When is the best age to tell your child the truth about Santa?

Question

I've seen 12 year old children being teased from their classmates cause they still believed in Santa...In younger ages I find it quite sweet and magical but a 12 year old is old enough to know how things are...When do you think is the proper age to say?When did you tell the truth to your children?

Thanks everybody for your answers
(except mysticalsunshine06---->what is wrong with you???).Since it's hard to find the best answer for this question, I'll let the people decide for me.Thank you all again and Merry Christmas by the way!

Answer 1

Never. Let them figure it out themselves.

Answer 2

My mom told me when I was ten years old... It sort of ruins everything for the child though, I mean, it kinda gave my hopes up that there really was someone out there kind enough to give toys to people. You should decide, it depends on the child whether or not you should tell them now, sensitivity is always an issue with Santa and Christmas. Santa's like the king of all traditions, if that's even what you want to call it. Once the child knows Santa isn't real then the whole childhood imagined holidays goes down the drain. I personally think the blow is sort of easier if the child has a younger sibling that still believes. Of course, what happens to the child with no one younger than them? They usually figure it out themselves, most of the time when their the only person in the household that believes in Santa they get the subconscious hints that we send them.

Answer 3

i have an 11 year old and she still believes in Santa but I really think that she believes more for my sake than her own. lol. My 14 year old kinda figured it out when she saw me putting out easter candy when she was about 10 or 11. My 11 year old has never said she doesnt believe but I think she knows he's not real. I think she just says she believes because she thinks she will get more presents that way. If it is too the point where the child is getting teased then it is time to tell them.

Answer 4

I don't have kids, but I think my opinion would vary depending on the gender of my child(ren). Since girls tend to be more sentimental then boys, I'd let her figure it out on her own and wouldn't confront her about it, since she would most likely not really even care if he's not real, but still like the warm feeling of getting the "Santa" presents. I stopped believing in Santa when I was 10 or 11, having suspicions starting at 9, but I still liked coming down on christmas morning and hearing "Go and check what Santa brought!"

For a boy though, I think I'd have a talk with him earlier, so he wouldn't go around bragging at school that he knows Santa isn't real.

I think a 12 year old should know that Santa isn't real regardless of if someone told them or not. Since they don't, the parents should have a talk with them.

Answer 5

We don't tell them there is no Santa: We help them transition to a wider world than just one Santa. It is magical when they are young enough to believe in something as magical and unrealistic as Santa coming to every household in the world in a single night to deliver the exact presents to each child. I think it's an important ritual, though, in that believing in the myth creates the capacity for a depth of belief in good and sublime happiness in that short period in his/her young life in when (hopefully) they actually have little to contract that. If it's not done young, life's hardships will permanently remove the ability to belief in a small space in time where everything is right and good and happy. It's an imaginative experience that needs to happen in early childhood.

We have the kids in our family write their annual letter to Santa, and we gauge their level of belief in how they handle that task. If they are doubting, or even no longer believing but afraid to tell us, they won't want to write the letter that year. We ask what they think will happen when Santa doesn't get their letter, and that opens the door to their telling us that they think maybe there is no Santa. We laugh and tell them that Santa does indeed exist, and that it's even better than they think! That Santa lives in the hearts of mom, dad, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, and everyone who loves them; we are all Santa, and we are there not just at Chrismas but every single day, watching over them, helping them along in life and once a year doing what we can do to help our younger family members be a special part of a great family Christmas! This is their ticket into the grown up world that helps create a magical holiday for the younger kids who still believe, and it's their sacred trust not to give away the secret. We bring them into their first non-believing holiday by giving them their red fur-trimmed Santa's helper hat that year. It's a fun ritual.

If the child raises the subject on his/her own at another time in the year, we ask the same question, in a different way: Well, what do you think Chrismas would be like if Santa didn't exist? and take it from there in an age appropriate way. So we kind of let them figure it out, but we save the truth for the age when they can understand the more important reality of family vs. magical bearded man. If they are still pretty young, we might encourage them to write their letter that year, just in case, because as far as we know, Santa does read the letters. A way to gauge readiness here is to say, Well how do you think he gets to all the houses? If they answer with a fairly insightful answer that he just can't, then they are ready to transition. If they give an answer that still shows a lack of understanding of time and space, guide them back to "write you letter to be safe" and give them time to puzzle through it some more.

This is a step up, in my opinion, that lets the child believe, with their friends, for the few years when they can, and it transitions them to the reality of holiday happiness and love that actually enlarges it for them. We have never had tears over a child finding out the truth about Santa. In the end Santa isn't one person, who just thinks about the children one day each year: It's about everyone in the child's world who touches their world continually, and thinks about the children every day of every year.

Answer 6

Sadly, once kids start to school it isn't long before they're told by one of their classmates that's there's no Santa Claus. Parents are more in a position to help soften the blow than tell their child about Santa Claus.

Answer 7

My son grow to be 5 yrs older than my daughter- he grew to grow to affix the "secret" in conserving up the custom and actually cherished that once he grow to be the right age to discern that (in our domicile) Santa represents specific issues and the assumption of him is real yet he's in keeping with a narrative and individual a protracted time in the past...he helped with Christmas grants and memories and enjoyed doing it- i think of he grow to be 10-11 yrs like your older toddler. That way the greater youthful sister have been given her adolescence time stored and enjoyed....

Answer 8

5

Answer 9

My 8 year old has no idea. I told my 12 year old when he was 11 because he was entering Junior High and I didn't want him getting teased. . .he was asking and doubting... so I told him so he wouldn't hear it at a school and ruin it for his little brother. now he feels like he has an adult secret.

I am gonna let my 8 yr old believe it until he doesn' t want to anymore... hopefully until he goes to junior high too.

Answer 10

I was told by other kids at school when I was six. They were all laughing at me. I told my mom about it, and she said when you are being teased by your classmates, it is time to know the truth. She explained that there is no actual person named Santa Claus, but that there are persons who like playing Santa and making others happy. I liked that, and never felt sad that there was no actual real Santa.

Answer 11

I'd say why lie to them in the first place. tell them about santa claus and then tell them that santa claus isnt some old jolly fat mand but that santa claus is mommy and daddy and anyone else that loves them enough to get them presents. Tell them that christmas isnt about who has the biggest gifts, but who has the most loving family Why is it that we as parents tell our children not to lie or trust strangers, and from infancy we tell them this lie about some man who comes into out homes at night???