The Age Most Kids Figure It Out According to psychologists, believing in Santa can be beneficial to children because it teaches selflessness and service to others.
"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.
Overall, the average age in the United States for no longer believing in Santa Claus is 8.4 years old. Mississippi has the oldest average age at 10.2 years old. Not far behind is Iowa where the average age is 9.9 years old. Rounding out the top five oldest are Montana (9.8), and Hawaii (9.5).
While everyone is different, according to a recent poll by House Method, the average age kids in the United States stop believing in Santa Claus is 8.5 years. So, chances are good that somewhere around then is the right age for your child to learn the true story about Santa Claus.
As for when the shift starts to happen, it's different depending on the child, but expect the questioning to get serious somewhere between the ages of 7 and 10.
"It's not an overnight shift in thinking," says Laura Lamminen, Ph. 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.
If you're wondering if your kids are still expecting Santa to bring their presents this year, most have stopped believing in Old St Nick by the age of eight, according to the first international academic "Santa survey," while many parents wished that they still believed in Father Christmas even as adults.
The Age Most Kids Figure It Out
In most cases, eight or nine is the age that children stop believing in Santa, but not for the reasons you'd think. While most parents would probably blame their child's peers for blowing the whistle, it actually has more to do with the normal development of a child's brain.
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.
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.
While there are many benefits to protecting children's belief in Santa, it's not OK to lie to children about his existence. Most children have a positive reaction to their Santa discovery. Discovering the truth about Santa is part of growing up and a sign that the child is developing critical thinking skills.
Story highlights. Santa Claus is coming to town – or so about 85% of young American children believe.
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.
Say something like this, “The Santa that you see in books, movies, and in stores is a person in a costume. People dress up in Santa costumes to remind us… …of someone who lived a long, long time ago called St. Nicholas who secretly gave money to people who needed it.”
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.
He doesn't do it. He knows when you are asleep or awake just like YOU know when someone is asleep or awake. There's no magic in it.
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 Pyschologies.co.uk, Santaphobia is most common in children under four years old. In most cases, once children get to 5 years, they lose their fear and start to get wholly excited again. As toddlers, our little ones are starting to feel emotions in completely different ways to what they've ever experienced.
“Ten to 12 is a great range because kids are still very connected to their parents and into their parents being in their phone and in their business,” says Catherine Pearlman, a licensed clinical social worker and author of “First Phone,” a guide for kids.
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%).
The five gift rule says that you should give five gifts to your loved ones: one for each of the following categories: something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read, and a special gift.
In interviews, 85 percent of 4-year-olds said that they believed in Santa, 65 percent of 6-year-olds said that they believed, and 25 percent of 8-year-olds said that they believed.