Do I Insist That the Tooth Fairy Is Real? or Fess Up?

"I don't know, what do you think?" is my favorite answer to these types of questions. It's great to listen to their imagination at work!

Aww, she sounds delightful! What a wonderful imagination! Let her run with it!

I never told my kids that the tooth fairy wasn't real. They only got money from the tooth fairy if they wrote a letter asking for the tooth fairy to give money. Their letters were darling, I have to say! Sometimes I forgot about it, and they'd say "Mommy, why didn't the tooth fairy come?" I'd make up some excuse and promise myself not to forget the next night!

Don't worry about this, really and truly. Kids have the imagination beat out of them so quickly in life. Let them enjoy their imaginations for as long as possible!

Dawn

id keep the magic alive as long as possible, they are only little once. my gut says he already knows but still wants to believe in something

Why not do both? My kids know that the tooth fairy isn't real, but we do a stellar job of pretending as a family! We have tooth fairy pillows, the tooth fairy leaves a note with the money and a smattering of glitter on the pillow and the recipient's nose. :)

Magic doesn't exist in desperately trying to hang onto a childhood figure. Magic exists in active imaginations. I daresay that we have more fun pretending about the Tooth Fairy and Santa than in households where kids are threatened with being cut off from presents and tooth money if they don't believe. :)

im sure the fact you dont do santa and he';s aware everyone elses parents are lying to them makes him more able to see through the tooth fairy lie....still i'd continue it. i'm sure he really knows but still wants to believe. let him be little and keep the magic allive=)
i know kids who pretended to believe in santa for years because they didnt want to give that wonderful idea up

Once they asked me point blank I told the truth and explained it is a game to help kids see and believe in the real magic that is all around them.

I just turned it back around and asked what THEY believed. I had a little boy spoil it for my daughter in 1st grade. I was not happy. My son happily believed for a lot longer and never outright questioned it...
He knows now of course, geez, he's 14... lol. His sister is 11 and she knows, too, but they don't ADMIT it. They recognize two things:
1) the events (Christmas, Easter, losing a tooth, etc) has a certain amount of "magic" and "wonder" and fun and around these family traditions, and if they ADMIT they know... some of that will be lost.
2) If they tell us they know, outright, then we may choose to discontinue the traditions. What fun is that?

My 11 year old knows there is no tooth fairy. But she didn't lose many teeth before she realized it. She has been late to lose them, and in fact had to have 4 pulled over the summer and just lost 2 (on the same day) last week. But I wasn't going to penalize her for not losing them when she was 7, like her brother did. She knew who left the cash and who took her teeth from under her pillow. And when I asked her if the tooth fairy came, she smiled really big and conspiratorially and said "yeeeesss..." and told me what she got.
When we were at the orthodontist (coincidentally the very next day) and she told him she had lost the 2 teeth just the day prior, he asked about the tooth fairy too. She got this huge grin, looked at me, and said the same thing as before... through laughter, she croaked.. "yeeeeesss".

They know Santa is me, too. But I would never make them admit they know. Stockings are too much fun. :) Although, I don't bother with the "special" wrapping paper so much anymore... :/
ETA: The year we thought they knew and were "over" the Easter Bunny, we didn't do anything, since we had plans immediately following church and wouldn't be home anyway. They were SO disappointed that morning, that while we were at the afternoon event, I slipped out, bought some candy and small toys and snuck them into the car. When we got home, hubby snuck them from the car and climbed in through a window in the back room (I unlocked it for him when they weren't looking) and he got out the easter baskets and filled them and I put them in an out of the way place to "accidentally" find them. Geez... no wonder you didn't see them this morning---he left them in HERE... I wonder why he did that? LOL

I love his questions!

Same as the answer to the Santa question below: you never announce. Tip the scale on the side of make believe. There's enough reality in real life.

We are a "pretending" household. I pretend all about Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy... until the kids ask. Then I tell the truth. I always said I wouldn't lie to my kids or make them feel stupid or make them doubt their instincts or judgment on these issues. But even when w eknow the truth, we still pretend. It's fun. Knowing the truth doesn't mean you can't be imaginative or creative or have fun.

So, I say, if she asks questions, say you don't know or say "What do you think?" If she asks if it's real, tell her the truth, and say "But isn't it fun to pretend?" And remind her plenty of her friends haven't figured it out yet, so she needs to be a secret keeper now too? And then pretend the conversation never happened and get out your fairy dust and coins!

I have a 1 yo, 5 yo and 6 yo. My 6 yo is VERY precocious. I have heard her "explaining" the "logic" of magic to her sister and to some of her friends. It's super cute. She explains that of course dragons are fake, and unicorns are fake but some magical things are real - like Santa and his reindeer and of course like the tooth fairy. She has asked me details like how does she get in my room and I'll say "I'm really not sure, what do you think?" and she'll say "Well she's a tiny fairy. She might come in under the door, or she might just open it super quietly."
My 5 yo added that she "knew" leprechauns were real, because on St Patrick's day, while her pre-K class was at art, leprechauns came into the classroom and did mischief, moving chairs around, leaving pots of gold for the kids, and chocolates.
To her, this was proof. It has absolutely not occured to her that there is another explanation!

Life is hard enough for too many years. I say let kids believe in magic and pink fluffy things for as long as possible!!

Until he asks point blank if she is real I would just keep pretending. Its just too much fun not to. Just make up answers to all of his questions. Six is pretty young to give it up. Mine is in 3rd grade and still believes and my fifth grader doesn't but we still pretend she comes. Its just fun-at least for me. And for my kids.

This is cool because there's ALWAYS SOMETHING people don't know and this is where we get creative in building our own explanations of the universe.
Every great myth (and more than likely, quite a few religions) get their start this way.
Whether it's a time traveling Tardis, or magic sleigh or pixie dust or teleporters - people/kids always come up with the most wonderful stories.
Facts and belief seldom have anything to do with each other!

We never made a HUGE deal out of Santa, though he is a friendly happy man that we love to see and will stay at parades, stand in lines, and run outside if we hear the fire engine's sirens (he rides on the top of a firetruck and throws wrapped gifts (books) to the children who run outside and wave in our neighborhood). They know the stories of him, we read and watch all the Christmas movies/stories, but I don't think I've ever blatantly said "Santa this or that" outside of stories. We make cookies together as a family and leave some for Santa (and a thank you card too), and they get letters from Santa. It's lots of fun. But even on the gift tags to __ from __, instead of From Santa, it usually has a smiley face or heart drawn in. If he flat out asked me, I'd tell him the truth. He asked for something the other day and I said "Hmm, that sounds like a Santa present (big stuff)" and he said "Ok Santa". I looked at him and he smiled, and I just popped his head, smiled, and carried on with what I was doing. I don't know if he suspects or not, and I just didn't say anything.
We haven't had a tooth fairy incident yet, he's only 5. He's heard a bit about the fairy, but not much. (None of his friends have started losing teeth yet). But I've got the tooth fairy pillow and he'll put it in there (because he sleeps in a "cave" of a bunk bed and no way can I crawl into that without waking him up, lol).....I know that I'll sprinkle a little glitter on new dollar bills in exchange for the tooth. If he teased, I'd tease back. If he flat asked, I'd tell him the truth.
But one thing we do: if he asks questions about Santa, I'll say "Well the story goes that _____" and answer the question that way. SO when he's older I never lied, I told him "the stories" and we had fun, but I never INSISTED a man came into our house while we were sleeping to eat our sweets and give us gifts. That may be dumb thinking to some, but I want my kids to trust me to be honest when they need me.

My 6yo is NOT a Santa fan. He gets weirded out by the thought of strange things coming in the house while he's sleeping. Esp Santa. He finds Santa to be very creepy. And this goes for the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, also.
We tried to tell him that his Dad is there to let Santa when he comes. It didn't help and we just dropped it. Last year we just told him that Santa mailed the presents via UPS and we would set them out Christmas eve (as I do most of my shopping online). That worked out MUCH better. We don't really talk about Santa anymore. :)
Sometimes you just have to get creative.

I just say "it's all what you believe." and leave it at that. I NEVER confirm or deny!

I would say I don't know to all her questions while raising and wiggling my eyebrows up and down. She will get the drift yet still get to indulge the fantasy! Not really admitting to the truth is common to parents and kids too!

I think my daughter was seven when she was questioning whether Santa was real. When she asked more questions that I couldn't answer without all out lies I finally asked her if she was sure she wanted to have this conversation yet. Because, if she didn''t believe in Santa he may not visit our house anymore, but as long as she believes he'll keep coming. Even though she knew for quite some time I think we put off the discussion for another three years because she didn't want to ruin it.

Look at my profile picture.

I always told my kids that the tooth fairy would always come as long as they believed in the tooth fairy. The same with Santa. When their friends said Santa didn't come to their home any more, I'd say, "Well, if you didn't behave, he wouldn't come to your home either."

Good luck to you and yours.

Oh...I say keep the magic alive as long as you can!!