To ask teachers and parents if 6 is too old to believe in Santa?

[SpinneyHill]

My DS1 (6) told me earlier this year he knows Santa isn't real, but today we got a toy catalogue and I told DS2 (4) it was from Santa to help kids write their lists I was just about to whisper to DS1 to not ruin the magic (because I thought he'd stopped believing) when he suddenly became quite excited about Santa knowing where we live (we moved this year).

I almost feel a bit worried because I don't think I did believe at age 6?
Are his friends going to mock him for this?
When do they stop believing?

My 9yo has just stopped believing. My 6yo believes whole heartedly.

What?! My 9 year old still believes, my 5 year old definitely does. My eldest will be 12 next week and we haven't had the conversation but I'm fairly sure he knows the truth by now.

Lllot5

Depends onthe child. The only awkward year for us was when one of the twins did and the other didn't (apparently their older brother had told one of them there was no Father Christmas - the rotter)

6 is still so young. Mine only really grasped the concept of Santa from age 3/4 so stopping at 6 would give them only 2 years of believing.
I think I was about 9.

My daughter 7.5 still believes and I hope this continues for 2/3 years+🎅🏼

I expect most 6 yo's believe in Santa, absolutely nothing to worry about OP.
I once worked with a 12 yo who genuinely still believed and his DM thought it was outrageous that some of his peers had "ruined the magic for him" and wanted them to be reprimanded for it. Now that's worrying!

My 8 year old is having doubts now but i don't think it's too old to believe.

My 9 year old still believes!

My 8 year old believes

I would think most children no longer believe in Santa by the age of six. Some carry it on to please parents, it seems to be parents who are upset when their children realise the old bearded man isn't a real person.

I've never understand why parents bother with it all, you can tell magical fantasy stories about Christmas without pretending they are real.

My son's nearly 10, doesn't seem to have any doubts about Santa's existence. I'm not sure I have it in me to burst the bubble 😳

He’s still a baby!!!

I think most kids still believe in Santa at 6!

I’m not sure when mine stopped believing, probably around 9. I didn’t confirm that he wasn’t and start talking about it openly until they were in about y6!

Don’t ruin the magic for him yet.

My daughter is 8 and definitely questioning, she was a firm believer at 6.

I believed in Santa until I was 10 and a kid in my class spoilt it for me. My Mum told me to keep quiet about it for my little sister and I still enjoyed the fun of writing my Christmas list and opening my stocking on Christmas morning even though I knew it was just from Mum. My Mum stopped doing stockings when I was 14 because my sister knew the truth then.

I had to tell my 12 year old and he honestly did still believe. I didn't know how to word it when telling him, but when I did he was "seriously impressed" with the lengths we went to every year to keep the secret and make everything come together!!

Mine has never believed. She’s very scientific/logical and at 9 is attempting to prove that Santa can’t exist using Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. 😬

It never made sense to her that a rabbit would deliver chocolate eggs or that a fairy would want teeth.

Course it’s okay at 6!

My 6 nearly 7 year old asked us earlier this year if it was all just grown ups pretending.

Of course not we said. And remember Santa doesn’t visit those who don’t believe. She hasn’t asked since then! (We also have a 4 yr old so even if 7 yr old has doubts I want her to keep them to herself).

Of course not we said. And remember Santa doesn’t visit those who don’t believe.

Hope you never punish her when she tells you a barefaced lie in future!

I know Boobiliboobiliboo I don’t like lying to her! But she’s very sharp and any kind of fudged answer would just lead to more questions. Can’t risk her telling her sister or classmates that there is no Santa.

If she questions the lying later when she knows the truth, we can explain it was to keep the magic alive for her and her sister - she’d understand that and would see the difference between that and other lies.

I'd have been very sad if my kids had stopped believing at 6yrs of age. I think mine were around 8 when they started to doubt his existence. As long as they know the truth by the time they start secondary school it's fine.

I would say most if not all of my current class still believe as do my ex class which covers children aged 7-9. My eldest was in the inbetween stage last year as was his best friend. They were 10.

Can’t risk her telling her sister or classmates that there is no Santa.

Why is Santa different to anything else? How is it magic to literally try and make a child believe something they will learn to be untrue is true? I genuinely don’t get it. There’s more than enough magic in real things without Santa bollocks!

would see the difference between that and other lies.

I’m in my 40s and I genuinely don’t see the difference.