Parents of older kids...how did you let "Santa", "Easter bunny", out of the bag?

How did your kids find out or you tell them that they are not real?

I don't have kids, but I can tell you I don't have the slightest clue how I was told. I don't remember.

My daughter was about 8 or 9 when she started hearing things from the kids at school that made her question her belief in Santa. She pushed and prodded so much one day, asking if he was real, that we asked her "What do you think?"

She replied that she though that Santa was probably not real, because how could he get around the whole world in just one night, make all those toys, etc., so we told her "It's what you think, and what you want to believe."

That clicked in, and she burst into tears once she figured out that logically, Santa couldn't exist, so I said "Well, you wanted to know, so now you do. There once was a real St. Nicholas, but he was human just like us, and humans don't live forever, so after he died, parents carried on his tradition of gift giving."

I think it's actually better to not even start all that stuff with kids in the first place--it only sets them up to be crushed with disappointment, and even without Santa and all these other mythical characters, they'll still get excited about the prospect of gifts and whatever, as long as it revolves around them and their wants--doesn't matter where it all comes from and who gives it.

Although I do have to admit, my daughter did enjoy writing letters to the Tooth Fairy, for some reason, all of which I've kept--lol. My favorite was when she wrote: "Dear Tooth Fairy, how do you get in my house? Do you come down the chimney like Santa? The tooth is under my pillow--don't touch anything else in my room!" haha!

We never did the Easter bunny. That game was just a little too silly to play.

I don't recall a specific instance when I revealed to my daughter that Santa wasn't real. I think like a lot of kids, she probably heard others deny his existence. Even though she didn't easily believe their naysaying, let's face it, once a kid hears that Santa is a hoax, the suspicion stays in the back of their head until they eventually piece together and accept the truth. Her mother was a lot more funny about letting that fantasy go than I was. I think she was about nine years old when she dropped hints that she didn't believe anymore. Kind of sad for a parent to hear, because that signifies that an aspect of their childhood is slipping away.

I don't have kids, but my parents never came out and told me that they just didn't exist. They sorta knew that I would know eventually.