When do kids stop believing? Also do you ever confirm or ask if they still believe??

[movingforward2016]

So my dd is 10 and last year asked if santa is real? I said well yes he is and if you don't believe he won't give presents!

This year she must surely know he's not real! How do I find out if she knows or not?

If she didn't believe in santa I could have more honest conversations about what she wants etc! As she wants some uggs that can't be found and I could show her other ones she might like! But if she does still believe I don't want to ruin it for her

We got into the awkward situation of the younger one twigging before the older one and I was a little worried about the older one getting the mickey taken at school (he has SNs). So I have tried to gently move towards still doing stockings etc but not talking about him as if he were real. I kept tripping myself up by talking about where I had bought things Santa had supposedly given too . I'm rubbish at make-believe.

That letter - surely a joke?

....now aged 16 & 13 they still gets a couple of presents from him

Santa still delivers a stocking to my 19 and 20 year old

Sorry but that letter made me want to vomit.

Or am I missing the joke?

My older DC (teens) never got to a point where they seriously asked me if FC was real or not - and I think that's because we've always talked about him in a bit of a jokey way and not as if he's the be all and end all of Christmas. Our youngest (10) acts as if she still believes but I'm sure she knows.

We all still have stockings and the odd 'big' gift from FC and nobody's complained yet.

things

Last year ds (then 8) said some children had said Father Christmas isn't real and he asked me. I said "what do you think" and he replied "of course he's real!" The subject hasn't been raised yet this year but I know some children in dd (6) class have said he isn't real but she hasn't mentioned it so either hasn't heard or doesn't believe them.

ibelieve so you think you shouldn't lie to your children but you are talking to them about the birth of Jesus Christ? He's no more real than Father Christmas! Hope your kids enjoy their walnuts and satsumas.

DD currently aged 10 and is still visited by Father Christmas. I'm going all out this year to make it magical as I think it will be the last Christmas he officially visits, although I'm sure he'll still be donating stocking presents in the future.

Mine are 19,15 and 12. They laugh and joke and say I do all the presents.... I look stern and say 'no believing no big gift from father Christmas' they play along and I die of happiness :)
I fucking love Christmas......

We've always said: 'He's real if you believe in him'. We never confirmed out loud one way or the other and they're in their 20s now!

My guess is that they stopped truly believing at around five or six, but I've never asked them.

Our children enjoyed the magic of not saying it out loud. In other families we know, the children preferred to be told definitively that it's a myth. There's no right or wrong way.

I should add - it was easy to be ambiguous with our kids as Father Christmas only ever brought stockings and all the other presents were from us and whoever else bought them.

So we didn't have an elaborate set of things we did around the whole Father Christmas idea and therefore it was easier to just segue from what they saw as real into a fun tradition.

Enjoy the cave IbelieveinDragons (phew)

I personally don't get the marytiysh " we have worked hard and paid for these gifts I need them to know its me" Smacks of Materialism.

Its enough for me to see them on Christmas morning, it goes so quickly, they have a lifetime of knowing exactly who brought them what and where to give appropriate thanks for.

DD is 19 and we have an understanding that from as soon as Santa starts his rounds on Norad Santa tracker until Christmas night, she 'believes' in Santa. DH even stands outside her bedroom door about ten minutes after she goes to bed on Christmas eve and shakes bells (Santa's sleigh bells, don't you know), just like he's done every year since she was a toddler. And she squeals excitedly. Every year

It's all very tongue in cheek, but you know, for a few hours it really does feel as if she 'believes' - it's such lovely fun, and she says she's never going to grow out of it!

She says she can't even remember when she stopped believing, but it didn't spoil the magic when she did. Mind you, she adores Christmas so it's magical every year for her

My mum still wont acknowledge to me that Santa isn't real! I'm 29....
I haven't got to this stage yet as DD is 2 so doesn't even know the Santa story yet!
I've never known a family where Santa brings any more than the stocking presents though? Main presents come from family don't they?

I never asked my parents and I have no idea how old I was when I discovered "the truth". If I was to sit my parents down now and ask them to tell me the truth they would be adamant in their response that "of course santa is real!!"

My parents used to wrap up our presents on Christmas Eve and the writing on the tags got progressively scruffier and with increasingly daft sentiments the further down the bottle of brandy they got - I have kept the tags because it reminds me how much they love Christmas and how much they put into making it fantastic for us.

We track Santa on Norad too, and my dad is the most excited of all of us. It's fun. It's daft and I wouldn't swap the silliness of it for anything. My family are firm believers - whether you are 65 or 1 Santa is real!

A couple of years ago I had a moment where I genuinely wondered whether Father Christmas would prefer shop bought or homemade mince pies left out

My parents told me aged 8 and I wish they hadn't!! I was the smud know all ruining it for asll my friends cos I was jealous they still had that magic ...my ten year old doesn't question it and def wouldf not want it confirming ...keep the magic !!