Secondary school and Father Christmas

[ScottyDottyDooDah]

My DS was (weirdly) humming Christmas songs to himself this evening, and when I questioned him, he told me he was just letting his Elf on the Shelf know that he's thinking about him!

My DS is off to secondary school this year. He's a sensitive little soul, although not silly (the Easter bunny and tooth fairy believing stopped a couple of years ago)

Do I need to have the chat?!

Dear Lord yes. Let him find out from you, in a safe space

Yup

I disagree, let them be kids as long as possible 😍. He sounds like a real sweetheart

Yes, secondary school is pretty unforgiving.

Absolutely. Please don’t let him find out by being teased at school.

Bless him. I saw it as my sacred duty to tell my sister before she went into her last year at primary school. You need to say something soon OP

Yes my eldest was getting towards the end of primary and still believing and telling me about an argument she was having with her friend about it, so I felt I really should tell her.
She was initially cross with me for telling her, but then liked that she knew and her younger siblings didn’t!

Awwww that’s adorable. You need to el though.

Need to tell him*

I’m an ex secondary teacher. Yes, you need to tell him.

Please do, before September. The nicest that will happen otherwise is headtilts and "aw, bless"... the harshest will be excruciating for him.

He's still allowed to sing Christmas songs though!

My ds1 year 6 teacher took it upon himself to tell him towards the end of the school year. Ds1 had been chatting about Christmas related stuff and mentioned Father Christmas. The teacher told him he thought he should tell him to avoid teasing in year 7. Ds1 definitely still believed until that point.

If you don't tell him then the hormone soup of pre-teens and teenagers at secondary school will, and they will be much less forgiving than you will be in a safe home environment.

It wasn't a problem I encountered with mine because they had pretty much stopped believing by about year 5, but there is always the occasional child who continues to believe and they can be vulnerable at secondary school.

Yes tell him. We told DS at the end of Yr5, but he was already starting to work it out. He still enjoyed doing Christmas activities with his little sister (he even joined in with DD’s photo with the big guy).

Aww bless him, yes please so tell him.

I think I accidentally ruined Santa for a very sweet and innocent year 8 girl. It hasn't even occurred to me that she might still believe. Oops.

So yes tell him.

Absolutely tell him.

As a Y7 mum please tell him! I had to tell my DD who was similarly innocent and she was so pleased that I had told her. The odd few that still believed were teased unmercifully

I told DS1 in the summer holidays. He was disgusted. Apparently he'd thought it was unlikely, but not as unlikely as all the grown ups conspiring in a lie.

Tell him; and now is at a neutral time of year, i.e. not just before Christmas. It might feel hard doing so this year, what with everything else that has happened, but it has to be done. If there are younger siblings, get him involved in "being" Santa or the Elf.

I also ruined 'Santa' for a year 7 child, I never expected them to still believe.

Do you have other younger children, could you let him in on the secret as he is becoming older but keep him involved, perhaps he could be in charge of the Elfs pranks from now on.

Yes, tell him.

Ah I’ve got a yr 6 who still believes (well, at least she says she does-I have my doubts).
I was just going to start dropping more and more jokey hints.
Tricky as she has younger brothers and cousins

Yep, and summer is good time to tell them. They'll be over any disappointment and it won't spoil this Christmas.

Also, he will still expect stockings and be excited on Christmas day