Encouraging your children to believe in Santa Claus teaches that you will lie to them because you think it’s cute. I promised my daughter that I would never lie to her—I might refuse to answer, but never lie.
After my oldest came out as a Santa-denier, I told him something along the lines of “Congratulations. I admit that I and every other grown-up were lying to you. From now on I will never deliberately lie to you about anything again. Please keep your insight secret from other kids who aren’t in on the joke yet, so they too can benefit from figuring it out themselves.”
Encouraging your children to believe in Santa Claus teaches that you will lie to them because you think it’s cute. I promised my daughter that I would never lie to her—I might refuse to answer, but never lie.
After my oldest came out as a Santa-denier, I told him something along the lines of “Congratulations. I admit that I and every other grown-up were lying to you. From now on I will never deliberately lie to you about anything again. Please keep your insight secret from other kids who aren’t in on the joke yet, so they too can benefit from figuring it out themselves.”
Right! No wonder teenagers don’t trust their parents; they know for a fact that their parents have lied to them in the past!