Ask Lemmy

Six. My lone Jewish friend told me. It was a big old fucking bummer.

I was probably 7 or 8.

I lost a tooth and put it under my pillow without telling my parents. Toothfairy never came.

Didn't believe in any of the mythical things after that.

Edit: Oh and we play along. He's 14 and definitely knows but the wife enjoys it more than he does. So he's milking it and I applaud him for it.

I got visit from saint nicolas. And i knew the truth at about 8. We did not have a coca cola commercial to celebrate 25/12. So for that one i do not have a age .

Atm Some kids here know it in 1st year off school ( not kindergarden ) so about 6/7. They talk so when the next year is there : about 90 % knows it. And the year after that it is not more expected to have believers in the klas.

Okay, asking somebody how long they believed in Santa Claus is so stupid, you can't even consider the topic suitable for idle conversation. But if you still wanna know how long I believed in some old fat guy who wears a funky red suit, I can tell you this: I've never believed in him, ever. The Santa that showed up at my kindergarten Christmas festival, I knew he was fake. And I never saw mommy kissing Santa or anything. But I have to say, that even as a little kid, I knew better than to believe in some old man that only worked one day a year. Now, having said that, it wasn't until I got older that I realized that aliens, time travelers, ghosts, monsters, espers, the evil syndicates and the anime/manga/fantasy flick heroes that fight said evil syndicates, were also fake. Okay, I guess I always knew those things were bogus, I just didn't wanna admit it. All I ever wanted was for an alien, time traveler, ghost, monster, esper, evil syndicate, or the hero that fought them to just appear and say "Hey". Unfortunately, reality is a hard road indeed. Yep, you gotta admit, the laws of physics definitely puts a damper on things.

Real ones know 😏

I was born low class family from Peru. Nobody has chimneys there, I knew the fucker was avoiding us.

A bit before I started questioning religion. 9-10 years old?

Honestly I never really did. I asked some kid in 5th grade what Santa got him for Christmas and he scoffed at me for still believing. I went, "uhhhh yes... this is information I definitely already knew. Yesssssss..." and never really brought it up with anyone again. ¯\(ツ)/¯

When I was 7. It was late one night and I was walking around (when I should have been asleep). I noticed my mother finishing wrapping a present and she asked me to place it under the Christmas tree. I think it just slipped her mind in the moment and she didn’t realize what she had done. I didn’t say anything, but I knew from then the presents from Santa were from my parents. I wasn’t sad, but instead felt like I was just let in on a big secret.

5. We had no chimney and future tech person me saw right through it.

Late teens.

Let children still have the fun into believing into a Santa when the majority of us know that it's us providing the gifts. It's about as much of an asshole thing to do, when you tell a kid during Halloween that they really aren't as they're dressed as.

The first time I heard of him was the time I got to know he is the Coca-Cola mascot.

What do you mean Santa isn't real? 🥺

Around 6, when I noticed that my parents would always buy the same wrapping paper that Santa used...

What? You're saying he isn't real? Who punched Arius at the Council of Nicea in 325ad?

Jokes aside.... Sigh... I was 12, it was when I googled it

We don't lie, and talk about "who is going to be Santa this year". Treat it like a game. I don't think the youngest quite understands and we don't purposely ruin it, but that the adults are Santa is openly talked about.

Recently one of my kid's friends got an elf on the shelf, and my kid asked what it was. I think that if other parents lie to their kids that's for them to sort out, we can't be expected to lie to our kids to keep up another lie. So I straight out told them what it was and that some parents use it to try to trick their kids into being good. They replied "can I have one?"

We don't celebrate Christmas. It took me very long to realize that there are children who actually believe in Santa.

pretty early. 5 or 6. religious celebration salad + small thinking just won't let that pass through. it became a family in-joke after.

philosophy class got me a glimpse of adulting and got me believing again.

When I was 6 or 7, I realized the neighbors (who were absolutely AWFUL) received more presents than my family did and the only difference was that their family made more money.

I started thinking about all the kids in my class, and the ones that got the most presents weren't the nicest kids, they were the ones with the richest parents. Then it clicked.

I don't know what you're talking about. The only people that believe Santa Claus isn't real or the people who have no joy in their lives.

Even if you say you don't believe he's real there's a part of you that thinks that he might be real and you know it.

I remember my mate at school when I was 6 or so telling me your mum and dad let him. Can’t remember anything beyond that.

I was 8. Lost a tooth at my grandparents house and my grandpa chose to wait until after sunrise to take the tooth and return some tooth fairy treasures. I first asked for confirmation that the tooth fairy was not real. He nodded. I considered that for a second and then followed up with "and Santa?" He nodded again, I shrugged and went back to sleep.

I kept the secret until they asked directly and just didn't lie. They seemed to have turned out fine.

I realized the note from the Easter bunny was in my father’s handwriting. I felt “in on the joke” and remember that applying to other holidays like Xmas too. I must have been 6 or 8.

What I wanna know is who are all these people claiming that Santa Claus is not fucking real!?

Of course he's real.

I questioned it around 8 and fully stopped believing around 10. When you behave and ask for the same gift three years in a row you start to wonder. Before that I believed that he was magic and was incredibly fast.

Years ago I didn't want to teach my children about Santa because of the Christian connections, but then I realized why we have holidays over winter. If it makes them happy I'll do it, but I'll also be teaching them about all the other connections to pagan religions when they're old enough to understand.

Around 4. The chimney in the house was too small to fit anything bigger than a fist; somehow my child mind refused to parse the notion of a very fat man sliding down it. Also, the roof was so inclined birds avoided it, so no chance of parking a sled and whatever number of reindeers up there.

I don't push the tale as a fact but I did told it to many children as something we should cherish as a symbol of good will and kindness toward each other. The legend of Odin (the original santa) is always a success and I tell it in the most epic way I find, whith Sleipnir riding the storm clouds in the Great Hunt.

Legends should inspire, not create delusions, is what I go for.

5 or 6. I don't remember if I figured it out myself or if someone just told me the truth, but I do remember that I quickly started asking my parents if all the other magical beings were real too (Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc).