You can try to find out whether your children want
to keep believing or not by hinting and saying
things like "some people believe in the easter
bunny and some don't." From the child's reaction
you can try to guess whether the child is going
to be happier with more real information or with
more make-believe. You can gradually phase in
the idea that it's just make-believe. Maybe you
never need to say it explicitly -- just hint.

You can take other, less important make-believe
games and ask the child whether it's more fun
to pretend it's real. This can help both with
finding out how the child wants to treat these
situations, and with gradually letting the
child know that some things are make-believe.
--
Cathy
A *much* better world is possible.