Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 8.5 year old still fervently believes. He is such a wildly creative child that his imagination is fully on board with all thins Santa. He can envision the workshop, the planning and mapping of routes, the reindeer feeding schedule before the big event, etc. Same with Tooth Fairy. I think I'LL be the one crying when he realizes Santa isn't real. It's so wonderful to see it all through his eyes.

this describes my 8.5y to a T. He still believes with his heart and soul - and while I worry that he will be crushed when he finds out, I love that he has the passion of his convictions.

If it makes you both feel any better mine truly believed until 10 and even then still kept it all up. I could tell once she truly knew but in her heart she kept with it for all the fun. She is 13 now and keeps the spirit alive for her 5yr old sister. Most of her friends only want presents. My daughter truly has Christmas spirit and is so much fun to be around. She wants to do most of the decorating, she puts christmas music on her phone/ipod. She still wants to put her pajamas on and go look at lights, bakes the same cookies every year, donates and volunteers to the same places, watches the shows etc...

So the same will probably be for your kids too. Keeping the magic alive and they will do the same later. Some families are just not that into it and you see that in their kids. It is just about getting gifts.

Anonymous wrote:I figured it out in second grade. I felt angry that my parents lied to me. My mother assured me that I would understand when I got older. Well I have a 7 & 5 YO and I still don't understand. We tell our kids that Santa is a legend based on St. Nicholas. Santa does not bring any gifts to our house.

go away freak

I think the trick is, at the start, to not play into the notion of Santa Being Real whole-hog. Leave a bit of mystery, don't insist that they believe. Ask leading questions at an early age, such as, "Well, I'm not sure that I've ever seen the real Santa... It's all so mysterious. What do you think?" And eventually they get there.

I have a DD, age 7 in second grade, who seems to believe in the tooth fairy, still.

Some day she'll get there. And I won't say one way or the other...

Figured it out on her own at six.

Anonymous wrote:I think kids figure it out earlier and earlier these days.

I've never lied - I've always been agnostic on the subject of Santa. I was directly asked by my 6 year old recently if Santa was real and my response was along the lines of "I don't know; no one's ever really seen him so it's hard to be sure. What do you think?"

This is my approach, exactly.

When I found out unequivocally at age 9, I wasn't angry. I just solidified what I had already suspected. We do tell our DC about Santa, now. However, I also talk about the spirit of christmas is in our hearts.

My 8 y.o. still believes, regardless of what he hears at school. He has asked, and I ask him what he believes before I say anything. He believes, I believe. I would NEVER "break the news to my child, at any age." Christmas is also a time that we celebrate the birth of Jesus. He gets gifts Christmas morning from his parents and from Santa. I'm enjoying this age while it lasts.

Anonymous wrote:My 8.5 year old still fervently believes. He is such a wildly creative child that his imagination is fully on board with all thins Santa. He can envision the workshop, the planning and mapping of routes, the reindeer feeding schedule before the big event, etc. Same with Tooth Fairy. I think I'LL be the one crying when he realizes Santa isn't real. It's so wonderful to see it all through his eyes.

this describes my 8.5y to a T. He still believes with his heart and soul - and while I worry that he will be crushed when he finds out, I love that he has the passion of his convictions.

My kids were told the story of St. Nick and how he gave gifts to children on Christmas and how we try and remember his spirit of kindness. So, my kids knew that he was a historical figure and that the flying in the sleigh and coming down the chimney is fantasy. This does not diminish anything for us, they still enjoy Santa. Just like they know that many religious figures lived in history and in tradition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I figured it out in second grade. I felt angry that my parents lied to me. My mother assured me that I would understand when I got older. Well I have a 7 & 5 YO and I still don't understand. We tell our kids that Santa is a legend based on St. Nicholas. Santa does not bring any gifts to our house.

I guess I was furious too, but I don't remember it much. My mom says I had more righteous indignation, at 8 or 9, I am sure that was a laugh and glass of wine and a "what a little shit" secret thought in her head that night when I went to bed! Its funny to us though.

I have LOs and I am actually the opposite, SO into the Santa, glittery part of xmas (because we are not Christian) and I definitely did come to quickly understand, but I also had younger siblings and cousins that I loved watching the Santa stuff with when I was still at home, teenaged.

So for some, it will be something people hate, some people love, most people are probably in the middle. I would venture very few people are permanently scarred by this either way.

In my purely 'yes-I-know-the-plural-of-anecdote-is-not-data' experience, adults still scarred by Santa Claus have waaaaay more going on than finding out about Santa. Kinda like the fight is never really about leaving the cap off the toothpaste.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
DC doubted at 6 and was sure at 7, and I asked him to keep quiet for the benefit of his friends. He figured it out by himself, I confirmed it, and he wasn't mad.

Now he's having so much fun telling his little sister: "if you don't behave, Father Christmas won't come to give you presents!".

Does he use your mobile while at the car park? Just a touch affected, aren't we?

Affected by you, certainly! We're not American, and we did spend some years in Scotland. And he does use my mobile in the car park, you know-it-all

Anonymous wrote:
DC doubted at 6 and was sure at 7, and I asked him to keep quiet for the benefit of his friends. He figured it out by himself, I confirmed it, and he wasn't mad.

Now he's having so much fun telling his little sister: "if you don't behave, Father Christmas won't come to give you presents!".

Does he use your mobile while at the car park? Just a touch affected, aren't we?

DC doubted at 6 and was sure at 7, and I asked him to keep quiet for the benefit of his friends. He figured it out by himself, I confirmed it, and he wasn't mad.

Now he's having so much fun telling his little sister: "if you don't behave, Father Christmas won't come to give you presents!".

My 5yo genuinely does not believe me that Spiderman is fiction.

By 8 yr old. They already know.