Santa is real!! Help!!

[Pen]

My now, 8 yr old ds asked last year if Santa is real. I asked him what he thought. He said he was a Saint etc, etc. Point is, he had it worked out. But he did try to build a trap. I kinda figured he was just holding on but didn't really believe. This year he is building a bigger trap. Tonight he asked me to read an account of the History of St. Nick. (it tells the 'real' story without saying the words 'make believe.') Well, he was outraged!

Not because he gets it. Not because he thinks parents put the presents there. He is outraged that a writer would mislead children by saying Santa lives at the North Pole. 'He obviously doesn't 'live' at all, Mom.' and 'what are kids supposed to think - that there's a huge candy cane outside his door - it's all ice up there! you can't grow candy canes anyway.' and 'I would be so upset if I found out that adults lied.'

Okay, so I'm laughing and crying. What did I do? I never lie to my kids. Okay, so I did. Now what? I really don't think he was baiting me.

[hawkfeather]

our kids believe in Santa and i don't even want them to.. i keep explainign that santa is a sort of spirit of giving people harness.. we talk and talk abotu it.. but this coca-cola image just wins out everytime- i worry caue my dh was hurt when he found out his mother was lyign to him.. he still dislikes christmas because of it..
so i am just careful with my language i wont lie to them about it..i tell them i think snata is real.. cause i do.. but what people see as *real* is relative.. this year there has been a lot of talk at our house about how sad it is that people don't beleiev in magic when they get older.. or that it has to be laid out in fornt of them to be *real*

[beeb]

IMO, you have to be straight with him at this point or it will become a matter of him trying to catch you in a lie. Come up with a nice way of explaining why you told him Santa was real when he was little and why he is old enough to understand more of the facts about the situation now. You can certainly include in your explanation that the idea of Santa is still fun for you and it's still something you both can participate in because you enjoy it, not because he has to believe that Santa is physically real.

[corwinegall]

My ds started asking way too many questions a few years ago so I told him santa wasn't real. He seems to understand that it's just something fun to pretend when you're a kid and is excited about playing santa for his sister. I don't know why he gets it, he just does.

[snyderjoint]

santa?

Ok I don't want to start fights or hurl insults I have just a simple question to ask to parents with young kids. What is so wrong in your opinions with Santa? I can't help but read so many threads and posts where parents don't want their children to belive in santa. Now aside from religion that's different, what is so wrong with santa? My sister and I belived when we were young, we go to be about maybe 9 or 10 and started to understand that's it's just imagination. So now, all we consider it is part of a child's imagination. I don't mean to insult or hurt anybody but what is the big deal?