s/o: At what age did your child stop believing in Santa?

[JudoMom]

Now I'm curious. At what age did you and/or your child(ren) stop believing in Santa? Or if they still "believe" (wink, wink, nudge nudge), at what age did they switch from believing to "believing"?

 

Poll to follow :)

[Caitilin]

My dds were certain when they were 10; I don't know how they felt leading up to that. DS 9 has asked me this fall some leading questions which suggest that he doubts the absolute truth of Santa, but is not willing to give him up entirely--yet. :) The others are all true believers. :D

[Meriwether]

At our house, Santa is a nice story/legend.

[Sherry in OH]

At our house, Santa is a nice story/legend.

 

:iagree:

[JudoMom]

I must've been around 7. My best friend busted her Dad putting the gifts out and told me about it.

 

My boys have never believed, much to my Mom's chagrin. We chose not to go that route.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

I was lied to as a child and was (still am) adamant that I would never lie to my children about anything so they never believed. Christmas is wonderful and they know without a doubt that they can trust what I tell them:001_smile:

[FaithManor]

We've always only taught the legend of St. Nicholas from a book on Byzantine Saints that we bought when dd was little. So, they've never believed in Santa Claus.

 

Faith

[Ester Maria]

Never believed. Santa is an antisemite who "skips" Jewish households. :tongue_smilie:

[QueenCat]

We always referred to the "spirit" of Santa, and they eventually learned that Mom and Dad are the "spirit" of Santa.

[justamouse]

Other. I still believe in Santa. And I have no problems trusting people and my kids trust me, too.

[Tidbits of Learning]

So far at 9, I have talked with both dd's. Older dd who is now 10 was not surprised at all and seemed to be glad that she didn't have to pretend with us anymore. She does keep it up for the youngers though and knows not to ruin it for them.

DD9 and I had a talk about whether she still believed in Santa, Tooth Fairy, and Easter Bunny...to which she replied sort of...so I gently explained that it is something that adults pretend for children to enjoy. She seemed a bit down about knowing it was a lie. She is very black and white with things. She doesn't really get why we would pretend without saying it was pretend the whole time. In other words, playing Santa would have been better with her if we would have been truthful that it was a charade the whole time.

She also would not burst the bubble for the little ones and she is content to pretend for a few more years.

With oldest dd, I have let it be known that Santa doesn't visit after you turn 12 no matter how young your youngest sibling is and whether they still believe.

I have met people that keep doing Santa for grown adults out of tradition! I mean sleepovers and waking up to presents after being married and such! I know that I didn't get Santa after 12 and I had a younger sibling. That was just the way it worked.

[Caitilin]

Other. I still believe in Santa. And I have no problems trusting people and my kids trust me, too.

 

LOL. :iagree:I had no problems myself or with my twins when they found out. We all enjoy the Santa game. :D

[Joker]

My dds came to us when they were 7 and 9 and asked so we told them the truth. They had just reasoned it out for themselves. There was no tragedy - they actually laughed. They still get one "Santa" gift and their stockings filled. They enjoy making little things for dh and I and filling our stockings for a surprise as well.

[jentancalann]

I only voted on my first ds, he was 5 when his Kindergarden parapro told the class that Santa wasn't real. I was quite relieved, let me tell you, though a little ticked that she overstepped her bounds. I felt off the hook though, and since then we have never gone that route w/ the kids that followed. It is a game around here and we aren't afraid to tell them so, even the littles.

[Miss Sherry]

Now I'm curious. At what age did you and/or your child(ren) stop believing in Santa? Or if they still "believe" (wink, wink, nudge nudge), at what age did they switch from believing to "believing"?

 

Poll to follow :)

Well, for some families with more than one child there will be more than one age.

[Miss Sherry]

At our house, Santa is a nice story/legend.

:iagree: In our house it was just a make believe story we read when the children were little. They were always told it was just that, make believe.

We always have emphasized the nativity story because that is true and why we have Christmas.

[Audrey]

:iagree: In our house it was just a make believe story we read when the children were little. They were always told it was just that, make believe.

We always have emphasized the nativity story because that is true and why we have Christmas.

 

 

See... now many people would say the navitity story is as much make believe as the Santa story. Playing one game or another. What's the difference really?

[Tutor]

Where's the Other category? :D

 

We never had Santa at our house then we watched a bunch of Christmas movies a few Decembers ago, and our dd13 (then 11) decided that it would be fun to believe in Santa, so she started encouraging the "reality" of the myth. She knows the truth but has decided that a world with a little magic in it made life a little more adventurous. ;)

[Audrey]

We always referred to the "spirit" of Santa, and they eventually learned that Mom and Dad are the "spirit" of Santa.

 

 

That's our take on it, too.

[Jenny Piaaree]

We don't celebrate Christmas, so they never believed. I grew up celebrating but I never believed, either. In fact, I just assumed that everyone thought it was just a fun story like I did. Every year my neighbor would ask me, "What did Santa bring you?" and I'd say that my parents had gotten me such-and-such, my grandparents this-and-that, etc. Then she'd say, "Yes, but what did Santa bring you?" I always thought, "I just told you, crazy!" :)

[Miss Sherry]

See... now many people would say the navitity story is as much make believe as the Santa story. Playing one game or another. What's the difference really?

Yes, I know.I wasn't speaking for those without faith. I was speaking for myself.Also, we ALL know that Santa is not real - of course unless we are a little child who is believing in Santa for a time.

But of course "I" cannot convince you God is real or the nativity is real but I know it IS real. That's where faith comes in.If you do not have Faith, which is a gift from God, you will not know that God is real. For someone who knows that God is real of course there is a difference. There's only not a difference for those who do not know that God is real. I guess that goes without saying so why do you ask ? Perhaps you were expecting some other answer that hasn't occurred to me ? :bigear:

 

editing to add a few more comments.

Audrey, because what you have said does make sense - "many people say the nativity is as much make believe as the Santa story "...... it did occur to me that teaching Santa - which is make believe - and then telling the kids about the Nativity - well, it seemed to me that it was possible that if you tell a child an untruth - Santa IS real , and then you tell them Christ IS real, they could have the thought - but you SAID Santa was REAL and he's not , is Jesus REALLY real - you lied about Santa, are you lying about Christ too ? I don't think that would be a problem for all children but I can certainly see where it could be for some.

So I've never lied to my children and told them Santa is real. He's make believe. We have always emphasized the truth of who Christ is at Christmas time. After all, that is the reason that we celebrate Christmas. And again I am speaking for myself, not unbelievers.

Also, I should add that although I know that "I" cannot convince you - or anyone - that God is real(that is if you choose not to believe), I do believe that people can be convinced that God IS real by God's Spirit revealing Himself to them and by hearing God's Word, or in other words by hearing the Bible preached. So even though I by myself cannot convince someone, people certainly do come to KNOW God is real because He by His spirit will reveal Himself to you if you ask Him to. However, to those who do not want to know God and insist on rejecting the truth about Him they will remain in unbelief.

Edited November 4, 2010 by Miss Sherry

[Tidbits of Learning]

I only voted on my first ds, he was 5 when his Kindergarden parapro told the class that Santa wasn't real. I was quite relieved, let me tell you, though a little ticked that she overstepped her bounds. I felt off the hook though, and since then we have never gone that route w/ the kids that followed. It is a game around here and we aren't afraid to tell them so, even the littles.

 

I am so jealous of you for this. I wish that someone had let the cat out of the bag when my oldest was little and we would have wised up sooner. It is only now that my 3rd and 4th kids are coming up that I realize how much simpler it would be if they all knew it was pretend and it could be a big game!

[Audrey]

Yes, I know.I wasn't speaking for those without faith. I was speaking for myself.Also, we ALL know that Santa is not real - of course unless we are a little child who is believing in Santa for a time.

But of course "I" cannot convince you God is real or the nativity is real but I know it IS real. That's where faith comes in.If you do not have Faith, which is a gift from God, you will not know that God is real. For someone who knows that God is real of course there is a difference. There's only not a difference for those who do not know that God is real. I guess that goes without saying so why do you ask ? Perhaps you were expecting some other answer that hasn't occurred to me ? :bigear:

 

 

No. My question was largely rhetorical, but I do get your point.

[Miss Sherry]

No. My question was largely rhetorical, but I do get your point.

Audrey, leave it to me to answer a rhetorical question. :blushing::001_smile:

 

Thanks for responding,I was wondering if I was even on the right track as far as if your question was what I thought it was or if you were really asking something else I hadn't thought of. :001_smile:

[Miss Sherry]

Well, how about getting back to the original question ?

 

So who else wants to vote on "At What Age did your child stop believing in Santa ? or did they ever believe in Santa ?

 

:bigear:

[annandatje]

See... now many people would say the navitity story is as much make believe as the Santa story. Playing one game or another. What's the difference really?

 

The difference, I assume, would be that many people in predominantly christian cultures literally or metaphorically believe the nativity story throughout their entire lives while they relegate other legends to childhood relic status.

 

You are correct that it all depends upon perspective. However, religious fables generally have a much stronger longer hold over people than childhood make believe does. For those who support naturalism, yes, it is all playing one game or another.

[annandatje]

Is anyone else surprised that 54% of the hive's children never believed in Santa?

 

I assumed "believe" referred to a corporeal Santa concept.

[Sophia]

Is anyone else surprised that 54% of the hive's children never believed in Santa?

 

I assumed "believe" referred to a corporeal Santa concept.

 

I'm not.

There are 22,000 registered posters, but only a fraction actually post.

Many of them still vote in polls, though.

[Melissa in Australia]

never believed, we don't do Christmas, so they have known it to be a lie right from the word go.

[Skadi]

We don't do Santa. My DH remembers as a small child wondering why Santa brought him so many big and expensive gifts, but hardly brought anything at all to his best friend. Had his friend committed some transgression he didn't know about? It made him feel guilty because he knew he didn't deserve that many more gifts, and he felt sad for his friend. When he was finally old enough to figure out that Santa is just something parents trick their gullible children into believing is real, he didn't think it was very funny. I've heard some people call it a "game," but I don't think it's really a game if the other person doesn't know it's a game. It's really kind of cruel to trick a person into believing something that you know isn't true. How's that for an example for our children? Don't lie...unless it's "harmless fun"? Don't lie...unless you think the other person is better off not knowing the truth? Don't lie...unless it's a lie that you've heard other people repeat before?

 

I do think it's interesting that a practice that so many people link to "childhood innocence" actually turns out to the be the way in which many children come to realize that they can't actually trust their parents to tell them the truth. I was one of the kids who laughed it off when I found out Santa wasn't real -- but I just did that so that I would seem more like an adult. Laughing about it was my way of trying to tell myself that it didn't bother me at all (even though it did) and sort of making out like I'd known all along so I didn't feel so utterly stupid for having believed them.

[ChristusG]

Well, I'll stand up and say that I'm one of the ones who "lies" to my children. And :::gasp:::, I'm a Christian too! I speak the name of Jesus to my kids daily....hourly. We study him, we pray to him, we discuss his ways 365 days a year. Santa gets discussed 25 days of the year. And during the time we speak of Santa, we emphasize Jesus even more. I trust that my children will be able to discern the two when Santa comes to light one day. I know that I did. Me and my two sisters were "lied" to about Santa. There were no tearful letdowns, no trust issues with our parents, no wondering if Jesus is real, and no lifelong therapy to deal with any of it. I think that people put too much though into this whole Santa thing. It's just a story that our family has a little fun with. Santa is really no big deal. So if I'm "lying"' then so be it.

[Closeacademy]

The magic is still there for all of us. And I switched over when I got married before it was really worth believing. :001_smile:

[JudoMom]

Well, for some families with more than one child there will be more than one age.

 

You can vote for multiple options :).

[NanceXToo]

Never believed. Santa is an antisemite who "skips" Jewish households. :tongue_smilie:

 

You would THINK.

 

However, in THIS particular Jewish household, my daughter, Alexa, who was not originally homeschooled, went to preschool, Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade and most of 3rd grade at public school.

 

And around here, there is almost nobody else who is Jewish. The town decorates for Christmas. The employees of stores all wear Santa hats and wish you a "Merry Christmas." They'd ask "Are you excited for Santa to come?" WEEKS in advance. They'd ask, "What did Santa bring you?" for WEEKS afterward. The kids all believe in Santa and talk about him in school-

 

-and my daughter would come home asking "Why doesn't Santa come to our house?" And sighing "I wish Santa would come to our house."

 

And I'd explain that we don't celebrate Christmas, and that we celebrate Hanukkah instead and that Santa doesn't come to Jewish households but that there are other cool things that we do instead and so on and so forth.

 

But that just isn't good enough for a little kid who is feeling like the only one who doesn't get a visit from Santa.

 

I literally dreaded the Christmas season because of it.

 

I wanted to tell her "There's no such thing as Santa! He's make believe!! So don't worry about it!" right from the beginning to save HER the feelings of upset. But I didn't trust her at those early ages to not go and repeat it to all her classmates, even if I told her not to. I was afraid that a "my mom said there's no such thing as Santa!" would slip out.

 

And it was already bad enough that my daughter was the only Jewish kid in the class- the last thing I needed her to be was the Jewish kid who ruined Santa for everyone else. I mean how long would THAT have followed her around for, right?!

 

So finally when she was about 7 and in 2nd grade I told her the truth (I couldn't take one more "I wish Santa came to our house!"). I told her he's make believe, but that a lot of kids still believed in him, and that if she told them he was make believe, they probably would not like her very much for that, so that she should just keep her mouth closed about it. That was the earliest age I felt she would be able to do that.

 

So- I voted age 7. LOL.

 

(As for my son who does not and will not go to public school, I'm not going through that again. He'll be 5 in a few days and he doesn't even have a concept of Santa right now. But if it's brought up/he asks, I'll be telling him the truth- Santa is make believe, just for fun).

 

ETA: My daughter does still believe in The Tooth Fairy, though! I think she's getting suspicious by now- she's asked a couple of times "Is the Tooth Fairy really real?!" and we just smile and say "Well what do YOU think?" She doesn't really press the issue because she likes getting money under her pillow :D

[Littlemother]

My oldest (now 12) found the "santa presents" I had hidden when she was 9. My second oldest child stop believing at age 10. My other children still believe. They all know the real reason why we celebrate Christmas, they just believe in Santa too.

 

Littlemother

[Gwenhwyfar]

Is anyone else surprised that 54% of the hive's children never believed in Santa?

 

 

not surprised at all ~ the question is being asked of a very specific group of people (homeschoolers) in which a good portion of those people are conservative christians. (not all, but many)

 

if this poll was conducted among the 'general' population, i suspect the results would be quite different. ;)

 

and to answer the poll - my daughter believed until she was 11.5, my (special needs) son is currently 12 and still believes.

[3lilreds in NC]

At our house, Santa is a nice story/legend.

 

I agree with this, sort of. ;)

 

I never really wanted my kids to believe in Santa. I didn't tell them that Santa was real, and we've always read stories about him and talked about him as a nice legend - I thought. Sometimes I think there is confusion about that, but I'm pretty sure we all know now that Santa, as the elf who comes down the chimney, is fantasy.

[Gratia271]

I had one child who believed in Santa. She knew he wasn't real at around age 5. The other two never believed in Santa's existence. We never discussed Santa in our home, but representations of Santa in children's museums etc.. are ubiquitous. K thought he was real until she was around 5.

[mytwomonkeys]

another conservative christian here that lets their kids believe in santa. they're 9 & 6 and still believe. i suspect my daughter knows, but she's still playing along strong. santa brings 1 gift only and it has nothing to do with being naughty or nice. there are many things about christmas that i love though & have more to do with tradition than with Christ (although Christ is still central in all that we do & is at the heart of why we celebrate). we like the music, the food, the weather, the shopping, the decorations, etc. easter is the holiday that our family really considers holy and of utmost importance. we celebrate lent & it is my absolute favorite time of the year.

[Matryoshka]

Never believed. Santa is an antisemite who "skips" Jewish households. :tongue_smilie:

 

I have a good friend whose parents are non-practicing Jews, and whose in-laws are Hindu. And every December they all get together for a big, commercial, present laden Christmas celebration, complete with tree and trimming. :confused: She has a really hard time getting the grandparents not to overbuy Christmas presents for the kids - I'd think that if I were in a non-Christian famliy, not having to deal with the commercial side of Christmas would be a bonus, but no... and on Hannukah her mother has been known to show up with additional presents... :tongue_smilie:

[mama2cntrykids]

I've always told my kids that Santa is a legend (and explained what it was). I also told them that it was up to them if they wanted to believe or not. So far, my boys choose not to "believe" and my dd chooses to believe, which is fine.

[Laurie4b]

I answered for myself. We never encouraged our children to believe, though we did play the "Santa game." We were very clear we were pretending, but a couple of them chose to "believe" for a year or two. I didn't even find out there had been a period in which they believed until they were older!

[HRAAB]

Other. I still believe in Santa. And I have no problems trusting people and my kids trust me, too.

 

I'm with you on this one. Here, in our house, we all believe, most especially mom and dad! :001_smile: