Santa is a true staple of Christmas, but do St. Louis High School students still believe in jolly ol’ Saint Nick?
Is the fat man real, or is believing in Santa childish? These questions seem to come up every year around this time, making SLHS students voice their opinions. Believing in Santa is usually something kids grow out of as early as middle school. However, this does not stop the true believers.
A known believer at SLHS is sophomore Abby Mcculley. In fact, she said, “I do still believe in Santa because who else would I be tracking at 11 at night? Obviously it’s Santa.” A belief in Santa at this point in life is rare; the average age to stop believing in Santa is said to be around eight years old, according to an article by Caroline Picard on goodhousekeeping.com.
Another strongly opinionated sophomore is Alexis Hitsman. However, she is not a believer in Santa. “I don’t [believe in Santa] because I’ve stayed up all night to see him, and all I saw was my parents,” said Hitsman. An experience such as this is one of the more common reasons to stop believing in Santa.
All of this being said, is being a believer immature for this age? These two sophomores again have differing opinions. Mcculley said, “I do not think believing in Santa is immature. You are never too old to believe in Santa. Believe in what you want.” In contrast to Mcculley, Histman said, “Yeah it is [immature], I would say about nine or 10, maybe even younger is when someone is too old to believe.”
While Santa Clause may not be real, there are benefits to believing. Studies show that believing in Santa boosts creativity and imagination. So just because believing in Santa isn’t ‘cool’ or ‘mature’ doesn’t mean that one can’t still believe in him. With Santa comes the magic of Christmas, but do you believe in Santa?
