A mum of twins was labelled as cruel for not revealing the truth about Santa Claus until they turned twelve - when they also found out about the tooth fairy and Easter Bunny on the same day. Simone Quin-Dixon, 33, of Tarporley, Cheshire, is mum to Emilie and William and says they were probably the only pupils in their year group that still believed in the legendary characters.
She wanted to keep the magic of Christmas alive for as long as possible, however lying to her children became too much to bear almost a year after they joined high school, as she feared they would be picked on by their peers. As an Irish person, Simone says she believed in all sorts of mythical tales growing up and wanted the same for her children.
But once they joined Year 7 at secondary school, a friend of Simone's warned her that the twins would be laughed at for still believing in Father Christmas. She eventually gave in this summer and confessed the truth - but admits Christmas this year has now 'fallen flat'.
"Life is quite difficult," Simone told the Mirror. "When you get to the age when you find out that it's not real, I guess nine or 10, it's also the time when you find out about other stuff and that your parents aren't actually perfect.
"It would have been easier to say 'No it’s not real', but I just thought, no, the last few years have been so hard for everybody.
"I just wanted to keep the magic going for as long as I could."
Around November last year, one of Simone's best friends, who is a headteacher, told her she had to let Emilie and William know that Santa isn't real after they had joined secondary school in September 2021.
He feared that their peers would pick on them but Simone wasn't sure when the best time would be to break the news.
Her daughter began pleading with her to assure her that Saint Nicolas did exist, but then Simone felt like she was then having to lie to her children, making her feel guilty.
"He [her friend] said 'that's cruel. They're going to be laughed at you have to tell them,'" Simone, a holistic integrative therapist who has her own company OM Tarporley Holistic Wellness and Beauty, said.
"But Emilie kept saying to me 'Promise me he's real?'
"At that point I'm thinking, Oh my God, I'm lying to my child. So I started saying, 'Well, what do you think Emilie?' And she said, 'I think it's real but nobody else does'.
"It was all getting a bit sticky. I think they kind of knew, maybe they wanted to keep me happy."
In the summer earlier this year, the family-of-four was talking in the car when the topic of Christmas came up.
It was here when Simone and her husband, who had agreed to keep it quiet the whole time, admitted the truth finally.
The children were in disbelief and the mum-of-two says the whole house of cards collapsed for them that day, now understanding that there is in fact no tooth fairy or Easter bunny too.
"I just thought I can't go to another year of lying to them and they really will be laughed at if we do again," Simone adds.
"When we did tell them, their faces dropped. And they started asking 'What else isn't real?'
"I'm a very truthful person and I think they were a bit shocked to realise I had actually lied to them.
"They do understand I did it for the best reasons. It wasn't for me. It wasn't me being mean. Or, you know, deceitful. It was because I wanted it to be lovely for them."
But now that the truth is out in the open, she says the festive holiday just isn't the same.
On Christmas Eve, the family would always put out reindeer food and a mince pie ready for the fictitious character and his imaginary herd, as well as religiously taking part in Elf on the Shelf - where parents have to come up with new places to hide their special scout watching over the kids.
"When Christmas songs were on the radio the other day and even though my daughter adores them, it's all gone a bit flat now," Simon admits.
"A few of their schoolmates had made fun of them so they used to stay quiet about it in school but their friends were so kind and just went along with their beliefs.
"Since we told them and their friends heard about it, a couple of them said they wished their parents had dragged it out a bit longer."
How did you reveal the truth about Santa to your children? Let us know in the comments.
