What age did you tell dc Santa isn't real

[Wimbledon11]

Dd is 9 and I am wondering if this year maybe a should let her know Santa isn't real. We also have younger dd who is 5 so how would I keep her believing?
What age did you let dc know

You don't tell them anything unless she asks. Let her find out on her own terms.

I probably wouldn't tell them and just let them work it out for themselves. If they really haven't maybe before they start secondary. So 10/11. But I wouldn't tell them near Christmas. I would tell them in the summer so it feels ages away and doesn't feel like ruining Christmas.

Never-. I suppose they worked it out themselves but never said so. We’ve never had a conversation about it and they are now grown up. We still put out stockings for Father Christmas.

I'd leave it for the DC to work out for themselves

We don’t do Santa, so my children already know.
But I’d imagine they already know but playing along, I don’t see any harm in it.

I’m 36 and still waiting to be told!
I agree with PP, wait till they ask or work it out themselves. I personally think the longer they have that little extra magic in their lives the better!

Blimey you don’t tell kids surely. They start to suspect and you follow their lead by answering qs etc. Due to younger child you’ll probably want to talk through how special it is for her still to believe but don’t deliver the crushing myth that Santa doesn’t exist !

We’ve still not told ours. The oldest is 28. We told them the magic changes.

Yes I don't remember being told by my parents, I just went along with it
I think I will just leave it unless she actually asks

I remember a conspirator wink from my then 9 year old when her 7 year old niece was talking about santa

When I saw with my own eyes my own father delivering our stockings I still fully believed that he was helping Santa out that night because santa didn’t want to damage the sticking bringing it down the chimney. I still do believe that of course. Both parents now passed away so I can’t ask them further qs about how my dad knew he would be needed that night etc but don’t feel the need as it’s all pretty clear, somehow.

I would tell her before she starts secondary school, if you think she genuinely believes and isn’t just going along with it for extra presents/to humour you. I don’t think there’s any need to tell her before then (and definitely not in the run up to Christmas!) but I would just be aware that the older she gets the more likely it is that one of her classmates will tell her.

I was a teaching assistant in Yr6 and some of the children in that class would not have been overly ‘gentle’ in telling one of their peers that FC wasn’t real

I was never told. I wouldn’t have wanted to be told. I started getting suspicions then one Christmas was conveniently awake when my parts dragged all the presents from the understates storage into the living room. I still think I woke up that morning pretending I believed anyway.

You don’t need to tell her anything, she’ll figure it out and when she’s old enough to figured it out she won’t be young enough to be upset;

Ds is nearly 11 and still very much believe (he is autistic and pretty immature in many ways) so this year I am not being as careful to keep in a secret but not outright telling him.

He is hopefully going to mainstream secondary next year so Hoping my subtle approach will help him figure it without a big song and dance!

“Just because you know how it’s done, doesn’t mean it’s not magic”

Santa still turns up in our house, even though they are late teens :). The tradition in our family seems to be that the kids let their parents enjoy being Santa as long as they can.

You don’t tell them. I agree you let children figure it out alone.

I’m sure she’ll question it one day. I have a sibling eight years younger than me and figured out Santa wasn’t really at about 10-11. Here’s how my DM handled it.

Me: Is Santa real?
DM: ... I think the spirit of Santa is in everyone who gives gifts at Christmas.
Me: no I mean is Santa himself actually real?
DM: You know how your dad and I have a tiny pile of presents every year and you and your sibling have a sofa full. Well that’s because you believe in Santa, so he brings you presents. If you want me to give you an answer I will but Santa doesn’t bring sofas full of presents for children who know he isn’t real.

Only conversation I ever had with my DM about Santa. But I knew the score and never ruined the magic for sibling

Wait until she asks.

Had an interesting conversation with my 15 year old cousin about this.. She was told by her parents when she was 8 years old - she definitely feels resentful about it! I was told by a couple of friends during the summer of when I was 9 years old. My DD will be 9 next spring and some of her friends already know so sadly I think this is probably her last Christmas of believing. It's very possible my almost 7 yr old DS will have busted the myth by next year too as he has one particular friend who knows and is very likely to spill the beans despite his parents best efforts to make sure he doesn't!!

I didn't tell my eleven year old but he worked it out through year 4/5. I'm pretty sure my nine year old doesn't believe but no way of really knowing as I refuse to have that conversation... If it's not obvious by the summer of year six then I'll check somehow before he starts secondary. As far as my five year old is concerned Father Christmas being real is not something anyone would question...

My 5 year old asked, so I asked what he thought. He then volunteered that it didn’t make any sense how Santa could fly all around the world. I’ve explained that it’s a fun story, that it makes Christmas more exciting for kids, and that he shouldn’t spoil the secret for anybody else.

Tbh I don’t remember ever believing Santa was real.

Mine still give me a copy of their Father Christmas list. They are 22 & 18. I get told that I’m upsetting them & being mean when I ask for their lists so I can start shopping.

DD asked point blank if he was real at the end of year 2/age 7. I can't lie to her so I asked what she thought. She said she thought he wasn't real & so we told her she was right.

She has always been careful around her friends & so far hasn't told anyone who still believes that he isn't read

At 6 my son was very sceptical, at 7 he 99.99999% knew the truth but there was still the 0.000001% that hoped Santa was real (don't pile on to correct if I've put too many 0s).
I still look for the sleigh on Christmas Eve....

My 9yo has made a few disbelieving comments. So I'm ramping up her 'being Santa' lessons. They've always seen me taking presents to the toy bank... This year there will be more explanation of it.

Santa isn't a person to me, it's a collective movement.

Never!! I think DD worked it out when she was about 12, but she loved all the magic around Christmas, like us, so just went with it.
Shes in her 30s now and still loves Christmas.