Globe Santa: When all hope is lost, along comes Christmas
Boston Globe

January 2002

The “Globe Santa” apparently believes there is a tremendous need for a mother and a father in as many families as possible. 

At the beginning of the Christmas season, the following line was at the very top of page 1, “A single mother makes a plea for her two children.” 

The next day, the plea for donations was for children from “broken homes” with this line above the name of the newspaper, “Children from broken homes seek some holiday cheer.” 

Although the Globe did not mean to do so, it was instructing us in every story about how children suffer when they do not have both a mother and a father in their family. 

This led many observers to wonder if this means the newspaper will be supporting the marriage amendment which is currently going over-the-top in Massachusetts. Or will it merely change the reporters who are writing stories for the “Globe Santa?” 

Hurt by ‘Broken Homes’ 

The first story was from a single mother who told about her husband, an alcoholic, who has been in several mental institutions. Whatever the cause for the separation, the two boys, who are 3 and 5, are terribly damaged because of it, according to the paper. 

“When something bad happens in a family,” the mother wrote, “the young children, who don’t yet understand life, are the ones who suffer the most, and they blame themselves as if they were the cause of it. These children do not fully understand why Daddy does not live with us anymore.” 

This sad story points out that even marriages, which have both a mother and father, do not necessarily protect children from tragedy. But it is still the best arrangement we have ever devised for raising children. And when children do not have both a mother and father, they do suffer. 

The Sunday story was about children from three “broken homes.” The reporter started it this way, “Children in broken homes often are thrown into roles that require thoughtfulness and maturity beyond their years, more suited to the head of the house. In some cases, that is precisely what they are.” 

We were told first about a 5-year-old girl who will be celebrating her first Christmas with her new baby sister, but apparently no father. Then we heard about another unfortunate family with three children who are living alone with their father since their mother died this year.  

The next day's story was about a woman with a two-year-old son with serious neurological disorders. This has put a burden on her two older sons. 

“My two older boys, 10-year-old Michael and 9-year-old Anthony, have now been forced to be the MEN of the house, and I am unable to work because I must stay home to take care of my disabled son. My older sons do things that most adults don’t do voluntarily.” There was no mention of any father or fathers. 

The first story which appeared this year was on Friday. It told about two families where older relatives are raising the children. The first is a woman who has been caring for her 10-year-old nephew for seven years because of the mother’s schizophrenia. “He has grown up a quiet boy due to the things he has gone through in his life and sometimes seems a little emotionally backward.” But he’s doing better now because of counseling and “medication.” There was no mention of a father. 

A 75-year-old woman is caring for her 13-year-old great-granddaughter. There was no mention of a father. The woman stepped in when the state was taking the girl because the mother “enjoyed partying too much.”