Older children believing in Santa -- is it a sign of something wrong?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Interesting replies. Thanks for your perspectives. This is not my child that I'm referring to. However, after reading these responses, I think I'll look at this child's belief as a positive at least in comparison with the usual over-sexualization and early maturing of pre-teens in our culture. You've inspired me to look at this differently -- I'd rather see a child believing in Santa at 11, than trying to figure out how to get in Justin Beiber's pants!

[Anonymous]

OP, I didn't read the other responses, but I did want to say that the child may not believe in Santa. I was the youngest of four kids and I knew that Santa wasn't real for a number of years and pretended that I did. I thought that it was important to my parents because everyone had always made a big deal about Santa and I knew that I was the only one left who they thought believed. It turns out that my mom was really worried that I still believed in Santa and started doing things like wrapping Santa presents and Mom and Dad presents in the same paper, etc to try to "help" me to understand that he wasn't real. When it all came out, everyone laughed about it. The little kid you are thinking about may be doing the same thing - pretending to still believe because he thinks that it will be disappointing to others if he doesn't.