When do kids quit believing in santa

Photo: iStockphoto. This kid is so done with Santa Broken down, the research showed that 85 percent of four-year-olds believed wholeheartedly, while 65 percent of six-year-olds and only 25 percent of eight-year-olds were still down with Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.

Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. Learn more or change your cookie preferences. Unfortunately, there comes a time when a child stops believing in Santa. Has your child been showing signs of doubt that Santa exists?

Or are you wondering how many Christmases you have left before your kids cotton on to the truth? When do kids stop believing in Santa? Research shows kids usually stop believing in Santa between 6 and 9 years of age. The average age when kids stop believing in Santa varies between religions, countries and regions. In , another survey came to a similar conclusion in the United States. As a parent, I get the desire to slow down time.

When your child stops believing in Santa, you have to start accepting that your child is growing up , and obviously that's hard. I know I'm not ready for my baby to grow up quite yet.

But I do believe that continuing the Santa ruse at a certain point becomes less about the child and more about the parent's needs. There's nothing wrong with wanting your kid to find joy in the holidays, but I think there are other ways to retain their sense of childhood wonder besides the big man in a red suit.

Try collecting toys for other children or taking them to see the lights in the city to encourage childlike awe. And if your older kid still believes in Santa, you can always break the news to them in a gentle way. Try encouraging their reasoning skills by asking them questions about the logic of Santa. Hopefully, once they realize all the inconsistencies, they'll recognize that the magic of the holidays doesn't actually come from the North Pole, but instead from themselves and their families.

In the press release, Boyle explains that children begin to question the tale of the man in the chimney for a variety of reasons. Others were disillusioned by finding store tags on their presents, or discovering that a visiting Santa was someone they knew dressed up in a suit.

Others, Boyle found, got creative: they set up Santa traps around their house, posted secret letters to the North Pole, and even set about debunking the physics of the overnight gift-a-palooza. A few said their parents were forced to tell them the truth because the idea of Santa coming into their house freaked them out so much they couldn't sleep which is, probably, the most reasonable response. So why do so many parents indulge in the Santa Charade?