When do children become Santa sceptics?
Research found little ones typically begin to distinguish fantasy from reality during preschool years
Most children will begin to question Santa’s existence at some point – and many parents anticipate this moment with dread. Now psychologists have identified the average age when Santa scepticism creeps in, and which children are at greatest risk of harbouring negative feelings when it does.
While most adults have fallen for the myth that Santa doesn’t exist, many children still believe – even if the idea of a single individual visiting the homes of billions of children in a single night is at odds with their wider reasoning skills.
Dr Candice Mills, a psychologist at the University of Texas in Dallas, US, and a Santa sceptic, said: “Children typically begin to distinguish fantasy from reality during the preschool years, but their belief in the existence of a singular magical Santa Claus often continues into middle childhood.”
Mills became interested in this issue when she became a parent and “got immersed in the world of promoting Santa Claus” herself. “I felt a bit of tension about it, because on one hand we often encourage our children to be scientific thinkers and to not deceive others, yet with the Santa story, sometimes there’s some stretching of the truth that goes along with it.
“I was worried about coming across to my children as lying, because I knew I had felt upset about being lied to about [Santa].”
To better understand this shift from belief to disbelief and children’s experiences of it, Mills and her colleagues interviewed 48 6to 15-year-olds who had stopped believing in Santa and 44 of their parents, plus a further 383 adults.
The research, which has not yet been peer reviewed, found that for most children, disbelief crept in gradually about the age of 8 – although some 3- or 4-yearolds had convinced themselves that Santa wasn’t real, while other children believed in him until they were 15 or 16. In many cases, it was testimony from other disbelievers that finally crushed their faith.
Mills said: “They may have had some scepticism based on logical reasoning – like how can Santa Claus really get around the world in one night? – but what pushes them over the edge is a classmate at school saying he’s not real.”
Roughly a third of children and half of adults reported some negative emotions upon falling for the rumour that Santa doesn’t exist. Although these feelings were usually mild and short-lived, about 10% of adults reported longer-lasting sadness or reduced trust in their parents as a result.
However, there were also many children who reported feeling happy or relieved when they gave up their faith. “It was like they’d solved some sort of riddle,” Mills said.