I assume you are speaking of children in general but if is American Children I think we should let them believe as long as possible. I thought Santa was real but when I found out the truth it really didn't bother me much since I still had many myths to believe in. One myth, for example, is that the American Congress protects us and has our welfare in mind. Excuse the political.

Oh brother, my neighbors both north and south of me would not think of telling their kids/grand kids about Santa. Christmas is Jesus's birthday and there ain't no Santa in their lives. I wonder what they think of me; I got a Santa falling off my roof the last few years lol...

I loved the Santa lie and the Tooth Fairy lie and the Easter Bunny lie. Geez, didn't my parents tell me the truth about anything?

The Sceptic

by
Robert Service

My Father Christmas passed away
When I was barely seven.
At twenty-one, alack-a-day,
I lost my hope of heaven.

Yet not in either lies the curse:
The hell of it’s because
I don’t know which loss hurt the worse –
My God or Santa Claus.

What do you mean there ain't no Santa ?

Until my daughter asked me outright, I perpetuated her belief in Santa. However, when she asked me outright, I could not lie to her. Now, she is a mother, and leading her own children through the maze of childhood beliefs. Sure enough, she and her husband seem to hold to the same fine line between myth and truth. They are steadfast Lutherans, and yet the whole family seems to be able to differentiate between the Christmas of Christ and the Christmas of Santa. After all, they are two separate and yet related events. We have to figure these things out as we go along. Nope, it ain't easy.

You know what.....let kids believe in something pure.....

Heaven knows, they get innundated with too much these days.....

BACK OFF, and let the kids enjoy.....

I think children need to be allowed to be children. It seems to me from a developmental standpoint humans need to go through the stages of make believe, conventional behavior, as well as a post conventional stage later in life. For most of us childhood is remembered as a magical time, free of the stresses and worries we encounter in adulthood. Our job is to prepare and guide them through those stages. Some will find there true life's work and spend their lives doing what they really want to do and some will grind it out either way they should be able to look back at their childhood with fond reverence.

Yup, we have Santa, the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny and other make believe things that are a part of childhood. I thoroughly enjoyed them as a child and didn't feel at all betrayed or "lied to" when I realized/found out they weren't real. It's childhood, for pete's sake and a part of child hood is fantasy and make believe. Parent's may also lie by participating in their children's tea parties or action hero playing. Lighten up.

Also, when I was a child it seemed that Santa was for secular Christmas while the nativity and baby Jesus was the religious part. My friends who weren't Christian had Santa and trees and while my family was religious we kids knew the difference between the religious and secular aspects of Christmas. Kids are also smarter than adults give them credit for.

I kinda had a situation going in the house at the time that made it difficult to decide. I was going through my own journey of discovering what I had "inherited as lies" and was making the associations between the Christian pagan adoptions so we were reassessing what we wanted for OUR tradtions. I came to the conclusion that the stupid stuff was not "evil" and that I didnt have a problem with my kids beign exposed to the fun and mystery that was going on all around them (it hadn't killed me!) . But my ex was on a completely different page and forbade all of it. I complied as long as the kids were young enough to not really be so conscious of it but then started addressing it when they wondered why everyone else and not us. Ex expected to just ignore it and it would all go away, meanwhile the kids are looking around and wondering, why not us? It was one source of contention. (His background was Christian too and he had LOVED Christmas, he was just going off the deep end in a lot of ways then)

I decide to tell them about St. Nicholas and the SPIRIT of christmas. I was (gently) honest about there being no Santa now. They wanted to beleive, and I let them. They're getting older and know but still want to "pretend". We wink at each other when we talk about Santa coming, like it's a cool secret between us.

They're also geting older and thinking, starting to ask interesting questions. One that recently surprised me was, "Why do the Jews hate Christmas, mom?" He's 9 and I told him. I tell them the story of Jesus too, that I DO think highly of him and his message, ....just not what people have done with it, what they've made him out to be. I basically admitted that I have (reverent) mixed feelings about Christmas myself. I want them to see all sides and come to their OWN conclusions. Think for themselves.

So we celebrate but in our own way. It's a time of reflection and appreciation. Bringing LIGHT into a dark season. The season is dark.