Celebrity Parents Dax Shepard Reveals He Told His Daughter, 5½, That Santa Claus Is 'Just a Fun Thing We Pretend' "I have a fundamental rule that I will never lie to them, which is challenging at times," Dax Shepard said of daughters Delta, 3½, and Lincoln, 5½ By Jen Juneau Jen Juneau Twitter Website Jen Juneau is a News and Movies Staff Writer at PEOPLE. She started at the brand in 2016 and has more than 15 years' professional writing experience. People Editorial Guidelines Published on December 7, 2018 04:10PM EST Share Tweet Pin Email Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell have a big rule when it comes to their daughters: Don’t lie. Case in point? The actors and parents to Delta, 4 this month, and Lincoln, 5½, are all about celebrating Christmas and the idea of Santa Claus with their girls, but when they ask about the validity of his existence, the stars give it to them straight. “I have a fundamental rule that I will never lie to them, which is challenging at times,” Shepard, 43, told Us Weekly Monday during his visit to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, admitting the “controversial” nature of the decision before explaining his reasoning. Michael Simon/Startraks “Our 5-year-old started asking questions like, ‘Well, this doesn’t make sense, and that doesn’t make sense,’ ” recalled the former Parenthood star. “I’m like, ‘You know what? This is just a fun thing we pretend while it’s Christmas.’ ” Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Parents newsletter. Rich Fury/Getty Kristen Bell/Instagram How Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell Plan to Give Back This Holiday Season That doesn’t mean the girls don’t appreciate St. Nick, though. As Shepard explained to Us, “They love watching movies about Santa, they love talking about Santa. They don’t think he exists, but they’re super happy and everything’s fine.” And just like the season’s most recognizable icon, Delta and Lincoln — who are newly “infatuated” with Barbie dolls, according to their dad — are learning all about giving not only at Christmastime but throughout the year. “We encourage them to give something of theirs to whatever friend comes over,” Shepard shared. “We’re trying to show that an object can give you some joy when you get it, but then seeing how it can make someone else happy is sometimes even more fun than the thing was itself.” Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell on Christmas in 2013. Dax Shepard/Twitter RELATED VIDEO: Here’s the Secret to Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell Being #CoupleGoals Always Shepard’s comments about honesty when it comes to communicating with his kids echo the policy he and Bell, 38, have about discussing difficult topics with them — like death. “I think giving them the tools to understand that certain things happen at a young age is important,” The Good Place actress said on WTF with Marc Maronin September. “We’re not morbid about it. We don’t talk about death, but she asks, we tell her.” She also told Maron about why she doesn’t want her kids to have a religious understanding of death, explaining, “As a parent, in my life, what I really want to give to my kids is the science of it and the critical thinking of it.”