How to tell my son that Santa Claus does not exist

The figure of Santa Claus is admired and loved by many children and tenderly remembered by adults. It is a fun, friendly and endearing myth that, above all, is capable of fulfilling the dreams of the little ones, giving them the gifts they want on Christmas day. Almost all parents introduce that character in their children's lives to foster their illusion and fantasy.

But, unfortunately, sooner or later children have to face reality. Each child may react in a different way to that fact, although it is usually not an excessively traumatic process since it is gradually assimilated gradually. In .com we want to orient ourselves on this topic and explain how to tell your child that Santa Claus does not exist .

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Children up to 5 years of age do not distinguish between fantasy and reality and magical thinking predominates in their pattern of reasoning. It is for this reason that children believe absolutely in all the stories, fables and characters they know. They believe that animals talk, that cartoons exist and that a fat man with a white beard dressed in red will bring them the most wonderful gifts on Christmas day because they were good.

After 5 years, there is a change in their reasoning and they learn to distinguish between reality and fiction. Between the ages of 7 and 8 the children are already asking themselves questions about the things that happen and they begin to tie things together, so that age is a good time to start putting them on notice.

Children alone will begin to ask their parents about Santa Claus and many times they end up learning the truth at school or through a nearby child and only turn to adults to confirm suspicions. That is a good time to tell them the truth in a simple and clear, but loving way and stressing that you should not feel bad about it because somehow Santa Claus exists in everyone's heart.

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Once the children begin to suspect the truth, it is better that they discover it for themselves unless they ask it directly, in which case, if the child is old enough, it is better to explain it as we mentioned in the previous point.

If the child is very young and we believe that he is still able to continue believing in Santa Claus if we insist that he exists, it will depend on the parents to tell the truth or not. We must remember that the stage in which magical thinking predominates ends and therefore sooner or later they will realize that it is not true for themselves. In general, it is best to let the child discover things on his own .

Once you know the truth, we can make you our accomplice so as not to explain the secret to other brothers, relatives or smaller friends who still believe in its existence and we invite you to take on a more adult role that will help you in your development.

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In the event that the child misbehaves the news and gets angry because we have deceived him, we must accompany him and wait until little by little he assimilates the truth . The children will end up accepting and we must make them understand that at a certain age they are already very ready to believe that Santa Claus really exists, but that we (the parents) remember that figure in an endearing way and that they (the children) have the same thing will happen.

You can get inspired by the letter that Martha Brockenbrough, a New York Times writer, wrote to her daughter to explain that Santa Claus does not exist.

Martha told her that she was not Santa Claus, but that the person who bought her gifts wrapped them and left them under the tree on Christmas day. He also explains that Santa Claus is a tradition that passes from parents to children whose purpose is to foster the fantasy and illusion of children. Martha also shared with her the tradition by telling her daughter that she, when she is an adult and has children or relatives of a young age, will also perpetuate this tradition just by seeing their faces of happiness and happiness.

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If, on the other hand, children are reluctant to believe that Santa Claus exists despite knowing the truth, it is best not to insist on the subject. It may be difficult for them to accept it and they need time for it. Each child is different and therefore we should let them assimilate it on their own. Children will end up accepting, do not worry.

What is not so appropriate is that the parents lengthen the deceit excessively once the child already knows it. Some parents find it hard to accept that children grow and become sad when they see that they are losing their naivete, ingenuity and fantasy to give way to more adult reasoning. We must accept that children grow and that healthy and normal is that they evolve correctly.