There are more similarities between them than you might think. At least from the point of view of a small child. The American psychologist Jacqueline Woolley is sure of this – perhaps one of the main experts on Santa Claus and where faith in him comes from and where it disappears.
Do I need to tell my child that Santa Claus does not exist? Or is it better to wait for him to understand everything himself? And if so, when and how? These questions certainly turn out to be very important for many parents on New Year’s holidays. And psychologists are trying hard to find answers.
Their conclusions, on the whole, are not very comforting. There is no perfect solution, and the news about the true origin of gifts can be potentially traumatic for any child. But there is an age at which parting with childhood illusions will be most painless. This is the period between five and eight years of life. So says Jacqueline Woolley, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and a mother of two, who has devoted many years to studying the topic.
Read more:
- Do I need to tell my child that Santa Claus does not exist?
Based on surveys of many children and their parents, Woolley came to the conclusion that the peak of children’s faith in Santa Claus – that is, in Santa, since we are talking about the United States – falls on 5 years. At this age, almost 83% of children believe in Santa Claus*. The researcher attributes this to the development of brain functions such as imagination and logical thinking. According to Woolley, for a 3-5-year-old child, the difference between Santa Claus and the postman or the garbage man is not so big. He, a child, can never see either the first, or the second, or the third. But every day letters and newspapers are found in the mailbox, the garbage from the container in front of the house disappears, and once a year gifts appear under the tree. And authoritative adults tell how it all happens. And this is quite enough to believe in the reality of all three characters.
But after five years, logic and imagination move to the next level of development. And if the evidence for the existence of the garbage man and the postman is still compelling, then this is not happening with Santa. For a very simple reason: after sitting for several hours early in the morning near a mailbox or a dumpster, you can see the postman and the garbage man. And after spending the whole New Year’s Eve under the Christmas tree, you can only see your own parents laying out gifts there. Is it any wonder that at the age of seven only about 65% of children believe in Santa Claus, and at the age of nine – about 33%?
Jacqueline Woolley, however, emphasizes that the exact age of parting with illusions depends on how diligently the parents themselves maintain faith in a fairy tale, and on the child’s desire to get to the bottom of the truth. But still. If your child is five years old, be prepared for the fact that already next New Year he will know exactly who put the gifts under the tree.
* utexas.edu/cola/depts/psychology/_files/PDF/FacultyPDFs/WoolleyPDFs/fantastical_being.pdf