How old were your children when they found out Father Christmas wasn't real?

I think both of mine were about 9 years old, with a 5 year gamp, my daughter, the eldest, didn’t ‘tell’, she quite enjoyed being in on it.
I too loved the magic of Christmas Eve and the morning, one we’ve been lucky to relive again with our grandchildren as they’ve always stayed here. The youngest will be 10 in January, I wonder if this Christmas 2022, or maybe it was 2021 will be the very last time.

I found out at 6 yrs old. There was a Christmas Card, from father Christmas with the presents saying "be a good girl" from Father Christmas. It was what my dad always said to me when he left for work and the writing was the same as his especially the F in Father. I could read well at 4 so worked it out.

I said upthread that my parents never gave us the impression there was a Father Christmas. I think they must have "seriously discussed it" because they placed (sometimes rather overwhelmingly) value on "Never Lying it was Wrong". so I suppose this is why it never occurred there might be a Father Christmas to me, tho for the life of me I cannot recall at 5 years old when I went out of the family into the school world what other girls and boys thought.

I'm quite happy for other families to enjoy this, btw (unless a child is frightened by the idea of a stranger).

Me too, Urmstongran - it was so magically exciting, and I wanted the same for our dds.

It never once occurred to me that my parents had ‘lied’ to me. On the contrary, I was very grateful to them for the totally innocent pretence - especially when money for stocking presents was always tight - which made childhood Christmases so memorable.

My daughter was eight and she asked me that question, I told her the truth.
She was not disappointed, but relieved I had confirmed her doubts.

Thank you mum and dad.

Waking early on Christmas Day, pushing your toes against something which crackle at the end of the bed - the stocking!

No pillowcases in those days, it was a kind of thick cellophane stocking.

Unfortunately my eldest daughter found out from kids at school when she was about 9 and told my youngest who was devastated at only 6. My daughter told her eldest daughter just before she started secondary school, she was 10 at that point. She was pretty upset too.But the FUNNY thing was that after she had gone to bed that night she came back down and said ‘Mummy - what about the tooth fairy, is she real ?’ 😂 This year however she has enjoyed keeping all the secrets and keeping the magic alive for her little sister. 👍

When my youngest daughter was about 4 she asked if when she is older would she ‘understand ‘ about Father Christmas, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. I simply said yes and left it at that.🥴

It is mom and dad who buy.... sorry!

Me? I guess I was 8 and felt lied by my parents
If they lied to me about something that stupid and inconsequential, what else would they lie to me about?

My kids know Santa doesnt exist since birth and its mom and dad who buys the presents.

They enjoy xmas - no difference.

Funny isn’t it that some parents regard the FC shebang as ‘magical’ whilst some shun it as ‘lies’.

I do wonder though, did the parents who don’t promote it to their children have the enjoyment of FC in their own childhoods?

Personally, as a child lying in bed on Christmas Eve some 60y ago (when I’d be 8y) having enjoyed the warmth downstairs with my mum, dad and little sister, that frisson of Christmas excitement at the magic of FC on his way with a sleigh full of parcels was beyond compare.

Thank you mum and dad.

I grew up in a catholic family and my father was quite unequivocal killjoy there is no such thing as Father Christmas", possibly because FC is represented as a omnipresent being which rather conflicted with God. We had all the usual presents and treats at Christmas once we'd got mass out of the way been to church, just not the make believe!

We always did little things in stockings only from FC, too. Anything else - and anything bigger/more expensive was from parents or other family.

FC still comes to everyone sleeping in this house on Christmas Eve, though, regardless of age. The stocking might be a very little one - e.g. one nice new sock, with the other and a few little bits inside, but everyone has to have one - it’s the law here. 🎄

We never told our boys about Father Christmas. They had sacks of presents and knew about the myth of FC. We feel the story of Jesus' birth is special enough . I don't ever feel they got a raw deal and I always hated the idea of parents lying to children.

I just recall mum getting us all worked up with excitement (well, to be fair, she was herself) then getting cross us elder ones were too wound up to go to bed.

My girls are 30 now and grandchildren are 12, 10 and 5. We all still ' play the game ' were father Christmas is concerned, its part of the fun of Christmas

I can’t remember our three DDs suddenly realising.
Father Christmas only ever filled the stockings, other gifts were always known to have come from friends and relatives.
We are lucky that he still brings stocking fillers every year !

Personally I wouldn’t call it a ‘lie’ as such - just an innocent bit of make believe.

Excitement over Father Christmas coming was such a big part of my childhood Christmases, I was absolutely furious with a so-called friend who told dd1 - she was only 5 - that he didn’t exist. The friend was slightly on the ‘rough’ side, to put it politely, and since dd had heard her effing and blinding very loudly in public, I told her that the friend had probably been so naughty when she was little that FC never came - so no wonder she didn’t believe in him.

Luckily it worked like a dream.

My elder boy came home from school when he was about 5 and said that another boy had said Father Christmas wasn’t real and “had a false beard”. He was a bit upset. I imagine my younger one never believed.

I was a younger child so found out fairly young, but I do remember earlier being terrified at the thought of this stranger coming into my bedroom when I was asleep. It seems I wasn’t alone in this.

My parents never pretended there was but made it very magical. We never pretended with DS neither did we make a point of saying he doesn't exist as we never said he did. He still adored all the pressies and the lights and the food and above all, seeing his cousins and nana (an only child) and this was the magic I think.

So angry with my ex husbands partner who bluntly told E that FC didnt exist,it wasnt her place to do this she was six,and my daughter had committed suicide due to Domestic violence 3rd of january the year before,and had been in the home when it happened even though she didnt understand.
My then partner and I tried to give her back her childhood that had been destroyed by her biolgical father.
E cannot forgive the pain caused through her thoughtless revelation,she just wanted to believe that magic did sometimes happen

When I was teaching, one morning a mum came and asked me if I would keep an eye on her daughter because she had told her (the truth) the night before. The child was quite innocent at age 11 and mum thought she’d better tell her before she went to High school and possibly teased about her beliefs. Luckily, she was fine. 😄

I got myself into a real mess over this because I’d always said to my daughter ‘ I will never lie to you’. So she would tell her disbelieving friends ‘ my mum wouldn’t lie about this’. But I don’t think of it as a lie because he encompasses the spirit of Christmas which is, to me, very real. I can remember when I was 19 and living in a bedsit in Birmingham hearing what was actually the sound of milk bottles jingling when the milkman came round in the early hours and thinking to myself ‘that’s Santa’.As for my daughter, one day my next door neighbour came round and said in front of my daughter ‘of course, she’s too old to believe in Santa’. We’ve both never forgiven her for it.

I can't remember exactly but mine were around 6, as were my DGDs. I am amazed that some children still believe at 11.

I think it was around 8 or 9. The difficulty was keeping the myth alive for the younger ones when the older ones knew full well. Luckily they all enjoyed prolonging the magic.