When Do Children Stop Being Afraid of Santa?

Actually, toddlers are afraid of Santa for many reasons. The first is “wow, this is a stranger, a big fat stranger with a big, long white beard that I have never seen, with a loud HO HO HO laugh that I have never heard.

No wonder I am scared!!

Some ways of helping your child able to take “non screaming” picture with Santa are:

1. Show your toddler large pictures of Santa many times and laugh HO HO HO
2. Put on a fake beard ( if you can find one)
3. Talk to your toddler about Santa in a happy voice and give hugs.

According to Psychlogies.co.uk Santaphobia is most common in children under four years old. In most cases, once children get to 5 years, they lose their fear and start to get wholly excited again.

As toddlers, our little ones are starting to feel emotions in completely different ways to what they’ve ever experienced. It’s a big part of what we label the “terrible twos”.

This new wave of emotions and fears is a healthy part of their development but it’s not until around 4 years that they start to manage these fears. The reason children get over the fear of Santa by the age of four is that they have experienced Santa before.

For most of the year, parents are giving advice to their children about staying away from strangers using common sense. Comes Christmas, that kind of goes out the window and the rules change. This lack of consistency can be a little confusing for our youngsters. At all other times of the year we promote a healthy awareness and mistrust of strangers. But when it comes to Christmas, we expect our children to accept this strange red man wholeheartedly and without doubt. Logically speaking, the fear of Santa Claus is one that’s actually a sign your children have developed emotional intelligence and the ability to judge a scenario for its trustworthiness.

So, Merry Christimas!! Enjoy!!!