not so magical Christmas Eve - when to tell the truth about Santa?

[pinklemonade84]

Dd6, since she has been able to understand more, so from about the age of 4, has developed a massive fear of Santa coming into our house. We’ve made up that dh goes outside to meet Him once she’s asleep to do the present switch over. However tonight, with all the excitement, a McDonald’s,and her fear, she’s got herself worked up to the point that she’s been sick several times.

She’s also been ill with strep a and has had to go on antibiotics. And because of the shortage of antibiotic solution in our area, she’s had to have one bottle of sugar free and one bottle of normal. She absolutely detests the sugar free stuff and gets really upset every time she has to take it.

Dh said, maybe it would be kinder for us to tell her the truth , so that she doesn’t get this distressed again. But, I don’t want to spoil any magic for her as she’s still so young really. So, I feel extremely torn about this and unsure as to what to do for the best because of there being so many things that could be contributing towards her being sick tonight

I was hoping someone would have some words of wisdom as to how we can approach this please?

This! Why persist in a lie that scare your child?

Your post illustrates the folly of the Santa myth. It's quite possible to have a charming, magical Christmas without anyone believing in Father Christmas literally

I so agree! Parents wouldn't have this dilemma about when to tell the children that Father Christmas is a fantasy figure if they'd never tried in the first place to convince them that he's real!

The same applies to the Tooth Fairy.

Children love fantasy and make-believe. They don't need adults going to great lengths to convince them a make-believe character is actually a real person.

Fairies, monsters and magical creatures belong in story books and in the imagination.

The 'magic' is the anticipation, decorations, family traditions and presents. All my children stopped believing in Reception (I didn't tell them, they're just bright and logical). Doesn't stop Christmas being lovely for them or dampen the excitement.

I have a young child with asd who is terrified that Santa will come upstairs, this year I thought about telling the truth as it's getting worse as he gets older. We wrote Santa a letter telling him not to go upstairs, which seemed to help. But I think I would just be honest, and will be honest if next year he's still frightened. Poor boy couldn't sleep, it was for feeling frightened not just the excitement if presents.

Why didn't you just tell him the truth the first time and reassure him that he'll still get presents?

This thread is really eye opening. I'm horrified that Santa is seen as such a sacred cow (and apparently the only possible source of magic) to the extent that parents are letting their children be frightened rather than telling the truth - that Santa is just a story which they can ignore if they want to.