I used to teach in a small private Catholic school.
6 out of 7 of my homeroom 6th graders believed.
The one respected the fact that he would not disclose to the others.
In the 7th grade of this school, only one or two of the girls believed. Again, the other students did not make fun of the girls or disclose the truth.
Teens believing in Santa Claus?
My kids were homeschooled, and from the time they were infants we never promoted the Santa Claus myth. Our children though still believed in him. One day after telling my daughter that Santa was pretend she **insisted**, “Yes! He is real!” When I asked her how she knew this she said, “Allen told me!” ( Allen was also 4.)
The following Christmas season my daughter found wrapped presents in our bedroom closet. She stood in the hall, arms akimbo, and declared, “Mom, you are **right**! There is no Santa Claus! You have **never** lied to me!”
This sentence, “You have never lied to me!” , became a family motto. When my husband and I seriously wanted to impress on them that we were giving them our best advice, with a wink of the eye, we would remind them that we never lied to them about Santa Claus or anything else.