What age did you find out about Santa?

matrim

To go with the "what age would you tell your kids about santa" thread. At what age did you find out about Santa? And what age did you let it be known that you knew?

I found out when I was about 8 or 9 (can't remember which) when myself and a friend discovered his presents in the back of his parents car. I pretended to know for a few more years as I thought if my parents knew then I wouldn't get as good a present.

Copper_pipe

The number of kids after getting laptops from santa and reading these threads and finding out the truth will be high.

Jesus Wept

I have no idea what you're blathering about.

MichealKenny

5th class, I actually cried, like a boss.

Buceph

MichealKenny wrote: »

5th class, I actually cried, like a boss.

like a boss

El Horseboxo

I was 9. I figured it out from Christmas films. Some chap says he's Santa. The kids all believe him but the parents don't and he's labeled nuts. Then it turns out he is Santa and the parents are all amazed that he exists. So if the parents just found out he's real then why the fúck had they been buying the presents all those years? Shouldn't they be entitled to a big refund for buying all the presents that Santa never delivered in the previous years? Or were the 2 lots of presents under the tree Christmas morning that they never questioned? It was that little plot hole that lead me to asking questions and figuring it out.

Carstuck

I was 7, always ahead :cool:

doomed

7-8 or so but I was troubled by the fact that he was in several department stores at the same time.

Quazzie

In the primary school I went to, the teacher for 5th class openly talked about their being no Santa, under the assumption that everyone knew at that stage.

LEIN

You mean he is not REAL!!!! :eek:

It was all a big lie for 30 years!

I'm devastated! :mad:

gmac102

about 6 my big sister found her santy present under my mams bed and told me to look, still havent gotten over it hehe

Min

7, it was no big deal really.

This was a headline in papers two years ago - Santa buried in Ireland. So I wonder how many children saw that.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/santa-lsquoburied-in-irelandrsquo-1976141.html

stovelid

10.

Davidson2k9

10 or 11. My older brother would always say that he's not real when we were arguing but i didnt want to believe it. I was told by my mother on the dinner table on christmas day.

I'd love to go back to when i was young and get that feeling of excitement when you go downstairs and see your presents.

Ghandee

Find out what about him

What you folk trying to say here?

i can't really remember, about 7 i suppose

Kevin Duffy

Find out what? That he's gay? I always knew that, his whole festival is so camp. 's obvious, innit?

WindSock

8 or 9.

I had just moved to a new school and we were standing in the queue after break to head back inside and I was saying something about santa and one of the lads laughed at me and said 'haw-haw can't believe you still believe in santa' or something.
I bit my lower lip to stop it from quiverring and said 'NO, I was just joking, like!:rolleyes:'
A lump formed in my throat that day, that never really left.
I also noticed a lot of other kids in the line went really really quiet.

cocoshovel

10, like pretty much everyone I know. Found the receipt for my playstation that santa gave me that was being paid off monthly under my mothers name, put 2 + 2 together and realized it. Didnt bother me at all.

I think 10 is the right age for most to find out about it. I knew one girl who cried in first year because she was told santa didnt exist, she was 13. Thats pathetic imo.

Da Shins Kelly

I was about 9, I think. I was already a bit suspicious and in denial really, when I heard my parents and older brother laying out the presents in the sitting room. Then I knew. Of course I milked it for about two or three more years after that.

My name is URL

I was never led to believe that he existed

mackg

7/8 older sisters told me.

boomkatalog

I was 10 when I finally gave in to the truth, depsite my brother presenting me with evidence several years before. He had found an old santa letter we posted and I got the whole 'if Santa is real, why is the letter here??'

My dad was told when he was about 7, his parents told him so that he could do all the Santa work for his siblings: wrapping presents and bringing them down to put under the tree.

Jimmy Iovine

I figured out in 3rd class, so I was barely gone 9 at that stage. We had a camcorder downstairs that I was going to use to film my parents with as they put down the presents. Then I was going to show it to my friends in school. Like many of my ideas in life I was too lazy to bother doing it. My dad told me the year after. He was relieved to find out I knew already.

I also remember a teacher in my old secondary school who would always tell the first years that he had that Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy aren't real. I suppose he meant it as a bit of a joke. Anyway one poor chap still hadn't been told that Santa wasn't real. Parents came in complaining to the principal about it all. Bit pathetic and sad to let it go that long I think.

Stompbox

Similar to most kids, around the age of eight or so.

A friend of my brother found out at the tender age of 6. He was rummaging around the boot of his parent's car when he came across a box containing rollerblades. He remembered that his sister had asked for a pair from Santa so he decided to mark the underside of the box with some pen ink. Lo and behold, Christmas day arrives and he discovers the mark on the bottom of the discarded box. Child prodigy or what?

padraig91

I know a boy who is 13 or 14 (he is in secondary school) and his parents still have not told him

Jimmy Garlic

I found out one Christmas when I was 8 .. After that Christmas, when I got back to school, I told the senior infants there was no such thing as santa and their parents were lying to them. There was a lot of tears that day.

Jimmy Garlic

padraig91 wrote: »

I know a boy who is 13 or 14 (he is in secondary school) and his parents still have not told him

Is he a bit slow?. Not the sharpest tool in the shed?.

brummytom

7 I think. I cried...


I was one of the first in my year to find out. I told my teacher and she told me if I told anyone else, I wouldn't be allowed to go to play!

Shane-KornSpace

I was 8. Was staying in my grannys house for two weeks while my parents were in Spain.
My uncle who was 9 said out straight "you know theres no santa? its just your parents".
/childhood

Kasabian

Delete this thread











It hurts.

John Doe1

In the womb:cool:

robinph

Just spent the day opening a massive pile of presents with a 6 year old and a 4 year old. No presents came from Santa and nobody cared. Why would you claim that stuff you bought the kids was actually from a person who doesn't exist instead of from yourself?

Jimmy Garlic

robinph wrote: »

Just spent the day opening a massive pile of presents with a 6 year old and a 4 year old. No presents came from Santa and nobody cared. Why would you claim that stuff you bought the kids was actually from a person who doesn't exist instead of from yourself?

Exactly. Spot on.

Chinafoot

robinph wrote: »

Just spent the day opening a massive pile of presents with a 6 year old and a 4 year old. No presents came from Santa and nobody cared. Why would you claim that stuff you bought the kids was actually from a person who doesn't exist instead of from yourself?

Because it's a wonderful tool for lazy parents to use in disciplining their badly behaved kids from Halloween onwards. The threat of Santa far surpasses that of "the man" or "the lady" when out in public.

Personally I was 7 and I think anything beyond that is far too old to still be believing. I have no intention of going down the Santa route with my kids. Don't see the point in lying to them.

Blatter

At around 10 or 11 because of my older brother.

He's a couple of years older than me and I was asking him does he believe in Santa and what does he say?

''No I don't believe in him but you should, you're younger''

And he wasn't being sarcastic, he was actually deadly serious.

There wasn't enough of these bad boys :rolleyes: in the world for him.

robinph

Chinafoot wrote: »

robinph wrote: »

Just spent the day opening a massive pile of presents with a 6 year old and a 4 year old. No presents came from Santa and nobody cared. Why would you claim that stuff you bought the kids was actually from a person who doesn't exist instead of from yourself?

Because it's a wonderful tool for lazy parents to use in disciplining their badly behaved kids from Halloween onwards. The threat of Santa far surpasses that of "the man" or "the lady" when out in public.

Personally I was 7 and I think anything beyond that is far too old to still be believing. I have no intention of going down the Santa route with my kids. Don't see the point in lying to them.

Well that just sounds like poor parenting. The threat of presents from anyone being removed was a perfectly adequate threat used today. If Santa had been the source of the presents would have made no difference at all. Why do you need to use imaginary creatures, be that old bearded men in red coats or flying spaghetti monsters, to keep children in order?

edit. Sorry on mobile in the car at the moment and miss read the context of your message a bit there.

Chinafoot

robinph wrote: »

Well that just sounds like poor parenting. The threat of presents from anyone being removed was a perfectly adequate threat used today. If Santa had been the source of the presents would have made no difference at all. Why do you need to use imaginary creatures, be that old bearded men in red coats or flying spaghetti monsters, to keep children in order?

Why do you need to use the "the lady" in the library who is "going to slap" your kids? (This has happened to me in work on numerous occasions.)

Because some parents are lazy and don't want to take responsibility for their own decisions when it comes to disciplining their children. Using Santa as person who will take away the presents means the parent isn't "the bad guy."

Personally I would argue that lying to your child about Santa knowing that they will eventually find out its all bullshít, and possibly in a very hurtful way, is bad parenting.

Different strokes and all that. Won't be lying to mine though.

previous user

Twelve, was that too late?

Mikel91

I was 12 too!

There seems to be a gap between my friends in that half of us found out at 12 and the rest found out at about 8 hah,

downwithpeace

I tore the house down every year looking for presents, I think 7 or 8 when I found one labeled from Santa and that was that.

ninebeanrows

7 or 8!?

Isn't that when Christmas is at its best!?

You poor children.

I found out when i was 12, although i knew when i was 12 but faked it, so really 11.

Santa is the best from 5-10, i feel sorry for the 7 year old finderoutters!

Kev.OC

9 or 10 I think.

I disagree with people here saying it's bad parenting. I remember all my Santa memories fondly. We'd be coming home from mass on Christmas eve and my parents would look of the car and say "I think I just saw him" and the like to get me excited. Before bed I'd put out milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. Then the following morning I'd charge into the parents room at what I'd now consider to be a shockingly early time (possibly worth noting I'm an only child). We'd sneak down the stairs. Then dad would stop us at the base of the stairs, claiming to hear something from the sitting room. I'd charge in and there'd be a load of presents under the tree. I honestly can't describe how happy I was all those mornings.

I completely disagree that it's bad and lazy parenting. Yes, it hurt finding out about Santa, but the years before that were absolutely magical, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. And if someday I have kids I'd hate to deprive them of all the joy and happiness which I was fortunate enough to experience.

robman60

Eight years old, in second class.

My suspicions were raised when some man from the shoebox appeal said "There's no Santa for these kids" and when I got hom i looked it up in the dictionary. Upon seeing the word fictional I felt a little sad...

Kept up the lie for a few years though :P

decisions

8 everyone in school laughed. But who is laughing now...

ninebeanrows

decisions wrote: »

8 everyone in school laughed. But who is laughing now...

baby jesus

jimbomalley

10...parents started talking about where they had bought the jumper i was wearing that santa had given me. sneaky feckers, pretty sure they did it on purpose too!! had my suspicions though so wasnt too great a shock

Sisko

I was 9. No one told me. I had an epiphany.

I was laying in bed one summer morning pondering the world and the concept of Santa popped into my head. Without the blur that is "the magic of Christmas" to cloud my judgement I considered all the things about Santa we are told and are supposed to believe and deemed it all to be ridiculous.

In my 9 year old mind I thought "if there really was such a powerful being on earth who was capable of such things those powers could be used for more beneficial things to humanity then giving mere gifts to little kids. Plus surely world governments would have tried to confront/connect with such a powerful being in some way".

I concluded it was a story made up by parents to give kids that extra bit of magic during the holiday and was content with that. I confronted my Dad about it and he came clean.

The fact that I still got a present from "Santa" and my parents due to my little sister still believing made it easier to take also. :pac:

Think we kept that one going till she was 11 or so.

In my later years I would have the same epiphany about religion.

Having said this, I certainly see myself doing the whole Santa thing for any kids I may have. It does bring a certain amount of magic to the holiday. Though I think 9 is pretty late to learn the truth. Depends on the kids maybe.

Opics

I can't believe some people are saying they found out as late as 12 :eek:

Surely some inkling of 'Wait, this concept of Santa Claus is a bit ridiculous', would have came into your mind around the 9/10 mark


I was around the 8 mark I'd say...I got golf clubs for Christmas when I was 9 and I didn't believe then, so before that.

Jimmy Garlic

Opics wrote: »

Surely some inkling of 'Wait, this concept of Santa Claus is a bit ridiculous', would have came into your mind around the 9/10 mark

Like it is physically impossible for an obese man with a sack to fit down a pipe that is less than a foot wide.

I would wonder about the intelligence of any 12 year old that still believes in Santa.

jimbomalley

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Like it is physically impossible for an obese man with a sack to fit down a pipe that is less than a foot wide.

I would wonder about the intelligence of any 12 year old that still believes in Santa.

jaysus Jim, again with da negitive vibes...serious chip on your sholder buddy...did Mr. S give you shiz presents or sumthin??