Teaching your kids about Santa Clause

[Losty]

I also agree with this, but I found lying about obvious things from ages 2-5 is a fun way to teach your kids to figure things out for themselves while maintaining that trust.

For example when I'm cooking dinner and my almost 3 year old asks what I'm doing I'll tell her I'm dancing ballet with a giraffe, or when she points to my cellphone and asks what it is I'll say "it's a cow, what do cows say?"
Kids think it's funny, and at the same time I thinks it's a fun way to teach them to figure out their own answers instead of believing everything other people tell them.

That is a very different sort of situation from telling your children that Santa is real.  In your example, the claim that you are dancing ballet with a giraffe does not involve any deception.  You are saying things that are obviously false, and can be immediately seen to be false.

I also wasn't talking to you. I have said several times in this thread that I did not tell my children that Santa Claus is real. The reason I didn't do so is because I will not lie to my children for such a frivolous reason. I try not to lie to them except when I feel it is absolutely necessary.

I don't count the dancing with giraffes thing as lying at all, it is a lot closer to sarcasm than a lie, but I think it helps little kids learn to think for themselves.