[GrandEagle]

OK, I guess I'm the old fluddy duddy here but I've never told my children that there is a Santa Clause.
I tell them that he is a made up tale but that we have a lot of fun with it.
They get stuff from Santa every Christmas, but they all know that he is not real.
I have never intentionally lied to my children.

And no, we don't do the Easter Bunny either.

[i_dont_chat]

I don't have children. I've helped with step-children.

ANd I am fascinated with your approach of not lying to your children. I've often thought of how confusing it is to the children. Our society (and parents) tell children there is a Santa, a tooth fairy, etc. etc., and the children believe it -- until they find out that it is isn't true.

Then we tell teenagers that smoking tobacco and pot is bad for them. And they see adults smoking with impunity, and we wonder why they don't take our "word" for it, how harmful smoking really is. Instead, they try it for themselves and get hooked, because they have learned that we don't always tell the truth.

Interesting.

[firebrand]

This is what I did too. I'm sure many will disagree with you, but I think you are doing the right thing.

I couldn't believe it when I found out my parents lied to me, after they told me they would never lie to me. (They left a lot of things out, of course.)

When confronted, my mother just sort of laughed and said something like, "Well, only about Santa."

It shook my faith in them. Seriously. It was traumatic. To this day, I hate Santa. Why should he be everywhere?

[Irish Rose]

My parents took a similar approach. They never taught my siblings and me to believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. We watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street, but I never believed either was anything more than a good story.