When did your kids "figure out" Santa?

[bisous]

I'm just curious because DS is still WAY into Santa at age 5. In fact, I would say that he is JUST getting into Santa. Last year it was pretty fun. At three he couldn't care less but he is kind of oblivious.

Now me, personally, my Mom swears that I "figured out" Santa at age 5.

Which of us is unusual, me or my son?

[Caydens_Mommy]

My oldest will soon be 7 and still 100% beleives in Santa.. :) I dread the day he tells me he no longer beleives.. I was reading a thread about this on here and thought it was so strange to see how young some of the kids were..

[momtojess]

Jacob figured it out about 10ish, Joey is 9 and pretty sure he know.. Jess still believes.

There is a saying in our house

You have to believe to receive. So if you dont believe in the magic of Santa, then he doesnt bring you anything.

[kyleesmom]

My oldest(15) will tell you there is no Santa, but the other two(11 and 13) wont:) They know that its DH and I that put the gifts under the tree, but they still tell me what they want "Santa" to bring them. I think they all probably stopped around 8 or 9, but I have young nephews and they keep up the act for them.

[Hollyb]

That happened in our family too. There was no big denouement... my kids just kind of drifted to believing 100% (definitely at 5-6 they all still believed) to being suspicious to being pretty sure it was us to knowing for a fact. I was really grateful though that the older kids never spoiled it for the younger -- they enjoyed keeping up the pretense I think.

I still remember my middle son carefully laying the trap. He waited until the summer, and then said, "Mom, you know that Nintendo game you got me last Christmas?" And when I absent-mindedly said, "Yeah, what about it?" he replied with this triumphant "AH-HA!!!" (Because of course it was really Santa who brought that game... like I could possibly remember!!)

[Emma'sDad]

I don't know about this. Emma talks about Santa. She asked him for a Nintendo DS and/or a Crystal Castle (whatever that is) (and she's not getting either or). She's almost 7yo and I really feel like I am lying to her when she brings it up. I think that I figured it out around 8 or 9. Nobody came to me and told me point blank.

We usually open our gifts on Christmas Eve, but to this day, Santa still brings me one gift and is saved for Christmas morning after he visits us overnight.

[sugarmonkey]

My dd is 10 and still believes. I'm not sure when ds stopped believing. He didn't tell me until I figured out that he didn't believe anymore (does that make sense?)

[czardoust]

Well lets see. I stopped the illusion about 6-7 yrs ago. Kat has never believed in Santa because she knows we buy the presents and that Santa is a cute story. But she knows not to unwarp presents before christmas morning. austin has never believed in santa. kaitie figured it out when she was 4. Amanda figured it out when she was 8 (my fault, i kept feeding her the lie). i know my opinion is rare on the whole "to tell the truth or not" issue but i just felt very convicted in my heart about 7 yrs ago because when i would lie about it, my daughters would look me in the eye and i knew they were thinking "mommy your lying why are you lying to me?" and it hurt so bad. :(

[kiwimum]

Both our boys were around 10ish when they finally figured it out. I know they had suspiscions but were not too sure.

Tyler actually finally clicked on Xmas morning when we were driving to see my family for the day. When we admitted he was right, he was most concerned that his uncle may not know! His uncle Luke is married to my sister and was about 30 at the time!

[Lawana]

Dd figured it out at 8 and ds at 9. Once they figure it out, we acknowledge the "reality." I don't see Santa as a lie, but as a myth. World of difference.

[bisous]

I'm glad to hear that there are older kids that believe. I think that will be a fun tradition for many years with DS!

I wonder if maybe at my very first doubt, my parents "helped" me to see beyond Santa. For me it was connected to the other nighttime visitors. The one I really, really couldn't work my way around was the Easter bunny. Even at five I couldn't imagine a bunny carrying anything let alone baskets for every boy or girl on earth on Easter morning! From there, the tooth fairy and Santa unraveled too.

I have to say that my parents made it very fun for me to "find out". I was given the privilege of "helping" Santa (i.e. them) once I figured it out. If I told the other kids (I'm the oldest of five) I lost that privilege. Christmas seemed almost as fun once I figured it out!

[Lisa P.]

My nine year old still writes to Santa, waits for him, but I know at least part of her is choosing to because otherwise she'd start quizzing me (like she does on everything else, she doesn't let me get away with squat). I'm really glad she hasn't dropped it because until they are four or five they really don't have fun with the Santa thing yet, so if they only really enjoyed Santa at five and then figured it out by six that would be kind of sad to me.

[miss_behave]

I've thought about it and I honestly can't remember finding out. Neither does anyone I've talked to. Thats why I don't worry about the "lying to my children" view because neither I nor anyone I know was upset or let down when they finally learnt the truth. I personally have a very fond memory of my mum pointing to the sky saying "look theres Santa flying away!" I did not feel lied to. I thank my parents for giving the wonderful magical experience of Santa as a child. :)

[Thoover]

My daughter was riding in the car with her best friend who is a year older, and her best friend blurts out you KNOW Santa isn't real..LOL.. Poor Diana's mother was like "DIANA"... She said ooopss.. Britt came home and asked me and I said do you believe, she said Diana told me the truth.. But WOW thanks for all the gifts Mom.. lol

My son Nick 5 still believes however some of the kids in his class are telling him that their parents get them their gifts... But he believes..

Also we use the Hanukkah Bunny theme for my Hanukkah tradition... SO he thinks that the Hanukkah Bunny and the Easter Bunny are brothers... HA HA

[bonhamx4]

Our daughter is almost 10 and I think she is starting to figure it out. She asked me about 3 weeks ago if Santa was real and I told her as long as you believe in him, he is. Her and her 5 year old brother still write letters to him and leave out cookies. Some of her friends at school have told her he is not real, but, its up to her to deciede if she wants to "believe" Even when they get older I think we will still have at least one present from Santa if only to keep the spirit of Christmas.

[RosemaryCinNJ]

My son Ryan is 8...he says he believes but he really does not...He woke me up at 4 am Christmas morning to tell me "Mom put the presents out" (I had fallen asleep and usually have them out by then!) Amanda of course, she believes, she thinks Santa is the greatest new friend she has lol...