Parents have said they "refuse to lie" to their daughter about Santa but insist they're not "taking away any magic". Mathew Bourdreaux, 46, and Aurelian, 44, a music teacher, say they find "honesty is the best policy" when it comes to parenting.
Rather than insisting Father Christmas is real, the parents ask their daughter, Helena, nine, if she wants to play ‘make-believe’ and pretend they're real. But they say the schoolgirl knows Santa doesn't exist and her dads are 'playing along' to 'keep her happy'.
Mathew insists the family "don't want to participate in large scale global gaslighting" - making children question their own reality - and says the couple decided they "would never deceive" their little girl. According to Mathew, lying to your children for years can cause psychological trauma when they eventually find out the truth.
