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%).
Key points. 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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
What do you call a kid who doesn't believe in Santa? A rebel without a Claus.
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.
A lot of people prefer placing Christmas presents under the tree on Christmas Eve. Many children believe in Father Christmas, which is why some parents choose to put the gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve to pass them on as Father Christmas' presents.
"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".
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.
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.
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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.
In truth, "ho ho ho" doesn't mean anything. It's actually just the sound of Santa Claus's laughter. It might sound strange to us to hear someone laughing like this, since most people's laughter sounds more like "ha ha ha" instead of "ho ho ho".
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.
“Children's belief in Santa starts when they're between 3 and 4 years old. It's very strong when they're between about 4 and 8,” she said. “Then, at 8 years old is when we start to see the drop-off in belief, when children start to understand the reality of Santa Claus.”