But in general, parents want their kids to believe in Santa because it's something meaningful from their childhood that they want to hand down. It gives moms and dads a chance to relive those special moments through a different lens while feeling like they're doing a really good job.
For many families, incorporating Santa traditions into their holiday celebrations creates joyful and fun experiences. It also provides opportunities for shared belief and play, reliving and sharing childhood memories, and encouraging empathy, kindness and generosity.
The answer is no. We are not Santa. There is no one, single Santa. We are the people who fill your stocking and choose and wrap the presents under the tree-just as our parents did for us, their parents did for them, and you will do for your kids someday.
"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.
The first good news is that Santa Claus does not really care about what you or your children believe, and he will not be upset and will not punish you if you don't believe in him. So there is no harm in not believing.
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.
"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 your child has not brought up the topic at all by the time they enter middle school, it might be time for you to initiate the conversation. At this point most of their peers will know the truth about Santa, so allowing them to continue to believe may impact them socially.
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.
According to historical records, Santa is real. 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.
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.
“Are Mom and Dad really Santa?” We know that you want to know the answer and we had to give it careful thought to know just what to say. The answer is no.
Simply explain to your child that the gifts are purchased and wrapped by mom and dad, and that you share in the magic of Christmas as a family by spreading joy. Let them know that the Santa they see in the store is someone paid to sit and give children the joy of believing in something magical.
To perpetuate the Santa myth, parents must lie to their kids. To buoy belief, adults often stage elaborate deceptions, laying traps for the child's developing intellect. The myth encourages lazy parenting and promotes unhealthy fear. The myth makes kids more acquisitive, not less so.
What do you call a kid who doesn't believe in Santa? A rebel without a Claus.
From a scientific viewpoint, elves are not considered objectively real. However, elves have in many times and places been believed to be real beings.
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.
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 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.
A 2011 children's book about the origin story of Mrs. Claus dubbed her Annalina, while in Jeff Guinn's 2006 book, The Autobiography of Santa Claus, Santa refers to his wife as Layla.
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.
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%).
While the last baby teeth generally aren't lost until age ten or 11, most children stop believing in the tooth fairy by the time they're seven or eight. Of course, children are more than happy to play along with the game when there's money at stake!