30% of children received trust issues from ‘Santa’

Author: Robby Berman / Source: Big Think

Survey looks at how former children feel about being lied to by parents about Santa.
72 percent do the same with their own kids.
Did finding out about Santa ruin your ability to trust?

“During the last two years I have been overwhelmed by people getting in touch to say they were affected by the lack of trust involved when they discovered Santa wasn’t [SPOILER ALERT] real.

” These are the words of psychologist Chris Boyle of the University of Exeter in the U.K. Boyle’s in the midst of conducting an online survey that documents adults’ feelings about their parents having lied to them about Jolly Old St. Nick when they were little.

His concern is whether the Yuletide conspiracy had an impact on its believers’ trust once it was exposed. While the survey’s still ongoing, he’s gathered about 1,200 responses so far and is sharing his preliminary findings. Some of the kids were quite crushed.

According to the results, one in three respondents wishes that he or she still believed in Santa. Some of this is no doubt due to a longing to return to childhood, and missing that little bit of extra motivation to be a good boy or girl, at least according to the 32 percent of respondents who said so.

And, of course, who doesn’t miss all those “elf-crafted” gifts to be unwrapped?