The Tooth Fairy (or Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus . . .) : a fun and harmless fiction, or a pointless justification for lying to children?

Completely justified! All these little untruths are the special bits of childhood. Once you stop believing in them your innocence goes and you’ve taken a massive step away from being a child.

I recently found out than an ex-colleague of mine who now teaches eleven year olds recently announced to her entire class that Santa isn’t real. While she was at it she also told them that the tooth fairy wasn’t real and it was about time they grew up.

I would love to give her a piece of my mind. It’s not our place as their teacher to tell them that. By the time they get to the final year of primary school they normally know or suspect the fact that their parents might just be playing a big, wonderful trick on them but it’s not for us to ruin it for them – we can leave that to their friends. As primary school teachers it’s up to us to preserve childhood for as long as humanly possible, to increase the number of carefree days where the only thing that matters is how long it is until lunchtime or who’s going to be playing out after school. The children of today seem older than their years in so many ways, let’s just let them keep this youthful magic for just a little bit longer.