It's normal to lie to children, because it can be a functional teaching tool. Everyone will be lied to all their lives and learning to detect lies is a useful skill. It generally starts with your parents lying to you in harmless and loving ways.
Where the "santa" line gets crossed for me is when adults lie to kids for selfish reasons, for the sole purpose of manipulating them as if they were dolls, not humans. The more powerful this need to manipulate is, the more the kid will resent the whole business when they find out they were being used.
― Aimless, Friday, 30 December 2011 17:15 (twelve years ago) link