Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should’ve thought of this before you decided for whatever holier than thou reasons to do what you’re doing.

Look, we also do Santa.

But do you honestly expect OP to put your family's philosophy before hers? Should Jewish people tell their kids Jesus is a savior even if they don't believe it?

On that note OP, tell them "some families believe it. ours doesn't'."

Of course I don’t expect that. But I also think that decisions have consequences.

DS is in kindergarten and lots of kids over the years have told him Santa isn’t real. He shrugs and chooses to believe.

I truly don’t care what your kid tells mine. My older sister told me that there was no Santa and I was fine. I was ready to give him up.

Anonymous wrote:Patents blatantly perpetrate an active lie to their children and somehow, my eight year old is the bad guy if he fails bear the burden of YOUR lie to YOUR child. Give me a break.

OP here. Although I had really hoped it wouldn't devolve into this sort of discussion, I 100% agree. But I also want to be sensitive to others to the extent I can without compromising my own values. At a minimum it's a good lesson for my kid and the right thing to do.

Patents blatantly perpetrate an active lie to their children and somehow, my eight year old is the bad guy if he fails bear the burden of YOUR lie to YOUR child. Give me a break.

Treat it like different religions. “We don’t believe in Santa but other people do and that’s fine. One of the beautiful things about this country is we are allowed to have different beliefs.”

This is an irresistible piece of information. Your kids will tell other kids. The other kids will then ask their parents, who will either fess up, or come up with something else.

Some kid told me Santa wasn’t real when I was four. My parents then told me the “truth.” Visiting Santa at the mall and then getting presents from Santa was still fun. That said, I hope to get a few more years of “real” Santa with my kids.

So basically, calm down, everyone will be fine.

Anonymous wrote:I would just say every family has different beliefs and some believe Santa is real and for them it is. It’s no different than some people believing God is real.

That depends on your views on God. Parents are quite unlikely to believe in Santa Claus themselves even if they tell their kids he's real.

Anonymous wrote:You should’ve thought of this before you decided for whatever holier than thou reasons to do what you’re doing.

Look, we also do Santa.

But do you honestly expect OP to put your family's philosophy before hers? Should Jewish people tell their kids Jesus is a savior even if they don't believe it?

On that note OP, tell them "some families believe it. ours doesn't'."

I would just say every family has different beliefs and some believe Santa is real and for them it is. It’s no different than some people believing God is real.

“Some parents REALLY like to pretend with their kids and they get really sad if their kids stop pretending with them. I know it sounds silly to take pretend so seriously, but try not to tell other kids, because their parents will be super sad.”

I get it: you disagree. Different strokes for different folks.

Now: any suggestions on what you'd like me to tell my kid that could help yours keep believing?

You should’ve thought of this before you decided for whatever holier than thou reasons to do what you’re doing.

Excuse me? tell your kids all you want but Santa is alive and well at our house.

No tooth fairy? must be fun being so grown up.

"Some families like to pretend and that's right for their families, so it's not polite to tell them it's not real"

Hi... so... we celebrate Christmas and for a variety of reasons I'd rather not debate, have also told our kids there's no "real" Santa Claus.

Suggestions as to how to tell them not to tell other kids without throwing other parents under the bus? "Some people tell their kids Santa Claus is real, but it's not true but don't reveal the truth?"

Please: if this cannot be a debate about what to tell your kids I'd be grateful.