Do kids today believe in Santa Claus as much as we did when we were kids?

[austin532 | 470]

Another NA topic brought back from the dead:

Do kids today believe in Santa Claus as much as we did when we were kids? It's something I've always wondered about. With smartphones and the ease of accessing the internet it's so easy for kids to find out now if they wanted to. Not to mention the assholes on forums who tell kids that he's fake or dead. Plus studies have shown that people who believe in a higher power is greatly decreasing which makes me wonder if kids feel the same way about Santa. What do you think?

[Psychobear85 | 141]

My stepdaughter who’s 9 still does, but this is the last year of this. 

[Nes Freak | 587]

my niece still does and shes 10 and 1/2.  i figured out at a very young ago that santa didnt exist.  no one told me  just me being a logical person even at the age of 6 it didn't make since how some fat man could fit down a 5 inch wide chimney and come through glass.  (it was a gas stove)

[austin532 | 470]

I guess it's more believable as a kid if you have real chimney. I forget exactly when I found out but when I did I continued to pretend like I still did and milked it a few more years. Double presents.

Even as an adult I still kind of miss the excitement of waking up early to see what Santa brought. Sometimes I would get up in the middle of the night at like 2:00 AM, sneak out into the living room to see what I got, and then go back to bed.

[jonebone | 1,334]

So far at 5 and 3 mine still believe obviously.  I assume by 4th grade (age 9ish?) is where some start to fade but others keep believing. 

[DarkTone | 1,038]

No. If Santa existed, they would follow him on Instagram and tik tok. 

[JamesRobot | 6,200]

 As for me and grandpa, we believe. 

[Estil | 1,293]

I don't see how kids nowadays couldn't find out about Santa in this modern day and age of most everyone carrying around PErsonal Terminals (PETs), eh I mean smartphones and can just look up things like that whenever they want.

I personally found out about the whole truth of Santa in probably the saddest way possible.  I had been hearing about all these homeless/poor kids who get little to nothing for Christmas and honestly questioned why would that be a problem, as I would think Santa would especially take care of those kids.  Well, I guess you know there this is going...  

 

[Secret Santa | 283]

WTF

[Boosted52405 | 178]

Umm...excuse me, there is a jolly bearded man that always comes to my somehow-still-alive local mall for overly priced halfass pictures with the kiddos.  What is this "believe" chatter all about?  Someone eats the cookies at my house, you telling me I got mice?!?!?!

[m308gunner | 352]

My daughter of 8 still does, but i can see the gears turning. Won't be long before that slow slide into post-modern Christmas depression descends.

[fox | 1,799]

Edited December 23, 2019 by fox

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

My son is 3, so I'll let you know in 5-10 years.

When I was a kid, all our gifts were "from" Santa. This was fine when I was young and we always had more than enough, but I'm trying to make sure my son understands that wealth is not fairly distributed and he is extremely fortunate. As such, Santa just brings one small gift per year and we tell him that we bought everything else. Hopefully this makes him more aware of the imbalances in society (the causes of those imbalances are irrelevant at his age) and teaches him empathy. Only time will tell.

Edited December 23, 2019 by DoctorEncore

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,126]

I don't think so unless they are too young to look it up on the internet. When I was a kid I would get presents from my mom, dad and Santa. I was probably about 8 or 9 when I figured out there wasn't technically a Santa, but I was familiar with the story of Saint Nicholas and had it explained that "Santa" was a continuation of the spirit of giving as opposed to a person. 

[Estil | 1,293]

On 12/23/2019 at 10:56 AM, Boosted52405 said:

Umm...excuse me, there is a jolly bearded man that always comes to my somehow-still-alive local mall for overly priced halfass pictures with the kiddos.  What is this "believe" chatter all about?  Someone eats the cookies at my house, you telling me I got mice?!?!?!

I'm pretty sure most kids know that the Santa at the mall is not the Santa and is one of Santa's helpers.  I especially call shenanigans on that scene in the 1994 Miracle on 34th Street where that mean guy tries to intentionally provoke Santa at Cole's in front of all the kids calling him a "big fat fake"  

Edited January 1, 2020 by Estil

[coffeewithmrsaturn | 100]

Without intending to sound judgmental of anyone's parenting choices, I'm genuinely curious what the psychological ramifications of having kids believe in Santa as a real entity and then at some point revealing the truth are.

[Tulpa | 3,770]

When I was about four or five, my grandmother woke me in the middle of the night to see Santa putting gifts under the tree. I never definitively knew who it actually was, but I think it was my dad. Either that or Santa is real (in which case HOLY SHIT GUYS SANTA IS REAL!!!)

I think I stopped believing a few years later. I never said anything to my friends, but around that time we had a classmate who also figured it out, and he was that asshole who went around to everyone telling them that Santa wasn't real.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Tulpa

[toma | 71]

When my kid was 3, he saw Santa With Muscles. For the next 2 years, he called every Santa Claus that he saw Hulk Hogan. It was so hilarious that I never contradicted him and let him believe it. By the time he was 5 he had figured things out for himself. I never sat him down and said Santa wasn't real, he just came to that conclusion on his own. If a kid wants to believe in Santa I think that's fine, but I don't think it's right for parents to go to great lengths to lie to their kids about something only to set them up for disappointment a few years later.

[Nintendo Historian | 43]

There was a 4th century bishop named St.Nicholas ,which the modern day “Santa Claus “is based upon ...

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,067]

12 hours ago, NES CONNOISSEUR said:

There was a 4th century bishop named St.Nicholas ,which the modern day “Santa Claus “is based upon ..

Northerners and mushrooms also present some pretty convincing evidence. Either way, the Santa, tree and gifts to children is a pagan holiday celebrated at the same time as the Christian holiday of Jesus' birth. IMO the one w the tree and the gifts should be moved up the the winter Solstice and renamed so we can celebrate it as a general Western holiday and desicate the 25th to the birth of Jesus. 

[Nintendo Historian | 43]

2 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Northerners and mushrooms also present some pretty convincing evidence. Either way, the Santa, tree and gifts to children is a pagan holiday celebrated at the same time as the Christian holiday of Jesus' birth. IMO the one w the tree and the gifts should be moved up the the winter Solstice and renamed so we can celebrate it as a general Western holiday and desicate the 25th to the birth of Jesus. 

^^Actually the giving of gifts on Christmas got it’s start from the above mentioned St.Nicholas ,which used to give of his wealth to the needy children of his home town /diocese. .. I have been studying Early Church history,theology for years ..The “Christmas Tree”as it’s so named actually owes it’s origins to Germany ...Most scholars (Catholic and Protestant)agree Christ was probably born in March or April ,it definitely was not December 25th  ..A careful study of the New Testament also lends credence to the fact Jesus could not have been born on Dec25th ,or any other Winter month ..Dec 25th was indeed the day of the Winter Roman Solstice god ,which the Catholic Church “baptized “a Christian Holiday,which the term “Christ’s Mass”(modern day term Christmas )derived from ..

Edited December 31, 2019 by NES CONNOISSEUR

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,067]

2 hours ago, NES CONNOISSEUR said:

^^Actually the giving of gifts on Christmas got it’s start from the above mentioned St.Nicholas ,which used to give of his wealth to the needy children of his home town /diocese. .. I have been studying Early Church history,theology for years ..The “Christmas Tree”as it’s so named actually owes it’s origins to Germany ...Most scholars (Catholic and Protestant)agree Christ was probably born in March or April ,it definitely was not December 25th  ..A careful study of the New Testament also lends credence to the fact Jesus could not have been born on Dec25th ,or any other Winter month ..Dec 25th was indeed the day of the Winter Roman Solstice god ,which the Catholic Church “baptized “a Christian Holiday,which the term “Christ’s Mass”(modern day term Christmas )derived from ..

Perhaps studying the theology makes you only see a certain side of the holiday that is obvious to the rest of us. Like a tree, the presents under it, the far man coming down a chimney, etc. The list really goes on. Jesus' birth isn't celebrated by Santa Clause coming to town.

[Nintendo Historian | 43]

2 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Perhaps studying the theology makes you only see a certain side of the holiday that is obvious to the rest of us. Like a tree, the presents under it, the far man coming down a chimney, etc. The list really goes on. Jesus' birth isn't celebrated by Santa Clause coming to town.

Lol ..Did you read that I also study Early Church History ?And I never wrote or even insinuarated that Jesus’ birth is “celebrated by Santa coming to town “..But even the birth of Christ in the NT states the Magi /3 Wise Men brought Christ gifts for the occasion of His Birth,which has a theological meaning ..The list goes on and on when it comes to my expertise on the subject of Early Church /and theology ..BTW:Much of what we know about Christ’s birth comes from the writings of the Early Church Fathers ..

Edited January 1, 2020 by NES CONNOISSEUR

[Tanooki | 5,189]

Mine is 8 and she very much still does, and we have no chimney so that isn't like a tip off here.  We don't explain how he ever breaks in over night, just that when she wakes up anything he brings is setup on the floor there, not even wrapped, and ready to go and whatever is in the stocking too.  We only wrap for personal non-Santa stuff, something the wife's family does and it seems easier having to do it that way.  She's also paranoid the elf on the shelf snitching her out as that has been kept up over the years too and moved every evening.

[Kguillemette | 1,660]

23 hours ago, NES CONNOISSEUR said:

Lol ..Did you read that I also study Early Church History ?And I never wrote or even insinuarated that Jesus’ birth is “celebrated by Santa coming to town “..But even the birth of Christ in the NT states the Magi /3 Wise Men brought Christ gifts for the occasion of His Birth,which has a theological meaning ..The list goes on and on when it comes to my expertise on the subject of Early Church /and theology ..BTW:Much of what we know about Christ’s birth comes from the writings of the Early Church Fathers ..

Not entirely true. Jesus actually ignored the gifts of the magi and played with the boxes they came in instead.

https://babylonbee.com/news/biblical-scholars-claim-jesus-ignored-gold-frankincense-myrrh-just-played-with-the-boxes-they-came-in