Would you be upset if your child's school revealed the truth about Father Christmas?

A school has been criticised by parents for “ruining the magic of Christmas” by telling children that, *Spoiler alert*, Father Christmas is not real.

An upset mum claims that staff at Nicholas Chamberlain School allegedly announced in assembly that pupils “need to know the truth” about Father Christmas.

“I couldn’t believe it, it has been my choice to keep my children believing, they have taken the magic of Christmas away from her,” the mum told Coventry Telegraph.

“My daughter came and sat on my bed yesterday morning (Monday) and said: “Santa isn’t real is he?,” I said to her: “Who told you that?’ and she said that the school did last week in assembly, I was shocked.”

“I don’t know why they (the school) had to do it, unless the children had asked them questions, but they could have done it in a different way, rather than saying ‘it is about time you knew the truth’.”

Though her daughter is 11, and in Year 7, the mum-of-six doesn’t believe she should already know the truth.

“Yes, she is in secondary school but she is 11 and I have always kept the magic going with all of my children as long as I could,” she explained.

“She is still young, it ruins the magic of Christmas.”

After telephoning the school, the mum heard back from the Head of Year 7 who apologised for the way in which it came across, explaining that they were discussing St Nicolas.

The Coventry Telegraph contacted the school for comment but had not had a response.

Following the upset, the mum’s friends are now encouraging her to start up a #webelieve hashtag and get it trending in time for Christmas.

While many parents desperately try to protect the Father Christmas myth for as long as possible, some experts believe the age-old tale could actually be damaging.

An essay published last year in the journal Lancet Psychiatry called “A wonderful lie,” suggests that the trust children have in their parents may be undermined by them spinning stories about Santa.

What’s more, the reasons behind maintaining the belief could actually be morally suspect.

“If they are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth?” the researchers write.

But Psychologist Emma Kenny from makeyourswitch.co.uk believes far from being damaging, keeping a belief in Santa alive can in fact open children up to the idea of possibility.

“I believe that Father Christmas is an individual who brings magic into our children’s lives,” she says. “In a world where fear, destruction and negativity is a daily experience, these kind of ‘lies’ enable children an opportunity to enjoy a world of possibility.”

If you’re looking for a really special way to tell older children the truth about Father Christmas that won’t break their spirits, then look no further than a special idea from a mum that has been going viral since last Christmas.

It’s all about having older children “become” Santas themselves. The idea is you take the child, who’s ready to learn the truth, out for a one-on-one meal. Then, you acknowledge some of the good deeds they have done in the past year and some examples of their empathetic behaviour. Finally, you break the news.

“In fact, your heart has grown so much that I think you are ready to become a Santa Claus. You probably have noticed that most of the Santas you see are people dressed up like him. Some of your friends might have even told you that there is no Santa. A lot of children think that, because they aren’t ready to BE a Santa yet, but YOU ARE,” the post encourages you to say.

Leslie Rush originally wrote the story for a 2006 About.com forum, and reposted it in a support forum two years later. It was re-shared by Charity Hutchinson last year and has been going viral ever since thanks to it’s heartwarming yet not Grinch-like way of breaking the news.

Whether or not you choose to tell your children the truth about Father Christmas, recent research has revealed that less little ones than ever before are writing to the big man in the North Pole.

According to Mathew Hickey, chief executive of the Children’s Literacy Charity, the Christmas custom is being ‘taken over’ by technology, with a third of primary school children sending emails to Santa instead of penning letters.

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