"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.
"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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
Therefore fantasy and mythical beings, such as Santa, the tooth fairy and even Disney princesses can be very real to young children. Allowing your child to believe, even though they eventually will find out the truth, will not be traumatizing or harmful to their development.
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.
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.
Bad Santa is rated R by the MPAA for pervasive language, strong sexual content and some violence. Violence: - Infrequent gun and automobile violence, with some blood.
While kids may no longer look for reindeer on Christmas Eve, your tween might be ready to embrace the spirit of Santa Claus and spread the joy of giving in their own special way. Helping do so guarantees that in your child's heart, Santa will live forever and that he is, in fact, very real.
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%).
There isn't a right or wrong age to tell kids the truth
So don't be surprised if your child starts asking questions. You might not get a direct question like, "Is Santa real?" But you may get questions like, "How do reindeer fly?" or "How does Santa make it all around the world in one night?"
You asked a really good question, “Are Mom and Dad really Santa 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.
Preschoolers likely believe that Santa has a special mind, that he may know some things that most other adults don't know but not everything. So, young children typically believe that Santa exists, but in a more mundane form than adults let on.
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.
According to History.com, the monk who over time would evolve into Santa Claus was born in what is now modern-day Turkey in 280 A.D., making him a whopping 1,741 years old!
According to Email Santa, Mrs. Claus is just a bit younger than her husband. She's 1,140 years old this year.
If your child is older than 10 and still believes in the Easter Bunny, you should fill them in on the truth. Let your kids know that although the bunny itself is imaginary, it's part of a tradition that brings a lot of joy and fun to kids at Easter time.
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.