When did you stop believing?

[Homesteadmom]

How old were you when you stopped believeing n Santa? I was 6 when my big brother ruined it for me. If my dad could have reached across the cab of the truck & smacked him he would have. We were driving into town one evening to go shopping for my moms gifts & I asked my dad if I could go see Santa again & my 10 uyr old brother said why would you need to do that when you are sitting right next to him? I was devastated! My dad had no clue what to do or say & my brother thought it was funny, till we got back home & mom found out & they gave him extra farm chores as a punishment. I need to ask him someday if he remembers doing that & was it worth the trouble he got into afterwards.

 

[MorelCabin]

My father never allowed us a belief in Santa...and I am glad he didn't because I see the devastation of kids who have thier bubble burst and it really does ruin the trust somewhat between parent and child. I have to tell you the story of my youngest though...it is funny and sad at the same time.

When he was about nine my daughter (who was 13) convinced him there was no Santa. Although I never did anything to encourage my kids beliefs in Santa, I never discouraged it either. I always bought gifts, wrapped them and put them under the tree long before Christmas eve. So there really was no reason for them to believe, except that they always got one gift that wasn't wrapped that went under the tree Cristmas eve and they could play with that one until we got up. The other gifts were signed form Mom and Dad or Santa and were put under earlier
Anyway that is how my daughter convinced my son..."If there is a Santa and he doesn't come until Christmas eve then how come he already has gifts under here...and how come it's the same writing as moms...

So my son ran to his room in tears, devastated that he had been told a lie by us. I went in to comfort him and told him that no, there wasn't a Santa but it is just a thing adults do to make it more fun for the kids.
So he replies, in tears..."Ya, and the next thing you're going to tell me is that there is no Easter Bunny or tooth fairy either, eh?" So I ended up having to break his heart with those that night too.

I never realized how deeply he would be broken by this "little white lie"

 

[enjoy the ride]

There was no real trauma when I realized there was no Santa- it just happened gradually. The first clue I remember is that Santa left a note thanking us for the cookies and milk we always left out and I noticed that his handwriting was just like my Dad's. That perculated for the rest of the year. Then I noticed the next year that the Santa I was taken to visit wore paratrooper boots (my father was in the military.) Then that Christmas I got the bike under the tree that my father liked at the store instead of the pink girly one I asked Santa to get me. Hmmmm......
So over the period I gradually realized that there was no Santa- I gave it up when I chose to do it. Then again "Santa" continued to leave gifts under the tree well into my late teens- that's OK too.
Basically Santa was as much fun for my parents as for us kids- we really let it go on a long time because we didn't want to disillusion our parents. We basically agreed to pretend for awhile because we all enjoyed it.

BTW I still believe that "Santa" enters peoples hearts each year and makes them more generous than they normally are.

 

[poppycat]

Santa never visited my house as a kid either, for religious reasons. We've never really pushed it on our kids, but we don't tell them it's not true either. My oldest was scared to death of the idea of someone coming down the chimney though. lol He was pretty relieved when I told him that it was just a fun story.

My kids are much more invested in the tooth fairy for some strange reason. The thing that's funny is that with all the teeth that have been lost in our house, she sometimes doesn't show up for a couple of days. My DD seriously thinks that she might be an alcoholic.

 

[reinbeau]

My experience was similar to ETR's, I figured it out myself, gradually. I did keep it a secret from my younger siblings, that is, until my next youngest brother found the gifts and showed them to me before Christmas - I was furious with him. To this day I hate to know what I might get from anyone. I was never one of those kids shaking boxes - I love surprises.

 

[2dream]

Excuse me ya'll. ummmmm No Santa. Who says?

Like ETR I never experienced any trauma about Santa. I don't even know at what age I actually quite believing. Kind of just let it rock on for a long time. Even though I knew and my parents knew that I knew. Even after I was grown and had children of my own anytime I spent the night at my parents house on Christmas Eve I would find a bag of fruit next to my bed on Christmas morning. My Dad did that until he passed away. So I figure if it was that important to him it can still be that important to me. My grown children will recieve a gift from Santa anytime they are at my house on Christmas Eve. The gift will be small and simple, bag of fruit, candy, etc. It made for really good memories for me.

Now the Easter Bunny was a whole other story. The first time another child told me there was no Easter Bunny he went home with a bloody nose. I was in 1st grade. I still haven't come to terms with that one.

 

[FarmerChick]

No trauma here either.
I love Santa and still do! Yes, he is around.....in many ways for goodness sake!

Not sure exactly when but I know my older 2 brothers I am sure somehow ruined it for me..HA HA...or kids at school talking........it just fell upon me that one time I woke up and didn't believe....well, not all the way, there is always hope that Santa is out there!

I will keep Nicole believing as long as I can. The world is rough enough, might as well keep some magic in it for as long as I can. Besides, this is magic time for kids, let them enjoy it to the fullest.

I just got her Santa Clause is Coming to Town DVD....WOW she is going nuts over it learning all about how Santa became Santa...HA HA...I like watching it too.

When ya research Santa and all in other countries, it is so wild to learn all the different traditions that go along with him...very cool actually.

CARRY ON SANTA!

 

[miss_thenorth]

My parents never encouraged believing in Santa, and I know it was never a big deal when I was growing up.

We never taught my kids to believe in Santa. We told them all the stories of Santa--St Nicholas, Sinter Klaus, etc we told them the folklore behind the Santa, but never taught them to believe that he is real. Just me, (and dh) but we are not into lying to our kids about anything. No offense to those who teach their kids to believe--it is just our personal beliefs. We teach them the real meaning of Christmas.

In all this, we told our kids to have respect for other kids , and not to tell them that Santa is not real. I told them that it is not our place to do that, that that would be considered very mean.

However, when my son was in grade one, there was a bully in his class who had been mean to him all year. Around Christmas time, I received a very nasty phone call one night from the kid's mother who was VERBALLY abusing me b/c my son told her son Santa was not real. Turns out the kid had been harrassing my son, and my son told him as a rebuttal.

After receiving a tongue lashing from this mother, I apologized that my son told her son the truth, as it was her prerogative to lie to her son if she so chose, and not my son's responsibilty to correct him about this.

I would not have been so rude to her, (as I have said--it's up to you what you do ), but if she;s gonna give me grief over this,she's gonna get some back too.

My son was wrong to tell him. But the kid didn't bug him so much after that.

 

[Cassandra]

The realization finally dawned on me when I was about 9 or 10. I remember discussing it with some school friends--whether it could be real or not. There were never any hard feelings at all on my part. I recognized it for what it was... a fairy tale, a game of pretend.

My mom didn't mention it to me that first year and I played along. There was much speculation on my part about where the presents might be hidden, etc. Then by the second year, mom realized I was probably getting too old to be falling for that, so we talked about it. And she told my younger sister (two years younger than me) at the same time, but warned us not to mention it to our even younger brother.

My mom still has Santa Clause at her house. He still comes and brings presents for everyone that you have to come to her house to get if you want them.

Cassandra

 

[inchworm]

My 10 year old still believes. I never did the Santa thing, but I do put presents under the tree. She just picked it up from the culture. I wish I knew how to tell her before she embarasses herself. Any suggestions?

Inchy