Reply #16: I've heard of people being devastated when they learned [View All]

[skygazer]

But I never knew any. I'm one of six (the youngest) and we all believed until that age when you figure it out (8? 9?). I don't recall it having any kind of impact on me. I think I'd begun to wonder at some point and then it became more obvious. The giveaway was the year my oldest brother opened a gift from "Santa" and said, "Wow, thanks Mom! I mean, Santa!"

If I thought about it at all, I looked at it as a fun bit of make-believe, like fairies or magic or religion (which I believed less than I did Santa). Kids being so into make-believe, I think for the most part, it tends to be a pretty painless illusion. Obviously for some, it's more difficult.

I think it depends in a large part on how the adults around the kid treat it. I don't think it was treated so much as a serious thing as a fun thing which made it less of a loss when it became obvious it wasn't real.