to be really upset that dd1 5yo said 'Santa isn't real' 'its you and dad isn't it - which is better!'

[AnxiousElephant]

I suppose it took me by surprise and she said it infront of her ds who is only 3 so really didn't know what to say.......I just suddenly realised that her childhood is vanishing very quickly

diddl I think a lot of MNers with children who still believe have very kind children who know that their parents want them to believe so they play along.

I realised when I was quite young that the tooth fairy wasn't real but would pretend to believe so I'd still get the money

DS is almost 5 but has just started to understand that Santa comes and leaves presents so I think I've still got a few more years of him believing, he has ASD though

We've never perpetuated the myth ourselves of Father Christmas with the DCs, even when they were very small, but have let them take the lead. They're all close in age and have not spoilt anything for those younger than them. Now that they're 14, 12 and 10, we're a bit like BabyDubs and it's all tongue in cheek and fun.

Father Christmas still leaves small gifts in their stockings in their rooms, but unfortunately is now rather noisy when he arrives. We had to have fire doors fitted when we did our loft last year, so the brushes on edge of the doors are enough to disturb a child that's just gone to bed late because they were tracking Father Christmas with NORAD.

Elephant I think you are paying attention to the wrong part.

Pay attention to this bit: its you and dad isn't it - which is better!

That's nice, she is happy.

FC has always freaked me out big time so ds has always known he is a nice story and not real :)

I think dd1 (7) knows but plays along, either that or she's just hedging her bets.

She did announce the other day that she didn't believe in the tooth fairy, though earlier this year she was distraught when the tooth fairy forgot (or had drank too much red wine the night before!). We explained it must have been a trainee!!

Chickensategreen

Hmm are you my sister seems our parents did the same thing I have carried it on to my dc

Though think is dd last year age 8 . Luckily have few more years till ds3 gets it

i think round about Y1 is the average age for kids to stop believing.I think children who say they believe at 8 or 9 are either humouring their parents or a bit thick!!

Mine are 5.5 and 7 and I'm not sure they have ever believed a man in a red suit comes down the chimney to give them presents! Certainly DD (7) has been humoring the idea for a couple of years, but isn't fooled.

dd2 has questioned this for a while due to lots of things including longhaul flights and having a tiny chimney!
I just try to keep it going though,they are only little for such a short time.
weirdly dd1,now 14,never seemed to believe,she always just knew and disputed santa for as long as i can remember.

I believed till I was 12! As did all my friends

I remember us all having a debate with some other people in our class, and we were all justifying why Santa was real! This was back in the 1990s though, things were quite different back then!

I some how Don't think my own dc will believe till they are 12!

nice coment of spiderpig there

Dd is 8 in year 4 and still believes

I'm not sure spiderpig...I remember when I was about 8 or 9 having my doubts but I still believed a bit and I'm not that thick!

but how can you believe ' a bit'.Something must be true or it isn't [hconfused]
i think you knew in your heart of hearts it wasn't true but either didn't want to think your parents were lying, or you were afraid xmas would be somehow different once you stopped the charade.

Calling other peoples children thick....... nice spiderpig!

DD is 7 and as far as I know still believes. I would have been upset if she had stopped believing at 5 but would do as a pp said and say that if they don't believe that they don't get presents.

My mum did this and I still don't actually say to her that I don't believe even though she knows that I obviously don't. Keeps the magic alive.

I think belief is very different as a child than it is as an adult.

I could happily believe in fairies, santa, the easter bunny, trolls uner bridges and pigs that build houses whilst also knowing they weren't really REAL.

I don't know if my kids are truly convinced a beared fat man squeezes down the chimney once a year, but I doubt they believe it as a hard fact, they're more likely to believe IN it, the magic it creates, and to create magic, although you have to suspend your disbelief somewhat, you don't have to believe it to be fact.

Part of the game is in the 'not' telling though. If the boys asked me straight, I'd have to give them a straight answer, but we all know that we won't ask that, not this close to Christmas.

My eldest is 8 and not thick! Its simply that the subject of whether Santa is real or not hasn't come up in his peer group yet.

i see the pig has posted.....nice

Imo most children don't believe once they start school , but still enjoy pretending they do.

Reminds me of when around Easter time, my brother aged 5 said "that man (the priest of a local church) thinks people come back from the dead. That's not right is it mummy?".

I don't know, I think children are very smart really. I'm sure a lot think Santa is not real but play along cos it's awesome!

I don't think I ever really believed. I think we just went along with it for the fun of it! I remember we used to leave carrots and a drink out though :o

I remember reading a horrible story a few years ago. A man went missing on christmas eve, and a few weeks later his wife and daughter noticed a bad smell coming from their chimney, and it was checked out. They found the guy in the chimney wearing a santa costume with a bag of presents, he'd gone to climb down the chimney to surprise his DD, and i think he either got stuck and froze to death or slipped and broke his neck. Either way that is an immensly sad story :( it makes it worse that it was at christmas :(

I was very small when I asked my mother whether FC was real or it was my parents. She said, "What do you think?" and I said, "It's you and Daddy, isn't it?" and she said yes.

My auntie was horrified and I was made to promise never to tell my cousin.

My mum says I was noticeably happier about Christmas after this. I had never liked the idea of a strange man coming down the chimney.

SpookTwirler, is that really true? From a newspaper? What chimney design do you have to have that you can actually get into it from above?

splinters I can't remember the exact details. Like I said it was quite a few years ago. Think it was in america, maybe they have bigger chimneys?