collective feasts and holidays sent kids reliable cues that ‘things are going well with our tribe’, and kids like that. If kids are deprived of these special times, they might implicitly get cues that ‘our tribe is poor, failing, under threat, and not likely to last very long’, which could make them anxious and sad.
Jeff—I agree. I think there are lots of design features of these traditional holidays that look irrational, outdated, and silly from an adult’s point of view, but that suddenly make sense when you have kids enjoying them.
Kids seem to have a deep hunger for ‘special times’, holidays, and celebrations, when the normal routines are set aside, and parents make special efforts to interact with extended family, neighbors, and friends, and when there are special foods, feasts, activities, and gift-giving. My speculation is that in hunter-gatherer times, collective feasts and holidays sent kids reliable cues that ‘things are going well with our tribe’, and kids like that. If kids are deprived of these special times, they might implicitly get cues that ‘our tribe is poor, failing, under threat, and not likely to last very long’, which could make them anxious and sad.