Nearly 10yr old DS still believes in Santa

[Happyhappyveggie]

DS is 10 in Jan and still totally believes in Father Christmas. I assume it might be the last one and he's still really sweet & innocent about it all.
But another parent said to me that it was ridiculous that he believes still and that her son had worked it out at age 7.
Aibu to be worried about it or just. E glad that he's still innocent and sweet!

My son will be 10 in February. We are still doing the whole Santa thing. We're not sure he really believes anymore but more he's just going along with it a) because he enjoys it and b) he thinks he won't get as many presents

Very limited experience in what, exactly?

*she's (stupid autocorrect)

@Happyhappyveggie
Believe what though? That a fat man in a read suit who lives in the north pole and has flying reindeer buys presents for everyone and brings them down every chimney all in one night. I would hope hes just pretending for you, I still do the whole father christmas thing with my little ones (3 and 4) but they know that I actually buy them the presents and the above isnt actually possible.

That's the reason my kids never fessed up till it was forced out of them, Delilah. Greedy little buggers.

My ds will be 9 at Christmas and still very much believes, and why not? To me its a sign of great imagination, positivity, hope and creativity. If you cant be like that as a child when can you be? And no at his school there's no shame or humiliation about it, lots of them in his year (Y4) are still keen to believe.

Lack of critical thinking my arse!!

It's magic! No need for critical thinking. Santa is explained away with magic. He does everything that he does because he can magic his way around the world on a sleigh pulled by reindeer. If you believe in magic, it is all understandable and easily accepted.

My DS believed last Christmas when he was in year 6. DH and I told him this year, before he started secondary school.

He's fucking 9- we live in a bit city- what kind of limited experiences are we talking about here? He's a normal kid that goes to school, plays with his mates, does pretty ok in school & is happy. What limited experiences are these?

I think it’s sweet OP!

Got a right little pair of critical thinkers there, tempstamos
You must be so proud.

My 10yr old DD asked me straight up a couple of months ago if it was real or made up and I knew the game was finally up! I thought she had us rumbled last year but I think the worry of no presents papered it over
Her critical thinking had meant the evidence was stacking up...

I think it is a bit strange you encourage it op.

DS still genuinely believed at 11 but we started to drop some heavy hints at that point. He's 20 now and doesn't seem to lack critical thinking skills or be particularly naive but he did always have a very vivid imagination.

look, if you lived in a tiny little village and had no access to outside sources of information, and all families you knew 'did' FC the same way, AND you had little or no scientific education, then, aged 10, you might well still believe in FC. But I'm guessing OP's son is not in that situation.

I have nothing against FC and all we all loved doing it in our family, but give the child some credit!

My ds is nearly ten too and is on the cusp of working it all out! He definitely believed last year but this year he's asking more questions! Although I'm also wondering if perhaps he knows and is pretending he still believes because he still wants Santa's presents?! The thing is, I'd still do stockings if they don't believe.. it's just a tradition now.

Oh do fuck off @flora seriously

I told ds that the magic is there for as long as you want it to be

I think he lasted to 11

@Happyhappyveggie

But you did ask are you being unreasonable to worry about it, so you are worried about it? I think its most likely that he still wants to beleive and thinks you still want him to believe because its more fun that way but if he actually thought about it I bet he would know and just not want to admit it out loud yet.

My youngest is 9 (10 next month) and still believes.

At the most he's unsure. He's not asked questions but that's probably because he doesn't want to hear the answers!

I've no doubt this is out last year of any belief. 😭

It's sweet they still have some belief. Anyone criticising a child for believing in santa has something wrong with their soul.

? happy?

I honestly do think at nearly 10 him still believing in santa is a bit odd, it is an under 7 thing rather than a preteen thing BUT if you do it differently fine. But then why ask, and tell people to fuck off?

I actually wasn't that worried about it until someone questioned it. I have a 5 year old as well so she is well into Xmas & Santa etc

I agree tempstamos.
we surely don't really want our 10 year olds to believe in magic do we?

@flora because it's your implication that somehow I am brainwashing my child and colluding with it

My 9yo absolutely believes. I once told her at 8 that fairies aren’t real as her friends were teasing her about believing in them and she was adamant. I couldn’t let her argue with those girls and be wrong. Anyway, she’s decided that people who stop believing don’t see fairies so that’s why I haven’t seen them and still believes. She has an amazing imagination so I’ve decided to go with it.

Did our parents ever stress about the impact of finding out Father Christmas isn’t true? It seems such a new thing. There’s plenty of time for the reality of life, let them have Father Christmas (my dad still does me a stocking if I’m at there’s Christmas Eve - and always asks before bed if I still believe so I say YES!)