Would you force your little one to sit on Santa's lap to get a picture, even if it obviously terrified them?

I agree. But I find the whole Santa thing a little creepy anyway.

No! I don’t believe in making little kids kiss older relatives either. I think children, especially girls, should be empowered to limit who they allow touch them, including sitting on someone’s lap. I don’t care who it is.

There was a post on my feed that showed the grandkids of an old HS friend of mine. The littlest one was sitting on Santa’s lap, the older two were standing in front. The kids just looked miserable. Everyone was “ha ha ha ha!!”
I said, “Why do we do that to our kids?”
The reply was “For our entertainment.”
I left that one alone.

@JLeslie Agree 100%. We teach and teach our kids to be careful of people who seem a little creepy, then we force them to sit on the lap of the creepiest person in the world. [Hope I edited in time, before Ms. Gailcalled whacked me with a ruler…]

No, I absolutely do not believe it is cute of funny. It is horrible. However, that said, is it possible to learn courage by being thrust into a scary situation that has a safe consequence?

I don’t think so. I think it’s more of a betrayal of trust than any kind of positive learning experience.

Courage comes, in part, because you know someone has your back.

Absolutely not. Forget the silly photo—what kind of memory is that for a little kid?

I feel worse for all those Santas! Look at their eyes, staring in mute appeal no doubt at oblivious, desperately grinning asshole parents.

No I wouldn’t, of course not, that’s because i’m a good parent with half an ounce of common fucking sense.
I loathe parents that subject their kids to that stress & then find it oh so funny when the photos come out, knuckleheaded cuntmuffins each & all.

No.

No, in fact I would never take a child to do this – it’s a very weird tradition, when you think about it all.

Pay too much for a crappy polaroid of your stressed child sitting on some out-of-work-except-this-December dude’s lap? Who would object to that?

My daughter is three and has never sat on Santa’s lap. I don’t want to let her think that sitting on stranger’s laps and telling them secrets is a good thing.

I don’t have one picture of my kids on Santa’s lap. We stood in the lines, but when the time came and they said, “No…” I said, “OK! Let’s go get ice cream!”

When I was a itty bitty child, a nearby little town had these Santa huts on the town square. It was free to see Santa. Families stood outside waiting their turn. Each kid went in alone. There was room for the child to stand in front of Santa and get like three minutes or so to talk, ask questions, whatever. There was a tiny window, I think so parents could listen and coach Santa with nods and winks. We always got a big ol’ candy cane, and a little bag of candies. Christmas tunes played all about the square over loudspeakers. It was quite festive. When I saw how it’s done elsewhere the bubble burst.The last straw was a few years down the road when they quit putting out the huts.

Reminds me of this David Sedaris story.

Of course. I love seeing the little shitstains cry their eyes out as often as possible. At least some payback for the years of pain they give me.

How do you know that there is not a paedophile under the Santa suit? Santa is a stupid myth anyway, and Christmas is better without it. As for forcing children to do it, that is criminal.

I remember my mother asking me if I wanted to sit on Santa’s lap when I was about 4 years old, so I did, and as soon as I got there, I said, “I don’t believe in you.” The old guy in the suit didn’t know what to say.

@wildpotato That was funny….but this hits too close to reality “Tonight, I saw a woman slap and shake her crying child. She yelled: Rachel, get on that man’s lap and smile or I’ll give you something to cry about. Then she sat Rachel on Santa’s lap and I took the picture, which supposedly means on paper, that everything is exactly the way it’s supposed to be – that everything is snowy and wonderful.”

No.

No. But I also have to say that some kids think they want to be there. Then, as soon as they get there they freak out. SOME of these pics may have been at that point.
I always liked going to see Santa and I think there are one or two pics of me being happy as a lark telling him what toys I wanted.

@anniereborn Good point. My oldest grandson is like that for most Character pictures. He is very enthusiastic while waiting, but when it’s his turn, he refuses.

Mine too. We’d stand in line for 30 minutes, then when it was their turn they didn’t want to. I just said, “OK. Let’s get some ice cream.”