What age do you think is appropriate to tell a kid about Santa?

[Buddy Blaze Lover]

Originally posted by lizzielou742
I figured it out when I was about 10. I noticed Santa's handwriting on the gift tags looked exactly like my dad's! My dad has very distinctive handwriting. I think he may have been disguising his handwriting up until that year, and maybe decided it was time to let me figure it out.

lol, I figured that out when I was 5 or 6...oh gosh, it was funny, 'cause I was like, "Hmmm...Santa and mom both have the same handwriting AND wrapping paper!!"

[jiena_drakon]

well like you said you wanted to tell the kid the truth about santa and that is what santa is..

as for christmas is the celebration of jesus's berth you are right but just because jesus was born that day doesn't mean you can not celebrate other things like santa or your child's bday if they happened to be born that day too.. every day has many things to celebrate and it didn't get out of hand .. the truth of everything just got lost

[CamCamPup33]

I was around 11 or so.. I think that's a pretty good age though to tell some children.

It all happened when i was in North Carolina for Christmas with my cousin's family. I was helping out his grandmother (Who isn't my grandma by the way) with cookies, and she said SO nonchalantly, "Oh goodness, I'm going to have a HARD time hauling out all of those presents for DJ.. DJ still believes in Santa, so i need to do it how he thinks Santa would do it."

I was literally traumatized. She must have thought I already knew, but I really didn't. Like others have said, I think the "Idea" of Santa is really fun, whether or he's real or not. It's still fun to put out milk and cookies, when you really know your parents are going to be downstairs stuffing their faces with cookies.

My mom *ALWAYS* assures me he is real, she claims she still believes too... .. I'll say something like "Thanks for the present, it was really nice," and she'll say "It wasn't from me, it was from Santa... Didn't you read the card?"

So i think that's a pretty good age to tell your children. But thats my opinion.

[CalliesMom]

I was seven when my brother told me there was no Santa. He was 14 so I'm sure it gave him great pleasure to break my heart! LOL I went crying to my dad and asked him to tell me the truth, which devastated me even more. I should have been grateful that my parents loved me enough to go out of their way to make our Christmas' so special...but I preferred the idea of some wierdo coming down our chimney, eating my cookies....

[flamepony12]

I was 10 when I found out. But I still LOVE to believe in Santa, even tho I know he's not real! [I hafta keep it a secret anyway, since I have a 4 y-o brother! ]

[Logan]

Tonya, I didn't vote because I truly don't know. I also haven't read any of the responses, so I may be repeating someone else's answer. But, I think you just know when it is time to tell the truth. Usually, the child will ask, either because they "heard" it from someone else, or they just get wise and can't figure out how it can all happen (sort of like the tooth fairy). I always reminded my daughter that you have to believe for it to happen, regardless of "how" it happens, so in reality, she has never heard from me that there is no Santa Claus, and rightfully so, because for her there is always a Santa Claus, regardless of who lays out the gifts.

Good luck!

Logan

[Twisterdog]

I think most kids learn about "Santa" when they go to grade school. The older kids in school always tell the little ones.

Personally, I never told my son there was no Santa Claus. I just waited until he commented.

[buckner]

I honestly didn't know how to vote. I believe I voted with the 8-9 category. If I recall, I was told by my older brother when I was younger, but I didn't think anything of it. Later, I found out for real that Santa didn't physically exist. Spiritually - yes, and boy, if I say any different, I get nothing but coal! Really!

One night I had lost a tooth and was putting it under my pillow when my dad was tucking me in, and I said "Can't you just give me my money now?" And he said "What do you mean?" I said "Come on dad, I know it's you who comes in here and takes my teeth and gives me money, so cough it up." He answered "Watch out, the tooth fairy might hear that and you won't get ANYTHING!" Sure enough, I woke up the next morning, NOTHING! No tooth, no money. Nothing.

And around here, we still do the Santa thing. I'm 16 and my brother's 19. We know it's not Santa putting the gifts down there, but it's just what we've always done. My parents, when we were little, put Santa's gifts in front of the fireplace and wrapped the ones from them. When we found out, they started just putting everything in front of the fireplace unwrapped. It helps, a lot. Ryan and I get up at 5am to go downstairs to see what we got, and it's so much easier to just dive in, than have to wait until everyone's actually *awake* to open gifts. Then once everything's looked at, we go back to sleep and then wake up, and open other gifts for eachother. And yes, I still do expect that stocking full of chocolate. It couldn't happen any other way. So I just suggest, at whatever age you decide to tell Jaden, don't stop the Santa thing. Let him know he's not real, but keep the spirit alive by making it seem like he stills comes.

And a funny story about milk and cookies. We had not done this is SO long.. in fact, I don't recall ever leaving cookies and milk out for Santa, but my memory's very bad. Well, one year, probably in 2000, we decided to leave some out for Santa. Silly me, I left them on the fireplace stone.. only about 6 inches high off the ground. I went upstairs, leaving the DOG downstairs. O.D. was our previous dog, and boy.. she had a feast. My mom came down the stairs and started laughing hysterically and fell over. We all ran down the stairs to see what was wrong... the dog had finished the cookies (oreos!) and started to slurp up the milk. Goofy dog.