I don't have kids, but I remember when I was a kid, Mother did the Santa thing....but made no effort to hide it was really her. I never remember believing Santa actually came, but it was a fun game and the presents that appeared Christmas morning obviously came from my parents.

Why are you lumping the tooth fairy in with all those ridiculous childhood myths?

very few people believe in him .......

I pulled the beard off a store Santa when I was two. My mother tried giving me the song and dance about Santa's helpers but she said she could tell I wasn't buying it.

When it came to the god stuff, I can remember being afraid not to believe. I was pretty much done when I was ten.

But we never presented them as true. Your comparison to superheroes is very apt, never thought of it like that but yes, that does sum it up pretty well!

The really destructive part of the Santa myth (when presented as real), I think, teaches kids early on that since rich kids get so much more for presents, they must be better than poor kids. That's the "prosperity gospel" foundation right there. Nasty shit.

I wanted my kids to have it too. The kids loved the whole thing. It was nice for them to have a bit of "magic" in their early life. They're teens now and said they were glad they had Santa et al. They don't feel betrayed; they understand why we did it.

It allowed them to participate in the fun. Then, as they became older and figured it out we would give them the aw shucks look and they understood. The problem isn't in the fantasy, the problem is when no one ever tells the kids that the fantasy wasn't reality. Such is the case with Jesus and God.

as entertainment. There was no more implication that Santa actually brought presents than that Rumplestiltskin would actually appear ready to teach auric weaving. I have no patience with those who suggest that there is no room for childhood "magic" or imagination without making up impossible crap and pretending it's true. There's plenty of imagination and magic in fairy tales and myths of all kinds without lying about their truth values.

My father is an atheist and always has been, but he raised my sister on Santa Claus the Tooth Fairy, etc. But he only ever told us the stories, he never claimed they were true. Whenever I asked him if Santa was real, he asked me what I thought. He never gave me an answer, he made me find the truth for myself (note this was before I discovered Google).
This was probably one of the strongest lessons he has ever taught me, but he never had to explain: don't let other people tell you the truth when you are capable of finding the true answer on your own. This is what we should be teaching our children. Don't tell them what you think, no matter how valid it is, instead show them how to find the truth on their own.

But you know what, if he's mature enough to ask, he's mature enough to know the truth.

He still likes the version of Santa in Rise of the Guardians. The Russian with the naughty/nice lists tattooed as sleeves down his arms.