Originally Posted by venture
But last week he started to cry and said that in Summer he doesn't believe in Santa, but when it gets closer to Christmas he does, and that he is afraid that if he doesn't believe, then he won't get presents [...]. I do feel strongly about being truthful with him, and I don't really see this any differently than other topics. But I think I may have to look at it another way, given the emotional investment he has obviously put into Santa. I'm curious to see what other say.
Obviously the first thing is to reassure him as much as it takes that he will get presents anyway, because you and DH like giving him presents! Would it work to tell him that you've been ambivalent about telling him the truth because your DH really likes the Santa story and enjoys pretending to be Santa when you bring the presents? You could then invite your DS to join you in *pretending* Santa is real, even though you all know it's a story really. In our house stocking presents are brought by Father-Christmas-nudge-nudge-wink-wink - we've never invited DS to believe that there really is such a person, but we still have fun with the story.

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