How letters to Santa are dying out as email takes over

FEWER children than ever are writing letters to Father Christmas – with many instead sending emails.

The centuries-old custom is a valuable part of childhood and is “paramount to a child’s development”, said Matthew Hickey, the chief executive of the Children’s Literacy Charity.

But he expressed fears that technology was “taking over” as time-pressed parents found it easier to help their offspring type an email rather than put pen to paper before taking a trip to the local post box.

“For me, being able to write a letter to Santa has a certain nostalgic feel to retaining what this time of the year is all about – which is making sure that children are able to be children,” he said. “It is about developing children who are multifaceted, who can do everything to prepare them for the future.

“Not just being able to be prepared for the digital age, but actually being prepared to put pen to paper and use those multiple skills.”

The tradition of letters to Father Christmas can be traced back to the 1200s, when a girl wrote a letter to the real Saint Nicholas.

Royal Mail has encouraged the tradition with its Letters to Santa service, launched in 1963, but while a spokesman revealed it received “hundreds of thousands” of children’s letters annually, she said it did not publish specific figures and was unable to say whether the number written annually had dipped.

Mr Hickey said his charity was keen to inspire parents to uphold the tradition. “It is paramount to a child’s development,” he said.