It's that time of year and I'm taking lots of photos with kids. I'm Santa
From my point of view I see a lot of very excited children and a lot that look at me and when their parents approach they start screaming and scrambling to keep their distance.
Your hear over and over "Children cry when they see Santa" Or "It's the big beard" Or the one I hate, "It's not the real Santa, it's someone dressed up..." Ugh. I'm very real. In the moment, I'd need gunshots ringing out to break character.
I had a revelation the other day.
Children aren't afraid. They are overwhelmed.
Who is the person children start hearing about from the time they are babies? Santa and grandma and grandpa.
Children probably see grandma and grandpa fairly often but it's a big deal to see these give away people.
Now Santa is on TV, ornaments on the tree, on cartoons, on pajamas, everyone is talking about Santa.
So when you get close, it's just too much.
The children that are afraid and scream are consistently around 2 to 3. They happily come up to me at 4 and up. I think by 4 there is a lot in a child's life. They've got school, they go to Disneyland, they see Toy Story on Ice so meeting a character come to life is not quite so huge. Plus Santa is up close.
I don't take the screaming children too seriously. The cute thing is as they walk away, they wave to me. What I'm present to is how I get to bring people together. I make people smile, I might make them laugh. It's actually magical.
From my point of view I see a lot of very excited children and a lot that look at me and when their parents approach they start screaming and scrambling to keep their distance.
Your hear over and over "Children cry when they see Santa" Or "It's the big beard" Or the one I hate, "It's not the real Santa, it's someone dressed up..." Ugh. I'm very real. In the moment, I'd need gunshots ringing out to break character.
I had a revelation the other day.
Children aren't afraid. They are overwhelmed.
Who is the person children start hearing about from the time they are babies? Santa and grandma and grandpa.
Children probably see grandma and grandpa fairly often but it's a big deal to see these give away people.
Now Santa is on TV, ornaments on the tree, on cartoons, on pajamas, everyone is talking about Santa.
So when you get close, it's just too much.
The children that are afraid and scream are consistently around 2 to 3. They happily come up to me at 4 and up. I think by 4 there is a lot in a child's life. They've got school, they go to Disneyland, they see Toy Story on Ice so meeting a character come to life is not quite so huge. Plus Santa is up close.
I don't take the screaming children too seriously. The cute thing is as they walk away, they wave to me. What I'm present to is how I get to bring people together. I make people smile, I might make them laugh. It's actually magical.
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