Mum reveals why she told her eight-year-old daughter that Santa isn't real

'It has been the most magical thing I could have done for her.'

One mum has opened up about why she told her eight-year-old daughter that Father Christmas doesn't exist.

Blogger Miriam Gwynne, who writes under the name Faith Mummy, said that she felt that she had no choice but to tell her daughter that Santa wasn't real as the idea of the figure caused her unnecessary stress as a child with autism.

'The very thought that a stranger would enter her house while she was asleep utterly horrified her,' Miriam explained.

Eight-year-old Naomi found herself perplexed by the fact that Santa could be in so many places at the same time, as well as the fact that his ability to get to every house in the world in just one evening caused havoc with her literal thinking patterns.

The mum, who is a parent to twins Naomi and Isaac who both have the condition, said that telling her daughter that Santa doesn't exist 'has been the most magical thing I could have done for her.'

'All of a sudden everything now makes sense to her,' she continued.

'She can now reason in her mind how ‘Santa’ can be in the shopping centre, the local school and somehow in the North Pole at the same time.

'She realised that the chimney stuff is all a story and there is no need to fear a stranger coming in her house while she is asleep.

'Telling my young daughter there is no such person as Santa has been the most magical thing I could have done for her,' wrote the blogger.

Paddy and Christine McGuinness recently spoke about the fact that they no longer have a Christmas tree in their home.

Their twins, who also have autism, found the tree distressing during previous years, so the family have opted for five stockings for each family member instead.

Over 700,000 people in the UK have autism.

Autism is also a 'hidden' disability, as people can't tell someone has autism from their appearance.

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