This made me very uneasy, not sure if I'm being paranoid

[Mighty Girl]

I know I probably read too much news, and if this happened 30 years ago, no one would bat an eye. But, it still struck me as odd.

I took my daughter to the mall for pictures, then we walked throughout the mall (actually I walked, she rode in the stroller). She really wanted to see Santa, which does NOT mean she wants to actually approach Santa. She merely wanted to wave and say "hi" from about 15 feet away.

So, on our second pass, this slightly rough looking Santa waves his hand vigorously and YELLS, "Hey there sweetheart, I love you!!!". It just seemed wierd. My gut was telling me to stay away. Fortunately, my daughter found this odd too, and stopped waving and hid her face.

I told my friend about it. Her daughter and mine play together, and she was at the same mall the day before I was. They actually got in line to do the Santa pic, and her daughter walked up, stopped suddenly a couple feet shy, just looked at him with her head cocked to one side (she's two, by the way), and immediately turned around and said she changed her mind. She said Santa smells like Uncle whoever (who, btw, is a raging alcoholic).

I don't know if they regularly run background checks on applicants for Santa, it would seem to be a no-brainer, but then a lot of things seem like no brainers for me and yet they never occur to other people.

Any thoughts, experience with the mall-Santa employment process, or whatever would be appreciated.

[thegiraffe]

When it comes to your kids and who they come in contact with, you can never be too paranoid.

Good job

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Listen. That voice you hear, and that your daughter hears, making you uneasy?

That's your animal instinct talking. And it's extremely accurate. We like to think we are sophisticated humans, that we aren't animals and that we use intelligence instead of instinct.

That's crap. We would avoid so much trouble, if only we would not be too proud, too embarassed, too whatever to LISTEN TO OUR INSTINCTS. They will not steer you wrong.

We are so afraid of being rude, or being questioned, or being made to feel silly we push that voice back and tell it to be quiet. Do not do this! Listen to the voice! It does not go off for no reason!

You might enjoy checking out The Gift of Fear, a book by Gavin Becker. It's amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Fear-Gavi.../dp/0440226198

[HappyCthulhu]

Scared of Santa!!!

[marlovino]

Scared of Santa!!!

I just love number 61.

[Sofar]

I dressed up as Santa last year. In the red coat with the black belt and fleece fringes I do look a lot like Santa, full rosy cheeks, reddish bulb-like nose, all I need is for my beard to turn white and to gain a hundred and fifty pounds and I have whole new career stretching out in front of me. But unfortunately I really couldn't act the part. I get very nervous around children, I get worried their parents are going to freak out on me. When I'm just walking around I even make a point not to get in between a mother and child, like they're bears or something.

[Barefootgirl]

We took the Sprog to see Father Christmas at the weekend, and have a wonderful picture of her sitting on his knee, clutching her present and looking completely awe-struck. This particular FC was perfect, very pleasant and i got no bad vibes from him at all. I have in the past got dubious vibes from people paying FC, and in those cases we jsut wave to him and carry on past.

Maybe you are being paranoid, maybe you're not. Either way, its a good idea to listen to your instincts and learn to trust them.

[AFpheonix]

Oh good, I'm not the only one. Pic #61 had me crying from laughter XD