When did your kiddos stop believing?

[nesser1981]

???





In Santa?

[nesser1981]

Ok, so its really starting to hit me that I might only have one year left after this one of Keira still believing in Santa.

I'm assuming that 8 years old is usually about as long as it lasts. And if I can get her through one more year I'll be satisfied.

When she watch the Santa video yesterday, you could still see the magic in her eyes, that she completely believes in all that Christmas magic!

[taracotta7]

Landon is 7 (almost 8) and still believes. He is asking a lot of detailed questions though. SO, the way we are handling it is just answering honestly as he ask. I have a feeling he won't believe much longer. I am going to do it like my parents did though........Ask him to still play the Santa game with us each year for the younger sibling. If he plays, he gets the santa gifts and stocking too. IF he chooses not to then he forfeits those extra goodies. It was just fun for us......here I am 36 years old and I still get a santa gift from my parents. LOL What can I say? I like games! LOL

[LeeAndra]

My stepson is 10, and as far as I can tell, still believes.

[nesser1981]

Originally Posted by LeeAndra

My stepson is 10, and as far as I can tell, still believes.

Oh, that's awesome! I can only hope!!

[krystalhartley]

Mine made it to 11. And we told them because we were concerned about them being made fun of.

I was 8 when I found out. Through deductive reasoning. I ruined it for my sisters a couple of years later (they were 5 & 6 I think) because they were acting like spoiled brats. My mom was divorced and just barely scraping buy with the 3 of us and putting herself through school.

[Libby Pritchett]

My older daughter was still playing along when she was like 11 or so. Finally, she told me that she'd known for years and just didn't want to disappoint me. LOL

Now, we're starting all over again with Chloe.

[NeverendingJen]

I was 8 or so when I found out that Santa the person wasn't real, but the magic of it is still part of me

[farrijc]

My nine year old still believes...

[Misty Cato]

My son stopped believing early - like age 3 and has done his best to ruin it for his little sister. He's quite a grinch. Now at ages 7 and 5, my daughter just tells, him "I know he's not real, but I like to pretend." So we do Santa for her and not for him.

[carriesmom]

I think was about 8 or 9 when I figured it out. I did a handwriting comparison between my Santa letter and a birthday card. It was the same handwriting. Yeah I was that big of a nerd. My kids are only 5 and 3 so we have a few more years.

[nun69]

Well my 11 almost 12 still believes and if he doesn't he is putting up a good front but my dd (19) still believes and she has no intentions of blowing it for her younger siblings our rule is if you don't. Believe then Santa doesn't come to visit

[rachaelsscraps]

My son is 7 and still does. I'm so afraid that some big kid will tell him otherwise. But this year he seems to be more into Christmas than ever before, with the Elf on a Shelf and everything. He actually talks to and has a conversation with Elfie once in a while.
I've been so careful to not let him visit more than 1 Santa... last year we went to 2 different places and one of the Santas had his artificial beard and mustache piece pulled down UNDER his chin! I was so mad but luckily my kids didn't notice. I was soooooo MAD!!!! urgh!!!
I want him to believe forever!!! Not only because he's so full of Christmas spirit, but because I don't want him to find out, and then tell his 3 year old sister (because I know he'd blurt it out!)

[nesser1981]

Originally Posted by nun69

Well my 11 almost 12 still believes and if he doesn't he is putting up a good front but my dd (19) still believes and she has no intentions of blowing it for her younger siblings our rule is if you don't. Believe then Santa doesn't come to visit

Thats what my mom always told us.

[LibbysMommy]

Libby is 7 (almost 8) and she still believes. A friend of hers told her that he wasn't real. We talked about it afterwards and she decided she still believes he is real. I let her think he is - I don't want to ruin the magic for her

[kim21673]

Our 5 & 6 year old still believe and I hope once they find out they don't blow it for the little guy...obviously he is 2 and still believes!!!

Our 20 years old...I really don't remember. We never really had the conversation. I am sort of in denial....I want to believe forever that Santa is real!!!

[Julie Billingsley]

My son was 8.5 years last year and asked a few times if we were really Santa. He wanted to still believe so we just deflected the question.

This year at age 9.5 he has stated he knows "the truth" and wants us to confirm it. He said he'd feel bad about believing if Santa wasn't really true. Of course he always picks the worst times to have these discussions... like while grocery shopping where other children could hear me. So, for now I haven't confirmed anything, but I think on Christmas the truth will come out.

[joelsgirl]

Max, 5, asked me yesterday, "Is Santa real?" and I tried to dodge the question, but he was insistent, so I told him the truth. We've never once told them that presents were from Santa, so it wasn't like it was a big letdown.

[MandaT]

I know my littles still believe.

We try not to focus on Santa a whole lot, but more the magic of Christmas. My oldest is 5, and while she's been told at school by her BFF that Santa is just a person dressed up, etc. We've read the story of St Nick, etc. She actually came home from school one day and told me that they made her friend cry at school, because she doesn't believe and the rest of the class does. She had to write her a letter saying she was sorry that she made her feel bad. And we talked about everyone not believing in the same things and that it was okay.

[TheHybridMess]

Mine was in 5 years old when her pre-school teacher's aid told the class that Santa's not real. She did it for religious reasons and i remember some parents caused a scene at the school. She carried on believing (or pretended to at least unil she was about 9.) The mom of one of her friends who had been with her since pre-school said to me: "I think they carry on believing for us, not so much for the loot!" LOL

[rach3975]

We're Jewish, so I always tried to walk the line between playing along so my kids didn't ruin it for friends and not making it sound too wonderful so they wouldn't feel they were missing out. By age 6 my very logical, analytical DS1 was questioning whether the tooth fairy and Santa were real, and by 7 he was sure even without our confirmation. He made frequent comments about them not being real, and since I wanted the younger 2 to get to keep believing in the tooth fairy I finally had to come clean with him at age 7. Now he knows he's supposed to play along for his siblings' sakes or he'll lose some privileges, but it's hard for him not to tell them, especially when DS2 loses a tooth. My younger kids (6 and 3) still believe in both.

[mariewilcox]

Cheyanne really didn't stop believing until this year, so 12. She still has several friends 12/13 who "believe" - whether they truly believe or are on the fence I'm not sure. I haven't actually confirmed her suspicions but she mentioned something about what she wanted in her stocking and was telling me and I said, "But Santa fills your stocking." And she replied, "Oh yeah, well I was just telling you in case he forgets." So you could have a few more years

[Stacey42]

My nearly 9 year old wants to believe but I think he is suspicious about it. My 10 year old is humoring me I think. We've never actually discussed it. But sometimes, if I have just moved our elf & he isn't doing anything, just sitting some place different, I'll get up and find him involved in some activity & my 10 year old will say, "look what we found Elvin doing this morning".

I'm actually looking forward to the next few years if we are all going to secretly make Elvin do things to surprise everyone else.

[mummytothree]

I voted other well because I have multiple kids!!!

My oldest is 14 and she knows were are Santa, I think she still believe up until she was 12.5!!!

The other kids (10, 8, 4 & 3) all still BELIEVE!!!

ETA: Like a few others my oldest is AWESOME about keeping up a front and I'm sure to say many times during that season that if you don't believe you get UNDERWEAR for Christmas!!!

[emmasmommy]

emma (7) will believe forever i think
madelyn (4) is really asking me LOTS of questions this year (how does santa get in our house? we don't have a chim-a-nee, we don't always see the same santa....). i answer them in a way that i'm honest, yet i don't want to ruin the magic for her.

i was about 8 when i found out.

[MamaBee]

Originally Posted by mummytothree

ETA: Like a few others my oldest is AWESOME about keeping up a front and I'm sure to say many times during that season that if you don't believe you get UNDERWEAR for Christmas!!!

My 5 year old asked Santa for underwear the last two years... haha

My son is a born skeptic... he doesn't believe that the elves do anything - it's mama who changed all pictures in the living room to those of the elf... and as for Santa, J is very "eh" about it... *sigh* So, I get the strong feeling that he just plays along to humor me...

As a child, I was never allowed to believe in Santa... that was the 70's where the big movement was that Santa spells Satan backwards (obviously not ). So my dad was really against anything Santa... no santa decor... my mom tried to sneak it in... like the gifts would magically appear under the tree while we were at Christmas Eve church... but it was "unspoken"... my dad has mellowed, he plays along on the whole Santa thing with Jake...

[SmallMoments]

No joke- Luke figured it out when he was like 4ish. "Mom, I know Santa isn't real, it's you." WHAAAAAA????? Why do you think that? "Well, he can't get to everyone's house in a night. We don't have a fireplace, so he can't get in our house. There are different Santas everywhere. It just doesn't make sense." Uhhhhhhhrrrrrrmmmmmm...

Anyway, he isn't typical. Most of my 2nd graders still believe. And for those that don't and try to tell me he's not real, I just say, "Oh he comes to my house!" and that usually shuts 'em up. LOL

[SmallMoments]

Originally Posted by MamaBee

My son is a born skeptic... he doesn't believe that the elves do anything - it's mama who changed all pictures in the living room to those of the elf... and as for Santa, J is very "eh" about it... *sigh* So, I get the strong feeling that he just plays along to humor me...

LOL YES! This is so Luke! Maybe it's an only child thing.

[kscwgirl]

J still believes. I think abby is on the fence but she wants to believe so bad.

[Sherri Tierney]

10 and 7 here and they totally still believe, without a doubt. Totally and completely in to it. I'm happy with that. I still believe!!!!

[kelley]

I don't even know. I know for sure that my 4 oldest (11,9,7,6) are skeptical. Its honestly pretty silly IMO because I know they think he's fake, but they won't say it. And Chris wants them to believe in him. I avoid the subject because I don't want to say he's real, since I'd feel like a big ol liar then when they find out.

[pewtertm]

Rachel is 7 and she believes. Honestly, I hate the whole Santa thing...to me the day is about the miracle of Christ, not the 'magic' of Santa. But hubby insisted, so I'm going along with it.
When she asks, I'm not going to lie to her to keep her believing something that's not true. I've had some friend freak out when their kids don't believe anymore...I just can't wrap my head around it, because he is not real...so what's the big deal when the kids figure it out?

[kscwgirl]

Originally Posted by carriesmom

I think was about 8 or 9 when I figured it out. I did a handwriting comparison between my Santa letter and a birthday card. It was the same handwriting. Yeah I was that big of a nerd. My kids are only 5 and 3 so we have a few more years.

What's funny is that to this day, my mom will NOT tell me who wrote Santa tags. I'm 36!!!! LOL I know it's someone at my dad's work... I just don't know WHO...it was always the same handwriting. I always have someone else write the kids... someone not in our household.

[clearskies]

I print our Santa tags on the computer...

[nun69]

Originally Posted by kscwgirl

What's funny is that to this day, my mom will NOT tell me who wrote Santa tags. I'm 36!!!! LOL I know it's someone at my dad's work... I just don't know WHO...it was always the same handwriting. I always have someone else write the kids... someone not in our household.

lol....this is why I do NOT write any tags ont he Santa gifts LOL!!!!! Their stockings get put in front of their piles so they know whos gifts are whos

[carrie1977]

Mine are 9 and 5 and they both still believe.

[Sarah8914]

Well, this makes me feel better. Today my 8 year old said, "who fills our stockings, you or Santa?" I automatically said Santa and she asked if he was real. I wasn't prepared for that and tried to change the subject! But I think I will talk to her about it more tomorrow. We don't make a big deal about Santa at ALL because I have a hard time doing it! So I shouldn't be surprised. I know she will play along for the others. I believed forEVER. Until my friend told me... and I pretended I already knew because I felt dumb.

[lovely1m]

I don't remember how old I was, but I do know my mom insisted that we had to believe or get nothing. So I still say he's real for her. I love it. My son is 6 and I was just wondering how many more years ill get. He had no siblings, but I think I'll do what my mom did. Last year, he asked about the different santas and how they can sit places. So I just told him those people were santas helpers and they report back to Santa. He was good with that and mentioned it this year.

[Laura_A]

My 10 1/2 year old just forced me to tell her the truth this year. She still wanted to believe, but all her friends were telling her he wasn't real. I was sad!! She took it well though and now she thinks her dad is the coolest thing EVER for actually building her a tether ball court in our back yard 2 years ago when she thought it was from Santa til now.

[MissKim]

As a child, I never believed in Santa. My mom grew up not even knowing about him (her family was Amish) so she didn't do it for us. She would write "from Santa" on one of the gifts but it would sit under the tree for a week or more so I was smart enough to figure it out.

My sister and I both do the Santa thing big... and believe it or not, this is the first year all 3 of my kids have let me know they no longer believe. My kids are 18, 16 and almost 13. I've always told them that if they don't believe, they don't gifts from Santa (because one of my son's teachers told him at 5 there is no Santa and I didn't want him to spoil it for his sisters and he's spent 13 years playing along so that he'll still get a gift). I actually thought my youngest was still a believer until my older kids popped that bubble this year and told me she hasn't believed since she was 6. None of them wanted to hurt my feelings, so they kept it to themselves all these year. I really have great kids.