For those of you who have done the Santa Claus thing with/for your kids, at what age did they learn the truth?
My kids are 37 - 35 - 25 - &-21 they all still believe. I know because they all told their kids that Santa comes soon.
Hey it works for me. ;-))
My mother told me that if I didn't believe in Santa, I wouldn't get any gifts. So I believed for many years (wink) My daughter 6 was told this year, "my brother told me there is no Santa and he would know." I asked her what she thinks and she still believes. My son is 13 he knows but he is now Santa's helper. Its okay for the kids and Dad to fill Mom's stocking because everyone knows Santa only gives gifts to the children
"The truth?" What truth? That he's now using sophisticated GPS and is the real force behind Amazon?
Sassy, rent the movie "Arthur Christmas" for yourself, if the kids are too young for it. It's sweet and tells the truth -- that Santa's a job title passed among the members of the Christmas family (who are great with high-tech delivery systems and plenty of SWAT team elves!).
They're 16 and 17. Santa still comes to our house.
Just this year. She is 11 and she asked, and we told. We had been telling her that Santa is like a magic trick, and that once you find out the way the trick is done, it spoils it forever.
She is still pretending that there IS a Santa Claus and she knows he's really the spirit of Christmas and he lives in us all.
We STILL have Santa at our house! If my kids told me that they didn't believe in Santa anymore, they wouldn't get gifts from SC. (My MIL told me that years ago - smart lady!)
The one time that my son asked me was sometime after The Polar Express book came out. I actually had a bell on the refrigerator (like the one in the book) and I looked at him and said "Can you hear the bell?" and I rang it. He smiled and that was the end of that!
Smiles to you!
Dawn
I suspect my ten year old knows, but he enjoys it so much he doesn't want to spoil it.
With my daughter and now with my grandchildren they gradually came to the conclusion that there isn't an actual physical Santa Claus. I don't remember when that was with my daughter. My grandchildren are 9 and 12 and they mostly think he's not real but they're still going along with the idea.
We don't tell them that there is or isn't. We respond with what do you think when they ask. As they got older we would talk about what Santa Claus represents without telling them yes or no about his reality.
My son is 12, he figured it out on his own around age 7. My daughter is 7 now and I'm thinking I'll get another year out of her. When she figures it out I'll give her something along these lines:
What do you mean "truth"? There is a Santa Claus! I know this for a fact because he still makes visits to my home. My girls are 21, 17, 15 and 14.
Not sure. I know they know the truth, but we don't discuss it.
They are 11 and 14 now. I suspect they have known for a few years... Daughter (the 11 yr old) had a boy in her first grade class that went around telling all the kids that Santa wasn't real. (Along with everything else..Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc). But other than telling me what the little boy told her, and asking me is he real (I said, "What do YOU think?")... we have never discussed it.
I still fill stockings every Christmas Eve. Two Christmases ago, my husband bought some stocking stuff for me, and had one of the kids put it in my stocking.... then when I gave him the evil eye, he said "oops! I wasn't thinking!"...... but the kids never acknowledged it. tee hee
All of my kids believe. I think my 9 year old knows a fat man doesn't come down our chimney, but she still believes. I honestly believe too, it's part of the spirit of Christmas. At least for my family.
My 7 and 5 year old know he's real too.
My oldest figured out the truth when she was 9 or 10, but she still likes to pretend that she does not know. I think kids have been telling her since she was in the third grade.
11,8 & 3 and still believers!
The oldest ones are nearing their birthdays soon and I still don't think it'll change.
The oldest is the one that wants to believe the most and I have no intent on ruining it.
11 & she still wishes she never found out :) Sie's now 14 1/2 & considers that to be fhe biggest let down of her life. We were just talking about this yesterday & she was saying how it just took all of the magic out of the season.
somewhere between 8 and 10, i'm guessing. it didn't seem to be too awful, but i still remember the droop i felt when i found out.
it's sweet that children believe in santa claus. but not to the extent that it devastates them or ruins the holiday when they find out the 'truth.' in retrospect i think it's best to start out ambiguously.
khairete
S.
Much younger than they will let you know! lol I _think_ my oldest learned at about 7 but I didn't know for sure til she about 10. :( She informed me that her little sister (9) knows the "truth". I told my oldest, when she asked, that St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) was, indeed a real man. He gave gifts of fruit, nuts, etc... to very poor children. The tradition began when he passed on, and so there are many many Santas now and they all want to be sure children all over the world have a happy Christmas. :) This satisfied her for a couple years.....
I have three kids and three completely different answers:
My oldest figured it when she was around 8. She said she noticed the price bar codes on boxes and thought Santa wouldn't have those.
My middle child figured it out when she was 5. Not easy to fool that one (then or now)!
My youngest held on until he was 10 and believe me he had LOTS of opportunities to figure it out. He just chose to keep believing.
When the older ones figured it out I reminded them that they were keepers of the secret and they managed to keep quiet about what they knew.
5th grade they figured it out.
8 on his own from school.
I felt sad that the innocence was shattered.
Again! A reason to home school. lol--sorry yall. I am just having empty nest syndrome BIG TIME lately.
My daughter started to speculate about age of 6. Basically it was through school as many kids in her class had older siblings. However, I booked phone call from Santa to her (http://santaspeaks.com/) and that did a trick. She was super excited and she actually got to talk to him and Mrs. Claus as well. When the call came through, caller ID showed North Pole. She was speechless and very impressed by the whole thing.
The following year she was more assertive that Santa Claus doesn't exists but I kept reminding her about the call. Now that she 9 she totally knows that Santa Claus is not real and that we buy all her gifts. She never asked us but she just told us that she is smart enough to know that he is not real. When I said that once you stop believing Santa won't be bringing you gifts she wasn't very happy about the idea and most importantly she continues to write her Santa wish list every year. So i guess, deep in side she knows it's not possible but she still wants that magic and wants to get gifts so she is playing along.
Pretty much at 8 had the clues but didn't want to believe.
Then knew for sure at age 10. :(
