How to handle the “Santa issue”

In response to Connor Boyack’s post on whether or not parents should tell their children that Santa is real:

I would offer the following, real-life example.  My brother have five children, ages 11 and under.  From the time he and his wife had the first child, they decided that they would tell their children the truth, including the truth regarding Santa Claus.  Every Christmas, they calmly explain that “Santa” is a game that people play.  He does not exist and is not real.  On Christmas morning, when the children open their gifts, they ask their children, “Who are your presents from?” and they make sure that the children answer “From Mommy and Daddy.”  Despite all this, the children insist that their parents are wrong.  They insist that Santa is real.  They continue to believe, even without the support of their parents.

I think this is the best way to handle the issue.  There are several arguments for and against pretending that Santa is real.  I would ask, of all those who advocate pretending with their children, do you have any examples of people who tell their children the truth?  Does anyone have any evidence to suggest that telling your children the simple truth from the beginning is bad or damages the children?

What do you think?

One of the biggest problems with Open Source Software Development

Incidentally, few Cathedral-style projects suffer from lack of vision: those that do simply die off and are never heard from again. Bazaar-style development allows projects to be in a zombie state for long periods of time, where it is vastly expensive for a Cathedral-style project to do the same.

Source: “Inside the mind of the enemy…”

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I’m not sure if this will work or not. Let’s try it!