“the average child in England stops believing in Santa just around age 8 while Scottish rugrats hold on until they’re just over 8 and a half. (Boyle doesn’t break out the American average, but a small survey conducted 40 years ago found that 75 percent of 8 year olds in the U.S. no longer believed, so take that as you will.) In a data point that should make guardians take note, some 65 percent of respondents said they continued to play along with the Santa shtick for a time, even after they realized it wasn’t true.” (via Smithsonian Magazine)
Olive just turned 8 and Charlie just turned 10. I bet if they lived in the US, as opposed to the Philippines where their class has less than 10 kids and no one has older siblings, they would no longer believe in Santa. They’ve mentioned that some of their classmates think their parents are Santa, but most of the kids still believe.
Because I grew up never having believed in Santa, I wanted to make the holiday season magical for Charlie and Olive. But they’ve had many magical Christmases now, and don’t seem to care much about Santa anymore. For instance, we’ve seen Santas everywhere here in the US, and they don’t have any interest in meeting him or asking him for specific toys. Since we were in the US for Christmas this year, I just put wrapped presents under the tree as I bought them, so it was obvious that they weren’t from Santa.
On Christmas morning, the kids raced to their stockings and opened their presents. They thanked me for the presents and I didn’t make any mention of Santa and neither did they. I’ve played down Santa since we moved to the Philippines because it didn’t make sense why he would give Charlie and Olive more gifts than local kids. So this has been coming for a while, but I don’t feel like it makes Christmas any less magical as they get older. I’m not sure what I will tell them if they ask if Santa is real, but with Christmas over, Santa will probably be forgotten until next year.
Do your kids still believe in Santa? What age did you stop believing?
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
My kids still believe. I do think Drake is questioning a little but not enough to make me think he doesn’t anymore too. We live in a town with a large Jewish population though so I think growing up with kids who don’t believe it’s kinda easy to say like Santa isn’t for every family and that’s ok but we believe and so he can accept that idea that maybe it’s something special for our family but understand that maybe not every family celebrates the same way either which I think makes it kinda easier to understand almost.
cantaloupe / 6086 posts
I don’t remember ever believing, I have an older sibling and my mom says she never pushed it and isn’t sure I believed either – maybe for a while when I was little?
My kids still believe. My oldest is turning 8 next year and she is definitely at the age where I can see the magic of some things fading, but she wants to believe. She told me some kids said Santa isn’t real but she doesn’t believe that. So I know it’s all short lived at this point. They really want to believe everything – we stayed in an Airbnb the last couple nights that happened to have an elf on the shelf (which I won’t let them have at home) and she was so excited it did something the one night and then went back to the North Pole. It was fun to do it (for one day!) since she wanted that magic so much. So while I thought this year might be it, maybe I’ll get another couple years. Then I’ll have to get her to help make it magical for the baby! (The middle I think will get it when the oldest does – he’s asking questions already too)
pear / 1565 posts
I’ve never believed in Santa as I am Chinese and didn’t grow up in the US. And while I’ve never told my 5 year old Santa isn’t real, she said herself he is not and she knows we celebrate Jesus’ birthday. I don’t think it takes away from the “magic” of the holidays