Does your children believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus?

My kids are 7, 6, 5 and 2 and they believe. I think my oldest has had suspicions for a long time, though. She's very smart and logical. A couple years ago we were at Wal-mart when they just happened to be doing pictures with Santa so I took the kids over while my husband waited in line. (Hey free pictures, you know). It was the first and only time they did pictures with Santa. After we were done she looked at me and whispered (I think so her younger brother and sister couldn't hear), "that wasn't the real Santa." I asked her how she knew and she said because the beard was fake so we talked about why stores did that. I have a great time making up stuff to add to the myth and keep it alive for her but I think she know the real truth but want so desperately for it to be real that she plays along. We kind of tease each other back and forth. I'll say, "but the Easter bunny isn't real" and she'll counter with, "but you said..." I believe in letting them figure it out on their own. It is a great tradition. The people that I have noticed that have the worst memories of finding out were the ones that were told before they were ready. When kids naturally progress and figure it out they see it as a great "gag" that has been going on for generations and then they want to play along. I know when I finally figured it out (and admitted it to myself) at the age of 8 I had even more fun keeping the myth alive for my brother who is 2 years younger. I started to play Santa and the Easter bunny. I hid the eggs and helped wrap my brother's presents and waited anxiously for him to open them. It was a lot of fun. I noticed that the people that found out from friends before they were ready or just had their parents spill it to them or caught their parents playing the part take it way differently. They feel betrayed and are angry and upset. I think it is because they just weren't at that point to give up the fantasy yet. Every child is different so for some kids that may be at 4 or 5, for other it could be as old as 9 or 10. They have to figure it out on their own to understand the tradition. I'm sure once my daughter comes to me to admit she doesn't believe any more she will be more then happy to share in the responsibilities of being those characters and keeping the magic alive for her siblings, just as I did. It's like a club you join. If you stumble across the club one day on your own accord you are excited to find it and join it and participate. Then there are the people who had someone else drop them at the doorstep of the club and said, "now you join whether you are ready to or not." They end up confused. Oh, and I don't consider it lying. I look at lying as something you do with malicious intent (to hurt someone). The stories I tell are no different then the princess stories we all learn (Cinderella and Snow White). Many girls believe those are real and try to live them out. Most are told right away they are not. With Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy we just let the story live on a little longer in reality then the normal make believe. When they are ready they will realize the similarities and go, "d'oh, how did I ever believe that, that is so silly."

Of course, at my age and my current situation. I definitely don't have children or a wife yet... but I'd like to respond in a child's perspective. When I was a kid, Christmas would always be my favorite day. Those times every time I wake up I would be happy to see a toy in a plastic hanged on the handle of a cabinet. Those times, I believe in magic... whenever Christmas is fast approaching I try to be nice as much as possible! One Christmas however, I was soooooo sad and surprised that after I woke up there were no presents for me. I cried and cried and remembered my parents say that I probably had been a naughty boy. Yet, I don't understand why... as I had been good all those times. Christmas that time was probably the worst Xmas experience I had ever... The next day, I was surprise to see a toy in a plastic hanged in a cabinet. I was filled with joy and called my parents. My parents laugh and said that Santa must have just a delay in giving presents. Although I somehow agree... there's this feeling deep inside me that somethings fishy going on, Santa is an Xmas spirit... he simply can't have delays. The following day, I decided to visit a toy store by myself since it's just near our house and the owner knows me. The owner ask me if the toy that my parents bought for me was good/cool. I said "what??" my parents didn't gave me presents... it was just Santa Claus who did. Apparently, the store owner didn't know that my parents had been playing Santa around me since the parents bought it during Xmas... not before! That day, I was really depressed and realize the truth that Santa doesn't exist... and you know what? I don't trust everything that my parents said ever again. My respect for them really really fell.

My kids still believe in Santa Claus except for my oldest. Deep down she know he's not real but she doesn't ruin it for my youngest. Plus I told her once she stops believing, then Santa stops bringing her gifts. Now for the Easter bunny, that's a different story. Hard to believe in him, when your out looking for eggs and you find bunny hair all over your yard. I don't mean your typical little hair here and there. I mean it look like something slaughtered a bunny, minus the bunny thank the Lord. So my oldest and myself played that off as the Easter bunny was shedding like our dogs do. I make Easter baskets up really nice with candy, eggs, and goodies. For my oldest, she get's a Easter package that's more suited for her age. Even if you grow out of it, it's still nice getting something from Santa Claus,Easter bunny/mom.

I have 4 children, 16, 7, 6 and 2. The 16 year old found out santa and the easter bunny and the tooth fairy did not exist when he was about 8, he kept the secret though from his siblings, my 7 and 6 year old still believe in santa and all the rest of them and I know that very soon they will find out that none of it is true. I never used to think about the fact that I was lying to them when they were little, but as they get older, I find I am feeling guilty for these lies, I know its a lovely magical thing when they are little, but I cannot help feeling that when they know we have lied to them all these years then they might be hurt. Especially my 6 year old who I find extremely perceptive and strangely wise beyond his years with his understanding of things. He would be the one to hold it against me out of all of them!

I'm mixed on that subject. My brother raises his children knowing they are not real but I just don't know. My kids are at that age where they believe the most and I don't want to take that away from them. Watch miracle on 31st st!! HAHA!!! But seriously, children should be taught that christmas is not a holiday about santa and easter is not a holiday about the easter bunny, it's about religion, and that should be focused on first.

my little girl (6) still believes in Santa. i think it is one of the few cute innocent acts that remain in a pretty harsh world. once she starts asking for things we cannot afford i'll break the truth to her! lol!

my two year old does for now, but my oldest two don't anymore because of their biological father scaring the daylights out of them. i had to sit them down and tell them that they weren't real and that it was wrong of their dad to scare them like that. it all started over the toothfairy and that movie they made where the toothfairy killed people if they looked at her and the only way that she couldn't get to them was if they were in light, so my kids spent a month with their bedroom light on because of their stupid father letting them watch that movie. i was so mad at him for doing that because it really took away some of their childhood and the fun of believing in stuff like that, so now they know that mommy and dad get everythign for them andthat we put the money under their pillows when they loose a tooth. i'm gonna try as long as i can for my two year old to believe in santa and the easter bunny for as long as i can. it's fun for them and thank goodness she doesn't have the same daddy as my oldest two. LOL! God bless

I felt like I was deceiving my kids with those tales, but what is life without Santa Claus as a childhood hero? So I went along with it for a while, but I can't tell you how much it annoyed me that Santa was getting all the credit for my hard work! Anyway, one day, when my daughter was about 5 I guess, I figured she was gonna be figuring it out on her own soon, so I confessed the truth to her. She was heartbroken and devastated! I was heartbroken to see her heartbreak! I regretted having 'spilled the beans' and in desperation I said "but we can still pretend about santa, do you want to do that?" Her little face lit up and yeah, she wanted to still pretend about Santa. To this day she forgot all about my confession... erased it clean out of her mind! And then by the time she found out again that it was just a fairy tale she was ready for it. Hehehe.