Do your children believe in Santa? Post Reply

[Honeymummy]

Hi mums and dads, I would be interested to hear from parents whose children believe or not in Santa, until what age it is ok to let them do so, and how/when to tell the truth behind the myth...my kids don't believe in it and they get confused when their school pals say that Santa is coming to their house! I'll be using different views to write a neutral article about it for an educational website.
thank you for your time,
x

[supergirl]

Nice topic! In our house Xmas is our favourite time of the year!
Both my children believe in Father Christmas (which mean ALL presents come from him), so they make a drawing for him (cant write yet) confirming they have been very good so to not forget to come into their chimney!
They will believe until they find out or until the topic is discussed with school pals. I dont intend to tell them unless of course they ask. All the teenagers i know have believed until the ages of 5-7. They have all find out by themselves.

Why dont your children believe in santa? If you dont mind me asking? I am just interested in other views.

Sx

[mrsbfrombalham]

My daughter is 6 and still believes in Santa. We write a letter to him - using the Royal Mail address - which means she also gets a nice letter back from him. I am milking it for all it's worth this year as it might be the last year - before school friends or other sources spoil the fun. On Xmas eve we leave a mince pie and a glass of milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeers. And obviously I massively use the "Santa only brings presents to good girls" card for at least 2 months prior.

[Honeymummy]

my daughter believes in fairies who reward her throughout the year when she completes a difficult chart, and I add a stocking from the fairy in the Christmas tree but now she is the only one at school whose house is visited by the fairy rather than Santa! which is rather awkward.
Why I didn't make her believe in Santa... I think I wasn't that much into it myself as my mother didn't do it either. But my second child is still very young so I can still change my approach with her.

[schoolgatesmum]

My eldest is nearly 11 and he's only just stopped believing in Father Christmas and the tooth fairy (he caught me out by hiding an empty piece of tissue under his pillow, sneaky thing!). My others absolutely believe and they are 9,7 and 4. The eldest is sworn to secrecy and he feels very grown up being part of the secret.

[Batterseamummy]

My two are only little so just starting to understand about Father Christmas but my nieces who are 8 and 10 still believe although this will probably be the last year for the eldest. I think there's been a few 'discussions' between classmates at school! Like the last poster said, she will probably love having to continue the secret for her younger sister and little cousins once she does find out!

[Mrs Contractor Mum]

This is a contentious topic in my house. I was bought up not believing in Santa claus, tooth fairies etc as a result of the faith I was bought up with. Now that I have a little one I am completely unsure whether to subject this to my son or not. Part of me thinks it will help in the assimilation at school and with his friends and its just a bit of fun etc but another part of me wonders what the point is of subjecting him to something that I have never believed in and at some point he will find is actually a lie in order to get presents or money.
All very confusing!

[meeshter]

I believed in Santa as a child and both my children aged 4 and 7 do. It makes Christmas feel a bit more magical and as an adult I can remember how exciting Christmas Eve felt when I was a child and I want my kids to experience that little bit of magic too. We do all the presents from Santa too so there is no expectation from the children for us to buy anything and they are quite sensible in their letters to Santa as they know he has to share the presents out between lots of children.

It may be our last Christmas before someone lets my eldest into the secret but it does make Christmas fun.

[Honeymummy]

Thanks for all the replies.That does sound magical from what you describe, I had not imagined that children would become even more appreciative about their presents when they come from Santa. Actually, I think until now I hadn't fully understood what it meant to a child. I might invite Santa for the first time this year!!

[Teddingtondad]

Hi, I took the decision to tell my kids the truth and not go down the santa root, and to this day Christmas has been special and always will be. I took the decision because of my faith and because of the commercialism displayed from October through to December, it is good to focus on the real meaning of Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus, rather than just getting stuff, certainly didn't harm the kids and made them appreciate it more.

[yoyo]

Teddington Dad - how do you stop your kids from telling the other kids in their class? I think your point of view is really interesting and valid, but i would hate to spoil it for others who still believe.

[sHgirl]

I have older kids and younger ones. With the older ones we also wrote to Father Xmas (not a list) but just a message on Xmas eve which we left with our beer and mince pies. They loved it when they saw a return message back the next day. It was lovely. But I think we did such a convincing job my daughter believed and believed until she 12 She thinks now at 17, that maybe we should of let it out a bit more!! now it's the older kids jobs to keep the story going for the younger ones. I guess everyone has their own approach - Santa does our stockings only, not the pressies under the tree. And my younger one was so thrown when he saw Santa striding across John Lewis in Kingston - very real. His face was a picture (santa's too )

[Teddingtondad]

Hi Yo yo, I explained to them what I believe and told them that others didn't believe the same but that it was ok and to not tell them, it was only as they came to understand the santa story that we were able to be truthful with them and we didn't go in for the grottos and sitting on santas knee thing. Christmas has always been a special time for us and we alsways celebrate Jesus' birth at that time .