I like Jeff's framing that it's not harmful, it's just not necessary. Holiday traditions and whimsy have always been a big deal in my family and it basically operates under the rules of kayfabe. We are all playing along and that's part of what makes it fun for us.
My plan: As soon as my kid comes home from school saying "Dad, Jason told me Santa is not real!" i will start crying too and faking it... "Wait what!?!?! What do you mean Santa is not real". This will make the bond to my kid even stronger.
We've never really encouraged it or said either way; never given him gifts explicitly "from Santa" or talked about it but also not _not_ talked about it to allow some magic. he believed anyway through cultural osmosis. 🤷♂️ I suspect he'll figure it out when he's not thinking about sonic the hedgehog.
Ok but my half Jewish seven year old asked me this week if Santa knew if Jewish kids were naughty and nice…I did not have a good answer. (I pulled a great parenting move of going “HEY look over there, how cool is that thingamajig.”)
Comments
https://substack.com/home/post/p-153214425
https://open.substack.com/pub/imightbewrong/p/you-should-lie-to-your-kids-about?r=3fx694&utm_medium=ios