Story highlights. Santa Claus is coming to town – or so about 85% of young American children believe. In interviews, 85% of 4-year-olds said that they believed in Santa, 65% of 6-year-olds said that they believed, and 25% of 8-year-olds said that they believed.
“We have found in more recent studies that that number of 85 percent sounds about right,” said Thalia Goldstein, assistant professor of applied developmental psychology at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. “Children's belief in Santa starts when they're between 3 and 4 years old.
Most Americans (67%) stopped expecting Santa to shimmy down their chimney by the time they entered seventh grade. Half (49%) of Americans say they stopped believing in Santa before the age of 10 – with a quarter (23%) reporting that they lost sight of him between the ages of seven (10%) and eight (13%).
D., a pediatric psychologist at Children's Health℠, "and there's no set age where children should know the truth about Santa Claus." Dr. Lamminen says each family and each child within that family will be ready to talk about Santa at different ages.
Many children believe wholeheartedly in the Santa Claus myth. Research suggests that a combination of testimony and evidence keep the belief alive. At some point, cognitive development leads most kids to grow out of the belief naturally.
"There is no such thing as being too old to believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy," Kelman tells Yahoo Life. "Letting kids figure it out on their own is preferable to parents breaking the news to them.
Research suggests it's bad practice to lie to children. Dr Justin Coulson, one of Australia's leading parenting experts, – "If you want to do Santa that's fine, but let the kids know Santa was based on a historical figure who may or may not have done the things that we think he did".
Santa is real in the sense that he was an actual person. Otherwise known as Saint Nicholas, his story goes all the way back to the 3rd century. He was a monk who was born in 280 A.D. in modern-day Turkey. As an only child, he was given great affection by his parents.
When a child demands, "I know Santa isn't real," don't attempt to keep the charade going. Instead, come clean and let them know Dad's the one who has been consuming the cookies and milk all these years, and you've been responsible for wrapping the presents and putting them under the tree.
Explain that you actually bought those yourself and that Santa Claus is the idea of giving for the sake of giving, without thanks or acknowledgement. Tell them that now they know the truth, they're part of it, too, and can never tell a younger child the secret.
Believing in Santa is not only harmless fun, it can actually help children as their brains develop, experts say.
Instead, the average age that children stop believing in Santa is eight years old, according to an international academic survey. Woah. This varies slightly between countries in the UK, with kids in England believing in Santa until they're 8.03 years, and kids in Scotland believing until 8.58 years.
Telling kids lies–about Santa or anything else–doesn't help build a trusting relationship with them. Kids trust us fully and need us to help them make sense of the world. They rely on us to be truthful. They rely on us for security and safety.
When is Santa's birthday? SantaClaus.com states that Santa's birthday is on March 15. Mark it on your calendar for next year! Santa Claus is older than you think!
According to Arnold Pompos of Purdue University, Santa would have to travel a total of 160,000,000km – further than the distance from the Earth to the Sun – to visit 200 million children in 800 million homes spread over 3x1013 m2 of land around the world.
Some tweens hold onto their childhood beliefs for as long as they possibly can. The truth is that if your children are asking questions like "Is Santa real?", they probably already know the truth or have an idea about the reality of the tradition. They may just be looking for validation from you.
Because Santa is synonymous with childhood, the belief in him must go away at one point or another if we want our kids to grow up. There's no specific age, necessarily. No edict that at exactly 11 3/4, a child will cease to believe.
They deserve to know the truth, and they will appreciate your honesty in the long run. Be there for them as they process this information, and be open to answering any questions they may have. reassure them that even though Santa isn't real, Christmas is still a special time of year.
Santa's official Scout Elves always come in an official The Elf on the Shelf® box, and they are accompanied by a children's storybook, just as shown above! You can tell Scout Elves apart from other elves at the North Pole because they arrive in an official solid red jumpsuit.
Santa advises that no family member touch their Elf on the Shelf, but he does describe a few rare instances when an adult may use tongs or potholders to help an elf in an urgent situation. Parents: read on to learn about special, few and far between cases where emergency help will be required.
Google Santa Tracker is an annual Christmas-themed entertainment website first launched in 2004 by Google that simulates the tracking of the legendary character Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, using predetermined location information.
Research on the benefit of believing in Santa Claus is sparse, but there is research indicating that there are benefits of having a vivid imagination. Believing in impossible beings like Santa Claus or flying reindeer might also exercise children's counterfactual reasoning skills.
The tooth fairy may not be real, but it's still a fun way to talk to your kids about their oral health. Lombard dentist, Dr. Brett Blacher likes to make pediatric dentistry fun for kids and is always ready to encourage preventative dentistry to all his patients, young and old.
Because the Elf on the Shelf “moves” each night, belief can sometimes be suspended into thinking that it is real. And for all intents and purposes, the Elf on the Shelf is real. It's a real doll, after all.