Santa photos are every kid's rite of passage… right? Well not for my daughter, because her dad won’t let her get one.
I first raised the topic with him when my daughter was one year old. The childhood tradition of taking a photo with Santa was something I always looked forward to. I thought it was so cute when a photo would pop up on my Instagram feed of a family wearing matching Christmas outfits alongside Santa.
So when I casually raised it with him I was not prepared for his answer. “I’m not letting my daughter sit on some creepy old man’s lap!”, he declared. “Please do not take her”, he pleaded.
At the time my little girl wasn’t comfortable with unfamiliar people and I thought she would be scared of a bearded old man anyway, so I didn’t even test the idea with her.
But she just turned two recently and is becoming ever so curious. So the other week when we were at our local shopping centre I was astounded at how in awe of Santa she was. The way she looked at him and her fascination was unexpected. It was actually really cute.
She stood there and stared at him for a good five minutes. The photographer asked, "So would she like a photo with him?". "Oh no, her dad won't allow her to take a photo with Santa", I responded. She looked at me blankly. Realising that it was probably a confusing statement I added: "I don't know why… he just doesn't like it".
But the more I thought about it, the more I did know why.
Here’s why it’s creepy:
I wouldn’t let my child sit on a random man’s lap ever.
Like most parents, I preach stranger danger to my child.
We get told to always educate our kids on appropriate physical contact.
We educate others on asking for consent when approaching babies and children for cuddles and affection.
So just because there is a man in a red suit doing it, is it all of a sudden OK? I guess the same rules should still apply.
Sure, maybe we can make a compromise and she can just stand or sit next to him instead. But she’s just so small at the moment the photo would probably just look unbalanced.
Convinced I wasn’t going to take away the magic of childhood for my daughter, I came up with the perfect compromise. Instead, we wrote a letter to Santa and sent it to the North Pole. Yes, it’s totally a thing!
Australia Post offers the service free of charge (you just pay for the stamp). They even have letter templates and an actual address you can send it to. Then you can track the letter via their interactive Santa Mail Tracker. Genius! Why have I only just heard of this! (Probably because I’m a new mum)
The general public has until December 15 to send their letters, and if you include your address you can expect a reply back. What is more exciting than getting a letter from Santa? So what are you waiting for?
This is not a sponsored post, it’s just a fun activity I found and wanted to share!
Merry Christmas!
This post originally featured on 9Honey.
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