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I have a big concern about this. There are children in my extended family who still "believe" at age 13 and 11. A couple years ago the now-11-yr-old said to his now 13-yr-old big brother, "I know there really isn't a Santa" and his big brother said, "Shhh don't say that or HE won't come give you presents." Now 2-years later, the 11-yr-old we thought didn't believe any longer, made a huge big deal out of putting out the reindeer food and the cookies & milk.
Their Mother is afraid to talk to them, thinking they should just figure it out for themselves. I think the longer and longer they wait to talk with them the more they're going to resent the truth when they hear it. Course, I don't believe for one minute they haven't heard the truth from their classmates, etc., but for some reason, they still want to believe.
They both know their parents give them presents, but continue to say that so does Santa. It's just all weird. I think they don't believe and are afraid to say so. I think their mother is afraid to say it to them too.
I was about 5 years old. I looked up inside our fireplace and concluded that Santa couldn't possibly come down that narrow chimney, so he couldn't be real. It wasn't a horrifying discovery. My parents had always told me about Santa, but in a way that helped me understand that he was more "pretend" than real.
That makes two of us. I looked up there (from the outside) and realized that Santa was way too big to fit down that chimney. I think my mom was more disappointed than I was . . . I think she would have enjoyed the charade a little longer. Turned out my parents had a system every Christmas. We went to Grandma's on Christmas Eve and then did our presents at home when we got back. So while we were at Grandma's one of them would always have to go back to the house for something they forgot. That was the opportunity to put the presents out and the cookies and the milk. Good thing we lived close by. I'm an only child so that wasn't a problem and my older cousins were sworn to secrecy. I was never into fantasy (still not) so I'm surprised it took me that long!
I do not remember ever believing in santa, but I remember that I pretended to believe in Santa for quite a few years because it seemed so important to my mother for me to believe and I didn't want to hurt her feelings
Does this thread need to be in a parenting forum? Or, are we really saying that some kids will believe in Santa until they are in their 70's and inherit an estate? Or borrow cheap money all their lives to get new stuff? If this crap really ended at age 8 it would be a different world.... But our economy would suck.....just sayin'.
We celebrated Christmas the Scandinavian way, on Christmas Eve, and in my family Santa actually showed up with the gifts and distributed them to the kids in the family, Ho-ho-ho! When I, at the age of 4, recognized my granddad underneath the beard, the red suit and the Santa cap, my heart stood still for a moment while my world readjusted itself, and then I just played along, accepting the notion of sharing a fantasy. He was so happy putting on a show for us that I certainly wasn't going to ruin his Christmas! But I don't remember him playing Santa ever again .
I grew up in a Norwegian Lutheran home in Minnesota. Christmas Eve was dress up, church first, then dinner, then presents, or when we were older, dinner first, presents, and midnight church. We used to brag about our gifts at church, go figure. The big event was always on Christmas Eve which was frustrating for those who had to work. Christmas Day was stocking presents, dinner, and sitting around. Maybe football after football on TV became a thing. It was usually pretty boring for kids after gifts were opened. But we never went out unless it was for a walk. We really had to bond with our family whether we liked it or not! And the Norwegian goodies rocked. It didn't matter where we were or which day it was.
....When did you learn? Was it traumatic? What about your kids, if you had any? Was it traumatic for them? Do you think it is damaging if they "believe" into their upper grades? Or not?
I got the no-Santa message from other kids. Some of the neighborhood kids had reached the age or been told there was no Santa, some of us were not ready to believe this.
Sometime, I think around seven or eight, I did give up the belief myself...but I did not tell my parents. I hung up a stocking and I got some useless fruit in it and some small cutsie gifts - clearly supplied by my parents. Why kill the Santa-fills-your-stocking trick? I just let them go on filling it up.
I did finally admit that I didn't believe. BUT I kept hanging that stocking up until I was eighteen, and it was the first thing I went for on Christmas Day...more darned oranges, but neat little things I could use in school or that were funny.
If you are an adult, don't mess with Santa, please. If asked give wiseacre non-committal answers. Grownups screwed up enough things for kids as it is.
If you don't believe in saints, you don't believe in God.
Ah, yes. That's what I love about religious people. If you don't believe exactly what they believe, your belief system is sht and you're an atheist.
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