Forcing babies to see Santa (playing, children, grandpa, friend)
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Last Christmas we waited about an hour in line because dd insisted that she wanted to see Santa. I never planned to buy photos because I was 99% sure that she would freak out once we actually got to him. When her turn finaly came along she started crying so we just waved at him and went on our way. This year I've been avoiding the mall all together because I don't want to wait in that long line again and yes, she has asked to see Santa again. Not doing it!
I took my first born to see Santa when he was 2. It was the same screaming fit you see time after time in those hideous Santa photos. I felt so horrible that I had subjected my son to that torture that we never went back. My daughter has never visited Santa at all.
I think parents need to reevaluate the reason why they do things. Who is Santa important to really? Certainly not to the child who is paralyzed with fear. Personally, I always had a problem with giving the fat man credit for the really awesome presents and mom and dad gets to give new PJ's, socks, and clothes. Wow, gee, thanks Mom and Dad. I wanted to start the "No Santa" thing at my house when my son was little, but it was really hard because society made me sound like a liar. What? No Santa? Well, he's at the mall, he's on TV, he's at car dealerships, he's freakin everywhere. Sad really that society places more value on the lies than we do the truth. I suggested to a couple of friends that I would like to have a "No Santa" house and they acted like I was some sort of Nazi or something for even suggesting that I could deny my children of such pleasure. I caved and we did Santa until my daughter finally two years ago at the age of 8 was told that Santa was really Mom and Dad. You know what she said? "I already knew that. I just went along with it b/c I thought you liked it Momma". Sheesh.
Man...way to suck the fun out of things. It doesn't harm kids to believe in Santa, a little magic and the spirit of Christmas that Santa embodies. In fact, I could argue that Santa actually helps make the holiday LESS commercial than it would be if he didn't exist.
My oldest was born in November, so he went as a baby. Didn't really seem to care. However, his picture at 1, 2 and 3 all featured him crying making the exact same face. So, we have three years of him with the exact same Santa making the same crying face, just a year older in each one. They're some of my favorite pictures. Since he was 4 he hasn't cried and actually looks forward to it. His sisters have never been scared, but I think that has more to do with the fact that they are going to see Santa with their brother and he's not crying.
I have a pic of my daughter crying with the Easter Bunny. It's been over 20 years, I don't know why I did it. I guess I figured why have kids if I can't take funny pics of them with holiday characters? Hahahaha.
My daughter took one look at the Easter Bunny at 1 yr and didn't want anything to do w/ him. She never liked dressed up characters and by age 3, she had them figured out. I remember being at Disney when she was 3 and thought she'd want to see Cinderella, being she was into princesses. She asked us why we were waiting in line to see a girl dressed up like Cinderella?
Being absolutely terrified of Santa when I myself was little, we never insisted our's sit on the fat man's lap. Why put them throught that? Thank God my parents never felt the need to put me through that just to have a snap in the photo album.
We never even thought of doing the Santa routine until they were old enough to decide. (I had a feeling that a fear of Santa was genetic and wasn't going to stand in a long line only to get to the front and have a face full of tears.) We let them choose if they wanted to see Santa. Only one ever said "yes". (Told you. Genetic.) We substituted a ride on the merry-go-round.
Being absolutely terrified of Santa when I myself was little, we never insisted our's sit on the fat man's lap. Why put them throught that? Thank God my parents never felt the need to put me through that just to have a snap in the photo album.
We never even thought of doing the Santa routine until they were old enough to decide. (I had a feeling that a fear of Santa was genetic and wasn't going to stand in a long line only to get to the front and have a face full of tears.) We let them choose if they wanted to see Santa. Only one ever said "yes". (Told you. Genetic.) We substituted a ride on the merry-go-round.
The irony is that while I may have implied in my post that we forced my son to do it just for the picture, despite knowing exactly what his response was likely to be, that wasn't the case.
As an infant, it really didn't matter. When he was 1 he seemed excited about the idea, but then cried right away. When he was 2 we did actually give him the choice and he was determined to go see Santa, only to end up screaming and crying. At 3 he spent some time staring at Santa before deciding he wanted to see him, only to erupt in tears when he sat down. After that he was fine with it.
So, it wasn't that we were forcing it so much as he decided it was something he wanted to do, only to break down in tears as soon as he was on the lap. I think some of it has to do with the build up of expectation over Santa only to be overwhelmed by the experience of actually seeing him and sitting on his lap. We're all pretty well aware of what happens to kids when they hit sensory overload.
Man...way to suck the fun out of things. It doesn't harm kids to believe in Santa, a little magic and the spirit of Christmas that Santa embodies. In fact, I could argue that Santa actually helps make the holiday LESS commercial than it would be if he didn't exist.
They get it both ways so it's really a moot point.
That's my point they don't need Santa to have it , but it's not bad if he is part of it. My issue was with the idea that not letting the child have santa somehow christmas would now be a grim event .
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