What Is the average age that children begin to realize the truth about Santa Claus, anyway? I have asked many parents over the years, and no one really has an age range to give. Why? First of all, It depends on your own family, and how you choose to handle Christmas. If you do in fact play the Santa role every year, do you have the ability to be sneaky, and keep secrets?
Can you whisper about ideas among other adults, without getting caught?
Can you hide the gifts until you can find even a moment during the busy every day life, just to wrap a few for your children?
When you have figured out how to get all of those things covered, you have one final task. It’s the ability to also be able to quietly arrange those gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve, without getting caught!
You might think they are asleep, but they seem to have this hard core desire for wanting to catch Santa in the act. Thus, their little brains combined with overall excitement, will sometimes create a situation where “somebody” (eh..um..) will need to go pee or have one final sip of water, milk, etc. Yeah…it’s a bit challenging, to say the least!
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Keeping the big secret
If you’re anything like me, you want to keep that Santa aspect around, for as long as possible. The kids will learn the truth soon enough, right? Why not let them believe in a Magical Bearded Man, on a Magical Sleigh, with Magical Reindeer, for as long as they can? Adult life comes all too soon, after all…let’s not rush it for our babies!
I couldn’t even take a guess as to what my son’s belief system is now with regards to Santa. If he does in fact realize the truth of the matter, he is definitely holding back from letting US know.
Our story…
We have always handled Christmas in our own little way. Some gifts under the tree Or in the stocking, are labeled from Mom & Dad. Some are labeled from Santa Claus. It’s a mix!
We have told him every year from the time he was old enough to understand the English language more clearly, to always pay attention to the labels on the gifts. (I know, I’m crazy…I’m okay with it..)
He has always known that Mom & Dad talk to Santa when he is at school 😉 We have secrets between all of us! It’s a team effort. That is what he has been told..And, yes, there are Magical Reindeers, A Sled, and A Jolly Ol’ Fat Man that goes around, making children happy once a year. Mom and Dad get the things that Santa can’t get. That simple.
I try to keep him guessing, by using only certain wrapping paper for the Santa gifts, and certain wrapping paper for the gifts from us. I even go a step further, by trying to pre-plan for the other gifts we will hand out to other closer family members. The wrapping paper I use for those folks is the same as the gifts from Mom & Dad, that are under the tree on Christmas morning. It’s hard to keep up with!
I have a feeling, though, this year might be that year he now has figured it all out. Let’s face it…the handwriting on the “Santa” labels is exactly the same as the handwriting on the “Mom & Dad” labels, after all!
I asked my sister about her youngest child, last year. That child is only a year or so older than my own. My sister replied with essentially the same thing….”If it has been figured out, I’m not hearing any indication of it…but given she has a few older siblings and other kids at school, yeah, she probably knows.”
When I was a kid…
I know I was only about 10 years old when my sister and I discovered the truth…(my sister was about 8 years old at the time).
It was the year of the “Hot Looks” Dolls. We were completely enthralled by those dolls. The commercials worked their little magic, for sure that year! Mama knew it, and for as quickly as they sold out that year, she made sure her girls had one each. Her only mistake was putting them into her bedroom closet for Safe Keeping. Life was busy, and Mom didn’t consider that we would possibly snoop while she was at work. The other children at school, were convinced that Santa wasn’t real. We went on our own investigative search…LOL!
(I think it took my sister and I a few years, before we actually confessed to our mom about that. Mom knew as soon as all of that happened, of course…)
What did she do the following year? She continued signing off on every single gift label, as Santa Claus. However, she also began stashing all gifts between a variety of family members’ homes…or somewhere on the property unknown to us. Mom became more savvy at hiding certain things, after that year!
Going back to…This became a topic of conversation recently between my husband and I. We were discussing what gifts would be going under the tree with the Santa tag and which would be labeled from Mom & Dad? That made us giggle and ponder a bit as to whether or not our boy still even believes in the Jolly Fat Man! He still loves the Norad Tracker. He still hurries down to that tree before we have even taken a sip of coffee/tea. Yet, I’m pretty sure he has been “In The Know” for close to a year at least. (I love the fact that he is willing to play along, just to make his folks happy).
So, when do kids learn the truth?
Some folks say around 8 or 9 years old. Other folks will say around 10 or 11 is when kids start to really get suspicious. I don’t know if there is actually any firm age group when the kids realize the truth. What I do know is this….Regardless of whether or not my (barely a pre-teen) son actually does believe in that particular magic, he does still believe in Some sort of Holiday Magic!
And that’s all that matters. I will continue signing some gifts from Santa and some from Mom And Dad. Seems the safer bet for now.
Let us know in the comment section, what little tricks you have used, to keep the holiday spirit alive in your home over the years. Do you have any sly little ideas for hiding the gifts? Any specific story lines to keep the kids believing? We could all use a different tactic to inspire our own creativity, after all!
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