Keep the magic or he should grow up now

I agree. In particular, the levels of isolation and loneliness among young people seem much higher than in pre-internet / pre-social media days.

Sadly you should tell him before someone else does.
I thought my kids believed very late - they were around 9/10 but I didn’t have to tell them…. thank goodness.

I quietly told my son when just the two of us were walking the dog a couple of months before he started Secondary School. I thought he must have known, but I wasn’t certain and I didn’t want him to go to Secondary School with the risk of being bullied for mentioning Santa. He said that of course he knew, but the disappointment in his face and the shock in his voice, told me otherwise. It was a sad moment, but the right thing to do.

Given some other comments, I should add, this was in 1991.

I don't know what to say. I'd quit believing in Father Christmas by the age of five. Although they may pretend, I find it hard to believe that any child of eleven or twelve would retain a serious belief in Father Christmas.

It's time he was told. He's in secondary school. Every child has to be told sometime.

(They go to a lovely independant school and I have no worries about bullying or ridicule either)

That's a winner for the 2024 most naive comment!

Agree, you need to tell him before the nasty kids do. I told my son far too early (80s when there was a fad to disabuse children of this magic) but he survived it, and still gets a stocking every Christmas. My granddaughters are just at his age, and I doubt they believe, but we go through the motions, including that little shit, Elfie.

I worked with someone who believed until she was 14 and later with someone who burst her daughter’s bubble in a really sad way when she was 12.

Couldn't agree more!

I think society as a whole has gone to hell in a handcart and a lot of that is down to social media and the internet in general.

I see very little evidence of a nicer society. If anything, I think that on the whole, social media and much of the internet have contributed heavily to the increased coarsening of life for all of us, especially the young.

That's easy. Elf dust 🎅

I'd really, really like to think you are right but I don't see any evidence of a nicer society, or nicer kids to be honest. I don't know if things are any worse but they're certainly not any better than they've always been. Kids still bully other kids. Kids commit suicide because of online abuse, gang crime and shoplifting is rife as is violence against women and girls. On top of that young adults are finding it harder to make friends or find partners than ever before. There's an unprecedented sense of isolation that used to (mostly) be the preserve of the elderly. No, I don't think society or children are any nicer - sorry.

Regressed is exactly the right word if there are quite a few secondary school students and older primary students who believe in Santa Claus, when a generation ago, this would be unheard of.

Maybe they should have an option of science projects to explain how reindeer fly.

i don't think 'regressed' is the right word... Kids (and society) are just in some ways nicer these days... (although no doubt lots of people will maintain that society is going to hell in a handcart)...

Not mine, all the way to 11 (my eldest, although i have doubts), my youngest (8) couldn't believe more!

Definitely @justasking111 😂 child figured that one out a long time ago I think but wasn't giving up a good source of income - her last 8 teeth had to be taken out in one go at the dentist!!!! That was expensive 😂

I guess not everyone thinks that not believing in Santa "spoils Christmas"

Yep. Spoiling people's Christmas is nothing to be proud of. It would be one of those hideous moments I would look back on and cringe. I definitely would not be proud of it, or have it as a favourite memory.

Somewhat like the tooth fairy 🤭

Well we never had a big talk - DD is 13 and we all still keep the pretence of Father Christmas!! She doesn't believe but she'd never admit it 😂
I have drawn the line at elf on the fucking shelf this year though. That bastard has had me leaping out of bed in the wee small hours after forgetting to move it far too many times. 😂

Santa is very far removed from any tie to any saint. It would be different if I encouraged the use of the term st Nicholas or whatever, but the fat old man dressed in red, living with elves in the north pole, driving sled pulled by reindeer is not a Christian saint! He only has gift giving in common, also shared by easter bunny, the Reyes Magos, La Befana etc.

I celebrate pagan festivals, but am under no illusion that the majority people celebrating Halloween are not doing so as any kind of spiritual exercise.

Ashamed of something you did at age 4?

Noone wanted that gift! I would be really ashamed if that were me.

It's breathtakingly offensive to say that struggling to differentiate fact from fiction is a symptom of autism? OK. Clearly facts are unwelcome on this thread!

I’m not saying they didn’t invade and conquer other places. But when they occupied, they absorbed local customs.