When did you stop believing in Santa?

[Christian T]

Wow Margaretha, such wisdom when you were just 4-ears-old. A beautiful story.

 

[Amity Alpha]

I read widely from a very young age and can't remember a time when I wasn't a Santa-skeptic. It just didn't fit with what I knew of the world that one immortal guy could visit every household in the world in one night, via flying reindeer. Yet I also couldn't bring myself to believe that all the adults I knew were lying to me.

Cue confusion until age 7 when I crept downstairs and saw my parents filling up the Christmas stockings. My doubts were confirmed.

However (and this, in hindsight, is the oddest part) I didn't tell a soul that I knew the truth. I had this fear that I'd stumbled upon something I wasn't supposed to see and that I'd get in a lot of trouble for admitting to it. I must have been fairly convincing - my mother took me aside when I was 11 to explain that he wasn't real. She was expecting me to be upset, not relieved. I said something like: 'Yes, I know. I've known for a long time.'

If I ever have children of my own, Santa will be a charming story, not something presented as truth. Young children have enough trouble making sense out of the world around them through the input they're given without having deliberate misinformation added to the mix. (For Santa to be real, much of physics as we know it would have to be very wrong!)

 

[Deno]

I think I was about 8.. Could have been anywhere from 6-9 though.

I figured it out when I was about six... logic dictated that there was no way Santa could deliver presents to the entire world in one night, and our house's chimney, I knew for a fact, was stoppered. Also, when I saw presents with the tag saying "Santa", it was in my mother's handwriting. Plus, I quickly realized it was just a ploy to get me to behave excessively well for the couple of days before Christmas, and one thing I hate is lies or tricks to get me to do something. So I wasn't shocked.

I want to point this comment out because he's clever.

At what age did anyone stop believing in God? or are some of you still at that point too.
Because the creation of god and religion is exactly the same as Santa and the tooth fairy. Only it has been done more thoroughly because this time the intended audience is not some pre fifth graders, it is the majority. All ages. If you truly want to look at things objectively, and seperate your bias, you can look at things logically. Which is what Selcouth did with Santa. Due to many clues, he came to the deduction that Santa could not exist. Why I wonder are more people not doing this with religion? Is it nice to think you have a cosy place in the clouds for after you die? Perhaps. Not to worry, reincarnation is completely logical if you look at the universe as a whole, so no need to come up with something as bizarre as this to make yourself feel better about death.

 

[Amity Alpha]

Deno, I actually went through exactly the same process with belief in God as I did with belief in Santa. I knew it intellectually long before I could accept it emotionally. That leads to the fun kind of cognitive dissonance when you're scared that a god you don't think can logically exist will send you to hell for not believing in him.

I've actually heard the Santa myth described as training wheels for future young atheists. The reasoning is just the same, even down to the promise of reward/threat of punishment.

 

[RubenX]

Being Puerto Rican, I grew up with not one, but two of these tales:

Number One: Santa
- Comes every night on Dec 24
- Leaves presents under the Christmas tree
- Travels on a Sled
- You leave him milk and cookies

Number Two: The 3 Magic Kings
- Come every morning on January 6
- Leave presents under your bed
- Travel on camels
- You leave grass and water... for the camels

I don't remember ever believing on them. Took me some years to figure out presents where bought by parents/family/friends. But lack of explanation for "where the presents really come from" was never a reason for "Santa must exist". Like, absence of proof is not proof of anything... sorta.

 

[smith2267]

My Dad is an aspie, even if he denies it, and he abhorred the idea of lying to a child. So I found out early.

 

[Geordie]

It is not an issue of lying, to me. It is the issue of tales and legends.

Chinese people are the greatest liars in the world, up there with Nigerians. We always say we're the world's most advanced civilisation for thousands of years, we always say those who don't live in central China are barbarians or dirty, etc. We have many more versions of Santa Claus, such as Ji Gong, Mazu, Baosheng Dadi and even my parents' deities Hua Tuo, Sheng Nong and Huang Di. But to me, they're not just lies, they're just twists of historical accounts to great people in the past, so people seem to remember them. They could be the Chuck Norris of ancient China, who knows?

So Santa was a lie, so do many folks and legends.

I do not really believe in Santa, if I had not mentioned here. However, I believed that people who give gifts like Santa Claus did ever live, except that he doesn't live in North Pole, he was St. Nicholas.

 

[Grubby]

I think when I stopped believing in Santa Claus was when I truly gave up. :bounce:

 

[Dara]

The only memories I have about Santa's story are linked to perplexity and distrust.

The fact that this old guy could appear in our home, in the middle of the night, in winter (with all the windows and doors locked), leave gifts and go away entirely unnoticed was very troubling to me.
I thought: "How can I be sure that he has left? How do I know he won't be back? He might be anywhere right now..."
The day after I refused to be alone and had my parents follow me everywhere, so they asked me what was wrong and when I told them they reassured me that there was no Santa.
(This is what they've told me about it, I remember being worried, but not the details.)

 

[Christian T]

I think your parents certainly made the right choice, Dara. It was more trouble than it was worth.

Just before my little brother stopped believing (at age 9) he would draw up huge lists of things that he wanted for Christmas, and when my parents encouraged him to be a bit more selective (because of the expense) he said "don't worry, it's all free! Santa brings it all!"

 

[kasmanaft08]

I never grew up believing in Santa. I didn't think much of it until I went to school and realized many other children seriously believed in him. I always felt he was just a cartoon. I remember being upset by this and coming home to my mom and asking her if Santa was real. She said, " no! Your father and I buy your presents!"

I always found Christmas was much nicer knowing your parents chose and bought you those things, to be honest.

 

[Nolan1971]

I no longer believed in the traditional sense when I was 5-6yrs old but never lost my sense of the magic of christmas,
I never had a truly sad christmas in 41yrs! It always has been my favorite time of the year and so many awesome things have happened
around that time: My ex wife and I started dating on christmas eve, many of my pets I recieved at christmas and so many
other strange/wonderful things as well.

 

[Christian T]

I always found Christmas was much nicer knowing your parents chose and bought you those things, to be honest.

I remember when I was about 7 I got a present from Santa that was a kite and had in it the message "your dada told me to give this to you" (I still call my father dada, and mother mama, even though I'm 17 - I don't think I'll ever grow out of it!) Now, reflecting on that, I though that was quite a clever way of letting me know my dad was thinking of me while still keeping the magic of Santa alive.

 

[Finger]

6 or 7
Off topic, but kinda not.I stopped believing in god while attending a catholic school at about the age of 13

 

[Margaretha]

6 or 7
Off topic, but kinda not.I stopped believing in god while attending a catholic school at about the age of 13

I stopped believing in God when I was a child also, it was just another fairy tale like Santa and the Easter bunny. But I loved religion and still do. I like the traditions. I especially love Christmas, with all the decorations and lights in the dark of winter. I even like the mangers, and the toys. Now that my grandchildren are teenagers, I really miss going to toy stores during Christmas time.

 

[imagesbyholly]

Third grade. But I didn't admit it to my parents until fourth grade- just didn't want to let go of the magic. I stopped believing in God in my teen years for this reason. (Not looking for an argument- just sharing my experience) When I realized that there must be a God, became a christain (was raised catholic, never returned to catholicism), and had children, my husband and I decided not to do the Santa thing. We didn't like the idea of lying to our kids either. We want them to be sure that if we tell them a fairy tale, they will know it's a fun story that isn't true. We want them to trust us, and we don't want them to put God in the same catergory as something as silly as the tooth fairy. Totally fine with me if other parents do Santa with their kids! This is just us.

 

[76054Pluto]

I guess I must have been about 5 or 6. I just couldn't understand how one man could travel around the world in one night and deliver millions of presents to millions of houses.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I was older (can't recall exact age - I don't mean old like 20, more like 10 maybe), but it was when I found out the Tooth Fairy was my Ma! Then I put 2 and 2 together and figured out that there must not be a Santa Clause or Easter Bunny either! Needless to say I was traumatized! (But I'm still glad for the memories ). I wonder how much the Tooth Fairy pays these days (if one existed I mean). I only got 25 cents. That's a rip off.

 

[bookworm44]

There's no Santa??? Lol, I think I was about 9 or 10. My son, who is almost 12, has been struggling with this for a couple of years. He has told me that he's not sure Santa could be real because there's no way he could get all those presents delivered in one night. But when I asked him how he thought the whole Santa thing worked, he said he couldn't come up with any other ideas of how kids got Santa gifts. So cute!

 

[142857]

My son is almost 9 and he still believes very strongly.

I stopped believing when I was about 9 years old.

Amity Alpha, I like the idea of the Santa myth being training wheels for future atheists. I stopped believing in God about the same time I stopped believing in Santa. I actually spent years playing along with the God "myth" and waiting for someone to reveal the truth to me when I was old enough. I remember sitting in church (Catholic) and thinking that grown ups were going to a heck of a lot of trouble trying to pretend that God was real.