If your chilren don't beleive in Father Christmas do you ask them not to tell their friends?

[3frenchHenniePennies]

DD aged 5 has been told by her friend that FC definatly doesn't exist, I'm really annoyed as I feel that childhood innocence doesn't last long enough these days and she';s also our youngest and her older sisters have taken great care in keeping the secret going.

I know it's a individual thing but I really wish that her parents had asked her not to say anything.

My friend's DD (5) was told by a boy in her class that the tooth fairy was not real. She came home and asked if it was true. My friend felt she couldnt lie so told her that the tooth fairy was not real. Her DD sobbed and I mean sobbed, for 2 whole hours in between gasps saying 'but mummy, I so want her to be real'.

My friend was very upset as she felt her DD had lost some of that childhood magic all too soon because of this little boy.

Then her DD came round my house and told my elder two that the tooth fairy was not real.

Its a tough one.

Was a thread REALLY deleted in case children saw it??

No....

So amongst endless threads about anal sex and affairs and cross-dressing and abortion and abbatoirs - a thread about FC was deleted in case the children saw it.....

Not a tough one. If child sobs and says he/she wants toothe fairy to be true, you just say, 'you can believe whatever you want to, my beloved, and toothe fairy can be true if you want her to be true'. She skippeth off.

Yes, to thread title. I tell them that people like to pretend to believe so rude to argue with them.
Same thing as we say for religion.
But because DD knows the truth I think she can't help saying it, anyway (to believers of both FC and JC).

To clarify, child skippeth off. I don't skippeth.

As with religion you find those with faith at home, beleive not amtter what you tell them
Same as those with sceptics for parents bring up children who fail to fall for such nonsense.
Ds has no doubt told plenty of kids and teachers in his time that neither FC, toothfairy nor God exist.
Not one as yet has ever believed him. Faith being a strong counter block.

AS single parent with no money, denying FC's existence was crucial to explaining to my son why many kids got bikes and playstations and he didn't.
With dd we can offer her so much more, we might perpetuate the myth, just for fun.

I just don't understand this thing about 'is Harry Potter real?'. Well obviously it's not. And if your children said, 'is this a true story?' would you honestly insist it was? Children - and adults - are quite capable of knowing that something isn't true while at the same time feeling and acting as if it is. Otherwise why do people scream and jump at horror/thriller movies and will the heroine to escape? Thus do children who know FC isn't real still shiver with excitement on Christmas eve.

How does Harry Potter feature in this Does he bring presents too ?

DS1 has argued about this since he was around 4. He always asked me why they had trollies in asda for shoeboxes to go to kids when FC should take them. He said from then on he didn't believe and is 9 now but has never told his friends as he knows they like to believe. DS2 is 6 and a totally different character and will no doubt believe until he's 18

even if you ask them not to mention it to others they can't remember. Also we are always telling them not to keep secrets. Get over it!

I agree with pointdog

"Mummy is the tooth fairy real?"
"Erm no sorry dear, it's just a big lie."

WTF?

My dd is 4 and often says "Are fairies REAL mummy?" and I say things like "What do YOU think?" or "But who brings you good dreams then?" or "Are you SURE? I'm quite sure they live in the shed at the bottom of the garden." - it's a gentle tease, and an attempt to encourage some imagination - we are not actually testing a scientific hypothesis.

Regarding Santa Claus, we've just never done it. It's not something that features in our household. We have a book about St. Nicholas and when she has asked in the past I have talked about that. "Santa Claus comes from the story of St. Nicholas who put the coins down the little girls chimneys." etc