n/a

Santa lasted for us until the last couple of years, and my girls are 11, 10, and 10, DS is 6 and I'm trying to tell them to help me out and keep Christmas special.

Well, fwiw, I have never admitted being either the EB or Santa to my kids - I've always simply told them that *I* believe in both and that as long as they believe, they will be real for them. Oddly enough, this has worked really well for my older 2 ... my youngest though, dd8, figured it out very early on, and she won't let it go. She's been once again reminding her older siblings for days that "Mom's the Easter Bunny!"... while ds12 stays quiet and dd10 continues to insist "I believe!!!" This morning she got up continuing her mantra of "Mom's the EB"... until... she couldn't find the 'special' egg she'd hidden last night in her tennis shoe (couldn't find the shoe either lol!).. hidden so that the EB couldn't find it... all of a sudden she was in a panic thinking the EB had not only found it but also taken it.... which meant for a brief moment in time I was able to out-logic her into believing that the EB must exist otherwise she wouldn't be in such a panic over worrying that a bunny who wasn't real had taken her shoe+egg... then she remembered where she'd hidden it and was back to "Mom's the EB" all over again...

But anyway, I believe. It wouldn't be much fun to not believe!

polarbear

You know what? The US Dollar and other freely traded currencies and commodities work on a very similar principal. They are worth something because people believe they are worth something.

We told your kids that you must "believe to receive"....as they got older and the questions ....particularly about a 6 foot rabbit became more pressing...we just told them that it was about celebrating in our tradition, but also in that tradition is celebrating how special they are...with surprises! If they no longer liked surprises...then the gifts would end and we would just add a small weekly increase to their allowance. My kids LOVE surprises! So, it made sense to them.

I think you have to know your child and what makes sense to them in terms of tradition, holidays and sensitivity.

We had the community egg hunt yesterday with my four year old. The four year old egg hunt area was right by the playground. While waiting for the hunt to start my son watched several teenagers hide the eggs. By "hide" I mean dump them on the ground and put a few in some bushes. He also met the Easter bunny who had "human hand skin showing".
On the way back to the car he sighed, "This is the worst day ever. There were no hidden eggs, just ground eggs and no Easter bunny, just a man in a costume."

Dd6 has wavered in her belief about EB and Santa for a couple of years now, but still seems to want to believe so I put her questions back on her (I won't lie about it when this strategy no longer works). She's asked a bunch of questions this year. She doesn't believe in magic and wondered, among other things, how he gets in the house. She sat there silent for a few minutes and started nodding to herself, then announced "he uses his claws to pick the lock!" Er... Yeah. How my super sensitive dd isn't freaked out by the idea of a giant, lock picking rabbit sneaking round the house baffles me (though I suspect it might have something to do with his chocolate gifts), but whatever works for her!

My DD was 6 when she lost a tooth during Christmas season, which prompted a conversation with an older friend on the reality of the Tooth Fairy and Santa. So she came to us with the question, and actually used the phrase "tell me the truth"... because while we strive to be perfectly honest with our little one, we're not above a little mischievous trickery whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Interestingly, learning about the Tooth Fairy didn't seem to bother her too much. "Daddy is the Tooth Fairy" seemed to be a concept she liked. But she was pretty unhappy to learn about Santa. Then, a few days later, she declared, "I want to believe!" And so, she does.

DS 6 just had his dentist appt and the dentist was going on and on about the tooth fairy, when we left DS says to me, I am not leaving my tooth under my pillow, there is no tooth fairy and I want to keep my tooth and look at it under the microscope!

However, I posted in an old thread, about the horrible reveal that Cyberchase was not real and that he couldn't join the team, he experienced such cognitive dissonance, he actually suppressed the conversation for awhile! Not sure what Santa will be like in 2012.

DeHe
PS someone needs to teach me how to multiple quote and/or to make a link to old posts, still haven't figured it out!!

DS 4 doesn't believe in Santa (worked out himself bur happy to go with the flow for extra presents but does in the Easter bunny (after spending the Easter weekend with a fervently believing 7 year old . We will see how long that lasts...

DS7 stopped believing in Santa 2 years ago, accusing us for lying to him ... DD5 keeps on believing ... I guess she knows the truth (well she doesn't have the choice with his brother arguing around) but she loves to believe inSanta .. We just told them that it is up to them to believe in or not.

A funny story about the Eastern Bunny: 2 years ago, on the Eastern day, 2 ducks landed in our garden. DS (who was 5 year old them) told : "here are the Eastern Ducks !!!". The year after, he found it strange that no ducks came ...

Honestly, I feel I've been forced into perpetuating the Santa/Easter bunny/Tooth fairy stuff. My kids see their extended families on a regular basis, and they are all 100% into it. I honestly just try not to comment on it much (I keep hoping DS will figures it out!) but neither kid has ever questioned me about them. They just behave as if it's all real.