This is a major theme that runs through Captain Fantastic, and something that I've had to finesse in my relationship with my own son. My wife's family was all-in on the Santa Claus thing, and I had to be careful about the way I stated, "I do not personally believe in Santa Claus, and if you get a present from me it will have my name on it" without starting fights with them. Of course, it meant that I gained a lot of credibility with the boy when the ruse was revealed.

Suspending disbelief has never really been a problem for us since I always drew a bright line of "now we're pretending." Gerard Jones's Killing Monsters was really helpful to me in this regard. Children are perfectly capable of reacting appropriately when violence in media is real and when it is not real. The problem comes when parents confuse the issue by trying to outlaw even symbolic violence, which children use as a tool to deal with their fears.