What age do you think is appropriate to tell a kid about Santa?

[popcornbird]

This thread made me laugh...because it brought back certain memories from 2nd grade. While I'm not Christian and never celebrated Christmas, I still grew up in the US, and during holiday season, 'Santa' was all around me...in the malls, stores, school, neighborhood,...EVERYWHERE.

I remember back when I was in 2nd grade, our teacher gave us a piece of paper and an envelope. We were supposed to write our own personal letters to 'Santa', and she told us Santa would reply to our letters when he got time. Now I had never believed Santa was real, and here I was being told to write 'Santa' a letter. I knew in my heart that the letter was going to no Santa...and that whoever would respond was not Santa at all, sooooooo..........I ended up writing a letter to Santa, saying I didn't believe he existed, and that the kids all get Christmas presents from their parents...not him. I don't know why I wrote that, but being a kid, I thought it would be funny to write something 'different'. After all, the teacher DID tell us to write whatever we wanted to...just that it had to be a secret from the other students. Basically, I told 'Santa' that he was a 'myth' and that I knew he wasn't coming to give me any presents cause he never did!!! I mean...my family never celebrated Christmas, so I never got presents on that day. When I saw stuff about Santa bringing presents to all children, and he never had presents for me, I knew he really didn't exist. I wrote the letter in the most polite way, put it in the envelope, and handed it to my teacher.

1 week later, I got a reply. I was young....just 7, but I still remember his words. He said, "Not all children believe in Santa, and they just might be right, but it is a joy to believe in Santa and get all those goodies on Christmas day, thinking it is all true. I hope you will learn to enjoy Santa while you are still a child. Remember, Santa loves you!"

LOL! I *bet* it was my teacher who wrote that response. I couldn't stop laughing. It was hilarious.

Anyway, with all that being said, while Santa might be 'fun'...I don't think children should ever be lied to. I personally believe they should be told the truth from the beginning. They are going to know eventually, and then they will think, "Why were our parents lying to us?" Maybe it should be introduced to children as a 'fun' tradition, and not something that's reality (which it is not) instead?