It's that time of year when children look forward to a stocking full of presents—but the first international academic "Santa survey" shows many adults also wish they still believed in Father Christmas and some had felt betrayed when they discovered the truth.
The study also shows the threat of being on Santa's naughty list doesn't work for many children, and many youngsters continue to pretend they believe in Father Christmas even when they know he doesn't exist.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-12-internati ... n.html#jCp
I always wonder whether I missed out on something because I cannot remember ever believing in Santa.
As the youngest in a large Irish family I guess there must have been enough evidence around for me learn by osmosis but whatever the case from my very earliest Christmas memories, aged about three or four at a guess, I did not believe in him.
I wonder if eight is just the minimum age people think they should have believed in Santa until? I find it hard to believe most don't at least strongly suspect the truth much earlier.