When is the right time to let your child know Father Christmas isn’t real?

[Greyhoundnewbie]

My Husband thinks they should know before secondary school. And I do agree really. But my Dd is 9 and the youngest in her year (year 5) and she completely and utterly believes in all of it.
I feel like after this year, 1 more Christmas, and the she needs to know, it feels so harsh.

Just looking for other views, and what some of you have done in the past. All my friends have younger children so I can’t get any advice in real life.

This was me with my daughter, she firmly believed still and I didn’t want to spoil her last Christmas in primary school.

we told her at the start of the summer holidays before secondary school because I didn’t want her introducing herself by saying ‘my name is x and I love Santa’.

Mine are 14 and 13, I have never sat down and told them that Santa isn’t real, even when they ask me I completely deny it (just for fun, they figured it out for themselves a while back).
My daughter made me laugh when she gave me her list for this Christmas and said “This is the one I would like from Santa, make sure you buy it quickly because it’s almost sold out” 😂

My parents also never had the conversation about Santa with me either, to this day my dad will still say he is real, it just keeps the magic alive and adds a little fun, I figured it out myself when I was about 10.

Absolutely agree with this

Well done you. I mean that genuinely. Lovely values to show (and actually do) as a family.

I didn't tell mine, they just picked up on the clues. My youngest noticed one of his presents was in an Asda box, and he was disgusted the Father Christmas at his school was wearing football socks and trainers. They work it out.

I had worked it out by age 7, I glimpsed the stocking stuff in a cupboard. didn't spoil it for me like all kids I liked getting stuff and the source didn't bother me. My mum carried on doing a stocking for me until i was 20, it was my favourite bit of Christmas regardless of Santa's existence

Reading this, I do have to wonder, does this mean there are 11 year old children who think Father Christmas doesn't like poor children as much? Who are disappointed that Santa couldn't get them what they wanted, but got Jack down the street what he wanted? How is the obvious disparity in the cost or amount of gifts explained to older children, who must see the unfairness?

That would have kept me awake at night when I was a child!

you must be a pretty small human being to comment something like this.

What?

I love this! Until they get girlfriends or jobs or something 😂

I told my son a few weeks before he started secondary school. I couldn’t let him go to high school and have his new friends laugh at him. He had no idea and was shocked.

This confuses me! I don’t understand the relevance. Of course it’s great to keep children children for as long as possible. But believing in Santa isn’t some magical marker of childhood. My youngest I don’t think ever really believed, had definitely stopped believing at 4 or 5. He didn’t suddenly become an adult overnight. He is 13 now, loves everything about Christmas. He didn’t suddenly lose his innocence! We didn’t tell him Santa wasn’t real it was just obvious to him. To hear some of the posters on here you would think that means there’s something wrong with him and his childhood is destroyed!! Some kids believe for ages, some don’t. It’s fine. They are all still children. Some people really need to calm down. There is more to Christmas and more to childhood than believing in Santa!

My DD came home crying from school asking me if santa was real or not when she was 9 or 10, I told her at that point, because it's one thing to play along to the magical idea, but I didn't want her to be made fun of at school (by arguing that he was real) and I wanted her to trust that I would always tell her the truth.

Her younger sister figured it out around 8/9 so we never had the big reveal.

I’m confused about why you think not believing I. Santa means children are losing their innocence too early? I completely agree that children should be children for as long as possible. But I don’t understand what that’s got to do with believing in Santa?