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opinion wanted

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pcpoet:
I am writing a fantasy book that is aimed at 8-12 year olds in it I have one of my characters an adult say that she sees nothing wrong with indulging a child's belief in witches and in fairies that as far as she is concerned that indulging this  belief is no different then a parent leaving money under the pillow from the tooth fairy or at Christmas time helping a child with a letter to Santa.
my concern is whether my saying this is like going up to a child and saying there is no Santa ba humbug.....
I personally love indulging children's belief in Santa clause and I am sure I am not ruining it for most over the age of eight but I no that I might have younger readers who will be reading it to who Santa is very real.
my question is should I leave it out. it is not important to the book but it does help to give personality to one of my characters.

Demos Mirak:
I guess it depends on how heavily it is hinted on. Would a kid get from the sentence that Santa isn't real, or would it be something that is obvious in hindsight, once the kid knows Santa isn't real. It also depends on how unique it is, can't your replace with it with a similar remark that conveys the same?

Griffyn612:
I'd go at it obliquely if at all.  this article mentions that over 50% of kids still believe in Santa at seven.  that means half of your potential readers a year under your age target would be like  :'(.

http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/when-do-kids-stop-believing-in-santa/383958/

pcpoet:
this is the section of my book that I am concerned about. I really like what I have written but at the same time as far as I am concerned belief Santa and the tooth fairy is the magic of childhood  so I don't no if I am going to keep it or not

“you will never guess what use to be where we live”.  The children then repeated the story of the mean witch and the broken hearted fairy that had lost it fellow fairy to the witch.  Mrs. Sudbury laughed and said that story was told to her by her grandma when she was a kid.
 


“Is it true” asked Laura with wonder in her eyes? Mrs. Sudbury just Smiled and said “I don’t know if it is true but it might be “. As far as Mrs. Angela Sudbury was concerned there was way too much serious stuff in these kid’s life with there being a war going on. If the children wanted to believe in fairies and evil witches let them have their fantasy. Life was already hard enough without a little bit of pretend and she did not see how this was different from saying yes there is a Santa clause or putting a pence under the pillow from the tooth fairy when a tooth was lost.



the kid reading the story  will find out that for the characters in the book the story about the witch and the fairy are true.

Demos Mirak:
Well yes, that's rather obviously saying that the adult does not think that Santa exists, and even more, actively tries to get children to believe otherwise. But then again, if it later is confirmed that the witch and faerie do indeed exist, the child might also apply that to the case of Santa, but that is not a given, and until that time, the child might be rather distraught with it all. You might want to muddle it a bit more.

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