Woman sparks debate about what age children stop believing in the magic of Christmas

A woman has sparked a debate online about when children stop believing in the magic of Christmas – namely the big jolly man himself – and nobody can seem to agree

When you’re little, the magic of Christmas is all-consuming, and you believe in all things festive. It’s likely that you were given presents from Santa himself, and possibly even left him a mince pie out, not forgetting a carrot for Rudolph. Having little festive traditions is really sweet, and many parents will work their hardest to keep the spirit of Christmas alive and well for their children.

However, the day will likely come when the cracks begin to show, and parents will be struggling to convince their children Santa really comes down their chimney each and every year to deliver presents…even if they don’t have a chimney.

A parent took to Mumsnet to ask other parents what age their children believed in Santa until. She wrote: “On Mumsnet, there seems to be a large contingent of posters who claim that children over the age of five don’t believe in Santa and if they do believe then they shouldn’t.

“I have never met a five year old who didn’t wholeheartedly believe in Santa, elves, everything. I think peak believing years are actually age four to eight. It’s actually sad because if a child doesn’t believe in Santa at five then they never really have.

“I wasn’t a particularly naive child but I was 10 when I worked it out. My son was around nine I think. To me believing up to age 10 or so is entirely the norm -or am I in the minority in thinking that?”

Nobody could agree when children stop believing in Santa, as it’s personal to everybody and depends on their experiences.

One wrote: “I think 10 is much too old. Under eight seems much more average to me.”

Another commented: “Sorry but I think people are often kidding themselves about their kids believing in Santa. Five or six sure, but beyond that, I think any kids who still believe only do so because their parents are so insistent. So it’s more ‘my parents wouldn’t lie to me’ rather than ‘Santa must be real’.

“I clearly remember being a kid in the 80s when only one or two kids in the class still believed in Year three, so aged seven.”

“I would say most kids start questioning from eight or nine”, one parent suggested.

Other parents explained that their kids wholeheartedly believed once, and were gutted to find out the truth, with one commenting: “My son asked me this year about Santa so I told him the truth. He genuinely believed as he was gutted. He also then asked about the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy and again was surprised that they weren’t real! He is nine. A lot of his friends still believe in Santa.”

“Father Christmas isn’t real?”, someone joked.

At what age did your children stop believing? Let us know in the comments.