At What Age Will You Talk to Your Tot About Santa?

December 16, 2008

It begins innocently enough — your lil one asks you to help him write a letter to Santa to ask for a new drum set, and puts out homemade cookies to nourish the jolly man as he makes his way through the night, and presents magically appear under the tree. Thus the story of Santa Claus perpetuates to a new generation of children.

But at some point, usually once the kids are in grade school, a rumor begins to gain momentum, and within days, your tyke is asking you if Santa is real.

When do you plan to tell your child the truth about the man in the red hat?

41 Comments

MissSushi 4 years 22 weeks

We ALWAYS did Santa, and I was TOTALLY thankful that my mother shared the magic with us. I learned he wasnt "real" around the first grade, just becuase i was an annoyingly logical child. HOWEVER, that didnt even remotely remove the fun, magic, and love I had for any of the holidays, but espeacially Christmas. I have three younger siblings, and we always did Santa, and no one ever ratted anyone out on antything, as we gradually learned. I will do the same with my daughter. They become desensitized and grow up too soon anyway, im going to make sure they get to experience the magic as long as possible. Ive gone on several rants about Santa and this whole thing this year already. It really ticks me off when people talk about lies and how "crushed" children are. its ridiculous. Our fairytale icons are part of our holiday magic, and theres no reason not to let your little kids play along. The few adults I know who didnt get to all regret their parents not letting them believe. Kids grow up and figure it out later, and with the exception of a few, apreciate it as much as they apreciate being allowed to come up with whatever their imaginations create. Ive never ever heard anyone thank their parents for refusing to let them experience the wonder. Half the people ive ranted to admit to just not caring about maintaining the magic or wanting their kids to know THEY got the gifts, not some fairytale. There's joy in watching your children be happy over things like presents and easter baskets and easter hunts and putting cookies out for santa.

MissSushi 4 years 22 weeks

Sarana 4 years 22 weeks

I can't believe 25% of the people here don't do Santa! I am with the group that says wait until they figure it our by themselves. I don't remember a big talk myself, just a certain point where you know it's your parents. I have no idea how old I was when that happened.Believing in Santa has nothing to do with lying to me. It's about believing and magic.

Sarana 4 years 22 weeks

I can't believe 25% of the people here don't do Santa! I am with the group that says wait until they figure it our by themselves. I don't remember a big talk myself, just a certain point where you know it's your parents. I have no idea how old I was when that happened. Believing in Santa has nothing to do with lying to me. It's about believing and magic.

pinkprincess1101 4 years 22 weeks

my daughter is 9 and my son is 5 and they so believe in santa, we do the whole works, they write their list and letter we take it to the post office addressed to the north pole on the back of course i put our address, and they dont have a clue about the address thing, they bake cookies leave milk for santa baby what my son calls him, its amazing to look into their eyes and see that innocence and sparkle, it just melts my heart, and i dont think its lying to my kids i think they are just using their imagination

insi 4 years 22 weeks

i never believed santa and i'm not going to lie to my kids

Mishell 4 years 22 weeks

I won't lie to my kid about this just to break his heart later. That's cruel. I would rather he grow up knowing he can trust what I say rather than cling to some silly tradition.

Pallas Athena 4 years 22 weeks

My cousins don't believe in Santa. They appreciate the gifts they get and when they want something for Christmas they know who to ask and say exactly what they want. I mean, they could always leave a list asking for things if they did believe in Santa, but they never really cared about believing in Santa.

PinkUnicorn 4 years 22 weeks

I will definitely let my child figure it out in their own time - I believed until I was about nine or ten. And I like a couple other posters, at 27, still receive presents from Santa, and I think it is hilarious!

Greggie 4 years 22 weeks

shoogerbooger, that is awesome!

Aphrosette 4 years 22 weeks

who's saying their isn't a santa??? I still completely believe in the spirit and magic of Santa and that will never change. I hope my children will always feel the same way

shoogerbooger 4 years 22 weeks

*hear*

shoogerbooger 4 years 22 weeks

*hear*

shoogerbooger 4 years 22 weeks

My neighbor's son is 10 and still believes in Santa. Last year he set up a video camera to "catch" Santa. It was great! His father dressed up as Santa, delivered all of the presents under the tree and then took the video out and cut it to look like he "poofed" into the room and "poofed" out in a big cloud of smoke when he was done. His son showed all of the kids in the neighborhood that day. It was so fun to her all of the children so excited about seeing the real Santa Claus. You could see that it was so special for them. I will wait as long as I can to tell my son the "truth"

shoogerbooger 4 years 22 weeks

Greggie 4 years 22 weeks

Some parents do use Santa as discipline. Doesn't mean the rest of us should be blamed for that fault. For us, it does good. I never had a problem distinguishing that Santa was a beautiful myth while God was real.

Greggie 4 years 22 weeks

vmruby 4 years 22 weeks

My daughter is 7 and she still believes in Santa Claus and I've decided to leave it that way until she comes to me and asks if he's for real.By the way, I still get some really nice gifts from Santa too......

vmruby 4 years 22 weeks

My daughter is 7 and she still believes in Santa Claus and I've decided to leave it that way until she comes to me and asks if he's for real. By the way, I still get some really nice gifts from Santa too......

meandtheo 4 years 22 weeks

i plan on letting my children figure it out on their own...just like i did. my older brother and sister told me when i was under 5 but i still secretly believed. i loved believing in santa; watching his sleigh on the news just before bed seeing him inch closer and closer to the U.S was so magical to me. i loved all of it, baking cookies and making eggnog with my mom so we could leave it for him...the list goes on and on, it actually makes me teary to think of it, it was such a magical/loving/fun thing that my parents did for me. i will cherish this memories for a life time and can not wait to make memories for my daughter.

lickety split 4 years 22 weeks

this is my middle daughter's first year w/o santa, courtesy of a "friend" at school last year. i can tell she's kind of bummed that her younger sister still has that fun. when we talked about there not being an actual santa she told me "you were a really good santa". and she still thought it was fun to visit santa at the mall :)

CaterpillarGirl 4 years 22 weeks

santa delivers easter baskets? was the bunny out sick? Telling children about santa, is not perpetuating any sort of Lie and it doesnt usurp any other truths you are telling them.

CaterpillarGirl 4 years 22 weeks

santa delivers easter baskets? was the bunny out sick? Telling children about santa, is not perpetuating any sort of Lie and it doesnt usurp any other truths you are telling them.

blt5025 4 years 22 weeks

I fund out about Santa when there was still a price tag on stuff in my Easter basket. I was so amazing crushed especially since I had asked my mom the christmas before and she lied to me even though I was 7. It made me never want to tell my kids there is a Santa.

lizrocks 4 years 22 weeks

I'm not going to do the whole 'Santa is a real person' thing with our child. Eventaully they're going to find out it's not real and I don't see the point in started and perpetuating a lie that does no one any good. I still remember my father telling me how crushed he was when he saw his dad putting Santa's presents under the tree when he was 5. Besides, I think sometimes parents use Santa more as a behaviour modifier than to instill wonder in their child.

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41 Comments

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