I'm interested in seeing the comments here. I have a 6 year old and 9 year old, both girls, neither has any idea. I thought maybe at this time someone would have mentioned something at school. Maybe they both know and are playing me!

They are only children for such a short period of time,and my number one rule to my kids and grandkids is never lie,I think stretching the truth on this one for as long as we can is for the best.Innocence and childhood is very short lived in this culture now,lets let them have this for as long as we can,Merry Christmas to all and your families,mostly our precious little ones.God Bless......

We always said that if you believe in Santa's magic then he can come to your house. When you stop believing in his magic it doesn't work at our house so he can't come. Kind of like the "Polar Express Movie".....if you can hear the bell. I'll never fess up! My kids say I must be the only adult who believes in Santa and that Dad must do all the shopping to keep me believing! It's fun. I love keeping the innocence of childhood alive. My kids don't believe for sure but I still do "Santa" gifts for them. All wrapped in the same paper, usually something with a big Santa print or HO, HO, HO printed on the paper. It's so much fun! Don't ruin it for your kids by being honest to soon. I've heard of parents telling their kids as young as 7 which I think is mean. It can be work to preserve their belief but it's so worth the effort! Merry Christmas!

If you're a liberal, most likely you don't introduce this problem to begin with. Or say Merry Christmas.

I kept the magic going for my son all through grade school. He asked plenty of questions and I made up plenty of stories to answer him. I finally told him the truth the summer before he entered middle school. Now he helps me keep the magic for his 7 year old sister. Her best friend's mom doesn't "do" Santa so I have to field more questions as her friend tells her all the time it's just me giving presents. My theory is that kids grow up too fast in this society as it is. They lose their innocence so much younger than we did, especially with all the horrible stories on the news all the time. There is such a limited time in their lives that they can truly believe in magic, why not let them have it for as long as you possibly can?

I love the comments here and I agree. Except Nuitari...of course someone has to bring up politics. Well I am a very liberal Christian who kept the Santa magic going as long as I could when my children were little...and to everyone else here Merry Christmas!!

When the kids were younger, I'd drop some subtle clues whenever they asked me questions about Santa.
Look into there eyes, (and check their reactions) and with a big smile:
"Mom, er.. Santa has to do some shopping today."
"Do you like the presents from dad, er... Santa?"
"That notes on the gift-tags sure looks like mom's handwriting."
"Dad, er.. Santa like oatmeal cookies better."

We had a different problem with the "Santa Question". We are a Jewish family and have never celebrated Christmas. Our children have been raised with the knowledge that Santa was a loving myth. The problem we faced was preventing our children from breaking the bad news to other children. We attempted to help our children to understand that to tell other children, who were not ready for the truth, was cruel and they shouldn't be responsible for causing someone else pain. For the most part the approach worked. However, we were plagued with other questions. When children returned to school after the winter break and kids compared what they received from Santa, young children were always interested why Santa didn't visit our house and usually involved the question; "Were you to naughty for Santa to visit and give you presents"? We instructed the children to tell other children that we didn't want Santa to visit because we didn't want Santa to give us presents and wanted him to give them to children who were in greater need. Our children generally accepted the tactic and found it amusing to be part of the conspiratorial myth.

My older girls 16&17 know but my 8 yr. old doesn't. The older girls still get presents from Santa because of the 8 yr. old but I have told them if they believe as adults and I have a spare house key for them.... Santa will bring them presents. Merry Christmas!

I handled it by saying that Santa was 'real' in the heart rather than being real in the head. That as long as parents all over the world saw to it that stockings were filled, Santa was 'real'.

And then I did it up big and proper, with horse-feed left in the fireplace for the reindeer and gone in the morning, a snack for Santa, also gone in the morning. I'm sure my son caught on fairly early, but he kept the magic alive too.

I already know the truth about Santa Claus, Virginia.

How about teaching our kids from the beginning about faith in humanity and not in another made up fictitious lie and waste of time, money, and perpetuation of greed and indulgence.

What news?

We told our kids that everyone gets presents at Christmas because Jesus shares his birthday with all of us. If you lie to your children how can you expect them to trust you. They should know Christmas is about our Savior not Santa. Why is that being a grinch? Why is that wrong?

I had fun with the magic of it as a child, but in hindsight it could have been so much more. We had plenty of fairy tales and other healthy fantasy in our lives, so why not shoot for something better for Christmas?

I'd like to think that the spirit of sacrifice, what that red santa outfit used to symbolize, is an enduring virtue that lives on with Santa. But that is quite the opposite of the spirit of getting more stuff. It's also not the "spirit of giving" that retailers use as code for "shopping". It means giving up something important to you, not something you can easily spare, for the sake of what you believe is right. I wish we gave children that experience. It would make for a much higher class of citizenry.

Don't kids still have their birthday as a day when everything revolves around them and they get lots of free stuff?

The answer is apparent - the day Patch runs a story entitled "When's it Best to Break the News About Santa?"

At our house, if you don't "believe" then Santa doesn't share his presents with you. My "baby" is 21 and he still gets Santa presents, as do we all!

My son (8) got the full truth this year. He has been poking at it for a year or two, but we've always redirected and gently deflected the conversation. I tried it again this year and he cut me off and said, "Dad, tell me the truth." So I did. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure his 7-year-old sister knows the truth as well but she tends to just kind of cruise through these things.

Ben: I hear you. I have a pair of college-age kids as well, and I am not entirely sure how that happened. But I figure Christmas can still be special once the young ones know the truth, it just has to be special in a different way.