I feel like Dr. Frankenstein.
Some time ago I forged ahead with the idea to do as most American parents do and tell my kids the little white lies of Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. This weekend we sat and watched We Bought a Zoo and during that film the dad has an interaction with his daughter where she overhears him say the Easter Bunny isn’t real. My eldest said, “What did he say about the Easter Bunny?”
My first born child is in middle school now and through the impossible magic that is storytelling I have managed to keep him believing these things are real. All three boys are believers. In fact last xmas Santa led them on a scavenger hunt to uncover their gifts ‘he’ has been doing this for two years now and they adore it. They look forward to Santa’s search nearly as much as they do the process of opening the gifts themselves.
The Bunny has no active role in our lives. He doesn’t hop over to our home delivering candies like he does for some others. The tooth fairy still delivers on her promise of cash for teeth. They were also recently introduced to the elf on the shelf and find the concept of that utterly believable.
My kids are not dumb or gullible. They figure out most things very quickly, but I have actively engaged in maintaining this myth of magical creatures for reasons I still don’t quite understand. I’m good at creating such fictions and better at locating media that supports and justifies the physics of such things. Still, it seems quite destructive to have kids believe in that stuff for so long.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how to pull the plug on the myths. I mean I could just tell the older one. He’s at that age where he should’ve already figured it out anyhow. However, the real question becomes why did it take so long and what have I been holding onto with these stories?
I just don’t know.