How Old When Stop Believin in Santa?
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How Old When Stop Believin in Santa?
| Thu, 10-26-2006 - 9:09am |
How old was your child when they stopped believing in Santa?
My dd is 11 now & seems to still believe.
I just noticed she's come across my Ebay Watch page - so she will know a lot of the things I've been aiming to get the kids! -ugh!-
What's the best explanation? - She's said before that she knew her parents would never LIE to her# !

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Because my hubs plays a professional santa during the season, our kids have always known that Daddy = Santa, however, they have all gone through a time where they realized that it didn't match up to the stories. When they figure it out (usually around 10-11) we make them an official elf helper. Now that they are all older, we try to surprise a younger family that we know could use some Christmas Help.
Our basic information is that Santa Claus was started by a nice man who wanted to bring gifts to remind us of Christ's birth - our most precious gift. As the man got older, more and more people began to follow his example and eventually each Head of Household was put in charge of reminding the children in that house of The Gift of Christ.
As official elves, they each are responsible to fill another person's stocking with the goodies that "Santa" brings, AND, they are in charge of one person in our secret family. It's a great way for them to feel a part of the season and serve all at the same time!
Last Christmas was the first Christmas Hannah KNEW there was no Santa. (she's 12 now) Not sure when the realization came--somewhere between 10 -11. My son who will turn 10 in Dec still believes. It just floors me because he is so intelligent (especially about science and math) you would think he would figure the whole thing out! However, we had a cool Santa experience that I think sticks in his head and makes him still believe....
One Christmas Eve our neighbors had a friend who dressed up like Santa and walked across the back yards of all the houses. She called us right before he was going to do it so we were looking out the back window. It was SOOOOO awesome! However, the reaction from my son was priceless...he started screaming! I'm like, "Nathan, what is the problem?" He was worried that because he wasn't in bed Santa wouldn't come to our house!! I guess we told him it looked like Santa was looking for his sleigh and reindeer so he probalby wouldn't be by for awhile.
That was one of the coolest things.
Karin
I was told by neighbor when I was too young. It really upset me. I decided that I wouldn't actually ever tell my girls that there was such a person. They got all their ideas of the magic people from elsewhere. I never went to great lengths to differentiate Santa's wrapping paper from parental gift wrap, or disguise handwriting. Sometimes I would make a mistake, saying something about a gift I bought them for Xmas last year that they remember being marked as from Santa. Usually the fun stuff is marked as from Santa while clothes & books are from Mom & Dad. When they asked about these fairy folk, I kind of talked around it, asking what they thought. I would rather that they figure it out themselves than be told and unpleasantly surprised.
They are now 10 1/2. They were suspicious for a couple of years. They now definitely know that Mom is Santa, the Tooth Fairy & the Easter Bunny, but they still like the charade and occasionally tell me that they've decided to believe again. Boy do they berate me if I forget to do the tooth fairy bit. "Mom! Someone forget to be the Tooth Fairy! Mom!" Then I'll chuckle, excuse myself, come back and say "Are you sure you checked inside the pillow-case? Look again."
A problem we've run into, is that they have many younger neighbors for friends and they've sometimes proudly announced the results of some of their deduction. They've had to warned not to discuss this anymore with younger kids.
Diane
Wow, I can't believe she made it this far and school and still believes. Someone told my DD in kindergarten that there was no Santa. She stopped believing when she was 7. And in our house you do not have to believe for Santa to come, I think that just promotes a negative side to the game rather than a "isn't it a fun tradition" game. Santa brings gifts to my ex and to me too. She asked me when she was 6 if he was real. I asked her what she thought. Often at a young age kids want confirmation of their beliefs, they don't want the truth, so I find asking them what they believe first works best. She said he was real so I said yes. When she was 7 she asked again, a couple of times and each time her answer was slightly more logical and finally she said that she thought I was Santa. I told her she was right and that it was a fun tradition. She was fine with that and of course still went to see Santa at the mall and as I said, he still comes to visit.
I was not going to lie to her and tell her she had to believe. I've heard of parents who were so not ready for the truth that they basically started crying when asked and INSISTED that Santa was real and I'm sure the kids out of some kind of massive confusion go along with. And to have your parents tell you that your reasoned out logical instincts are wrong is not healthy. If you were wrong about that, maybe you were wrong about the baseball coach who says he JUST gave you a hug. I think we have to acknowledge our children's reasoning ability without thrusting them into the adult world. When they are ready though, its time to let them pass.
Also with all the TV shows that show parents as Santa, and the costumes you can buy at the store, and the Santa on every street corner, I think its pretty hard for many kids to truly believe. My DD likes to get the gifts from Santa so we talk about it lightly but she knows the truth as she knows there is no tooth fairy or Easter Bunny, but they still visit our house. I also made sure she knew it was not HER job to inform younger kids of the truth, but up to their parents. I don't think she ever burst any little one's bubble.
In our home Santa is the joy of giving, it's a spirit and a feeling.
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Linda
mom to Alex, Rachel, Matthew
Linda
mom to
Alex (16), Rachel (14), Matthew (12)
I tell my oldest "If you Don't believe, you won't receive". I do not mean this literally, as I have always told him that Santa IS real because he lives in my Heart as the selfless love of giving.
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