The Death of Innocence

"Daddy, I heard of a myth...that the tooth fairy is your Mom, and that the Easter bunny is your Dad - is that true?"

Of course, he waited to ask until after he'd gobbled up most of his Easter candy.

So, what's a parent to do?

My husband tried to step around it, "Where did you hear that myth? At school, at church, where?"

"Nowhere, except in my head."

Distract, distract!! I could hear my husband thinking deep in his head. He totally sidestepped the whole issue, and moved Braden's fertile mind onto another subject, then conveniently left for a bishopric meeting.

Well, because we've been having some issues with non-truth telling from my son lately, I felt it was time to be honest with him. I called him over, before we left for church, and said;

"Braden, I think you're old enough to know the truth about something. Do you want to hear it?"

"Sure, Mommy."

"You were right earlier today, when you were asking if the tooth fairy and Easter bunny are your mommy and daddy. You know your parents tell you the truth and want you to be honest, so I'm telling you the truth. We tell little kids about the Easter bunny and tooth fairy because we love to see you get so excited about it."

He took it pretty well. We also had a talk about what if people at school or Primary still believe in the easter bunny - were we going to tell them the truth? No! Let their mommy and daddy tell them. And, don't forget, you are NOT to say anything to your little sister about this.

I thought I was off the hook about Santa - he didn't bring it up -- not until after dinner, when we were discussing his comments with Nana. "What about Santa...oh..."