Santa - Are you real?

When my son was two and a half years old we we had gone out to dinner at a buffet chain restaurant. That particular night was packed with kids around his age. Little did we know Dora the Explorer was scheduled to make a guest appearance. As we were finishing up with our desert, Dora arrived. In all of her costume glory with a larger than life foam head. The other children in the restaurant went wild as Dora walked around giving hi-fives and hugs. My son wasn't buying it. He stood up on his seat and announced to the entire restaurant - "That's not Dora, it's a lady in a costume." Silence fell among the children. We needed a quick escape, before he was lynched. Thankfully this was the type of establishment you pay at before you eat.

Fast forward a year and a half, it's Christmas time. I have taken my son and my niece, who is a three, to go get Christmas photos done. They are sitting in a "replica" of Santa's sled. My son looks around and looks at the storage hold in the sled. "How is this possible? There is no way Santa can fit toys in a sled like this for all the children in the world. How could Santa have gifts for every child? And how can he possibly get to all of there houses?". He asked. I had no answer, and thankfully he dropped the subject. We must have been to close to the magic hour to question Santa any further.

Now, this past summer; my son is five and a half, we are sitting outside eating dinner and he's asks with all seriousness "Mom, is Santa real?". I had been waiting for this one and answered "Santa lives in your heart and if you believe then he must be real." That was good enough for him. Let's just hope he's OK with that answer and doesn't turn into the kid that tells everyone "the truth" about Santa.

Level 3, 4 and 5 gifted children (IQs above 130) often question the existence of Santa, the Tooth Fairy and other childhood characters between the ages of 3 and 5. The higher the level of gifted-ness the more likely they are to earlier question the existence of these characters.