"Is Santa real?" Question from 4 year old

[Cangaroo]

This is something I have struggled with. My sister found out Father Christmas want real aged 7, and the first thing she did was tell me, aged 4. I therefore have almost no memories of believing in Father Christmas, and Christmas was still always a magical time. Father Christmas still came every year, though we didn't actually believe.

I also feel uncomfortable lying to DD. This summer, she became very interested in fairies and set up a fairy garden etc. We visited a fairy walk, and she wished for a purple unicorn. I got her one, and put it by her fairy door for her to find. I felt somewhat uncomfortable with this, as I was confirming her belief in something that's not real, but she was so delighted. We had a discussion about fairies and fairy stories. I said "you really enjoy believing in fairies, don't you?". She replied " yes ", then stopped to think about it for a while and said pointedly, " I believe in fairies. ". I have taken this to be her making a choice to play along with the game and believe in magic for now.

I need to spend some time talking about Santa as a story, and like the idea of talking about St Nicholas. I won't outright tell her he's not real, but will give her the information for her to figure it out herself.

 

[CaptainMummy]

I couldn't tell Sophia that Santa isn't real she's drawn him hundreds of little pictures for me to 'send' and the amazement on her face when Santa send her videos over Christmas is indescribable (I do the Portable north pole videos).

I love the magic of Christmas and Santa and it's something I loved as a kid. I never cared that my mum had 'lied' to me about Santa

Sophia also knows that the Santa's in the grottos are fake Santas that work for the real one because he's busy getting all the presents ready in the north pole

Exactly this.

 

[cat_reversing]

I'm in the minority then. I won't be encouraging a belief in father Christmas/ Santa, or the I've-been-good list or elf on the shelf, which I find creepy.
I'm not religious at all so Christmas is about spending a special time with family and celebrating being together.
I didn't believe in fc/santa as a kid but I loved Christmas and still do. If she asks I'll tell her it's a story and ask her what she thinks. And we definitely won't be visiting Santa's grotto! And she'll know the presents are from us.
We'll still watch Christmas films and TV , just not have to believe the story part is real.

 

[kosh]

I'm in the minority then. I won't be encouraging a belief in father Christmas/ Santa, or the I've-been-good list or elf on the shelf, which I find creepy.
I'm not religious at all so Christmas is about spending a special time with family and celebrating being together.
I didn't believe in fc/santa as a kid but I loved Christmas and still do. If she asks I'll tell her it's a story and ask her what she thinks. And we definitely won't be visiting Santa's grotto! And she'll know the presents are from us.
We'll still watch Christmas films and TV , just not have to believe the story part is real.

^^ this is how we do it too