By what age do most kids stop believing in Santa and the tooth fairy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it just starts to occur to children in about 3rd or 4th grade.... hmmm.... perhaps this isn't true? perhaps there is another explanation? why are there so many Santas at the mall? Is there REALLY some little fairy who runs around putting $ in place of teeth?

and then they also are listening for you to slip up (as all parents do) and they put 2 and 2 together and....

I remember adamantly NOT wanting to disbelieve about Santa. I don't even remember learning about the tooth fairy, but I had to have, right?

I also don't remember it being some horrible event, learning "that my parents lied" - it just.... became obvious to me as I listened to my parents' mistakes as they said "I found that bag on X catalog" when it was from Santa.... and listening to other kids.... and whatever....

My almost-7 year old gets $1 per tooth (she's lost 6 so far), but her friends get all sorts of amounts, up to $20 per tooth (!) and even small presents. She's asked me why the tooth fairy gives different amounts to different kids, and I just shrugged and said all kids are different. She knows that monsters and unicorns and dragons aren't real, and I have a feeling that Santa and the Easter Bunny and tooth fairy aren't too far behind.

I told my 6 year old that we emailed the tooth fairy telling her how much we wanted her to leave. According to him, one of his friends got $100. WTH?!?!

[Anonymous]

Totally varies. My newly four year old randomly asked me if the Easter Bunny is real yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Totally varies. My newly four year old randomly asked me if the Easter Bunny is real yesterday.

Mine asks that question too, but when I flip it and say “what do you think?” she wholeheartedly insists she does. Maybe she’ll be a skeptic earlier, but for now it’s just a question.

[Anonymous]

My kid didn't lose his first tooth until he was 9. By then, he knew there was no tooth fairy but was still happy to get $ under his pillow.

[Anonymous]

By 3 my kid knew none of it was real

[Anonymous]

I am jealous of kids who hung on to the magic longer. My soon to be 7 year old is "pretty sure" Mom and Dad are Santa. I think I have one more year at best. She will most likely play along with the magic for her two younger sisters, but I wanted her to be in the fantasy longer. The tooth fairy just started and she think she is real, right now. Who knows how long that will last.

We started too high with tooth fairy - we gave 4 dollars (why I don't know).... Now we are 4 teeth in and it doesn't feel sustainable. But how to explain the sudden lessening of payment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am jealous of kids who hung on to the magic longer. My soon to be 7 year old is "pretty sure" Mom and Dad are Santa. I think I have one more year at best. She will most likely play along with the magic for her two younger sisters, but I wanted her to be in the fantasy longer. The tooth fairy just started and she think she is real, right now. Who knows how long that will last.

We started too high with tooth fairy - we gave 4 dollars (why I don't know).... Now we are 4 teeth in and it doesn't feel sustainable. But how to explain the sudden lessening of payment.

Ha! One time we didn’t have change and left $10 because that was the smallest bill we had. But looking forward to the next teeth…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews or my own children have ever believed in these things. What's so bad about "here's a nice present mom and dad got for you"

Well, I'm sorry. Your parents, siblings, nieces, nephews and kids missed something.

[Anonymous]

I tell them that Santa only comes for those kids who believe. They’re 9 and 6.5 and both still believe.

[Anonymous]

Between 2nd and 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Santa for me was around 3rd grade. I'm not sure about the tooth fairy, probably similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid turned 9 yesterday and still believes in both. Going into 4th grade next year. It’s a Christian school though so I can see it going a bit longer than public.

My twins will turn 10 at the start of the next school year. Also going into 4th grade. They still believe. They started questioning during 2nd grade (about 2 years ago). I told them that they would have to figure it out for themselves. They doubt, buy they still want to believe, so they do.

[Anonymous]

10 and 7 yr old still believe.

[Anonymous]

For us it was right around age 7. Belief in santa and the tooth fairy bit the dust at the same time.

[Anonymous]

My 6 year old figured out that Santa and the tooth fairy aren't real, but I'm not able to lie when he asks me a direct question. The "what do you think?" answer led to him realizing that there was a reason I didn't want to give a yes or no.