<p>There was an article in the morning paper about young children afraid of Santa, including photographs of terrified children.</p>
<p>It made me chuckle because I took my 2 year old (17 years ago) to visit Santa. We got her all excited to see him, waited in line and marveled at the decorations. We got to Santa, she took one look at him, stomped her little feet and hollered “NOOOOOOOOOOOO” lol</p>
<p>Santa’s elves assured me that once she calmed down, we could come straight to the front of the line, but my child screamed in terror. I knew we weren’t coming back that year.</p>
<p>And if I thought this was a passing thing, it wasn’t. Eventually she learned she had to tolerate Santa, but she wasn’t happy about it. She always sported a very fake smile when photographed with Santa. Even the alternative Las Vegas Father Christmas (in a gold lame’ gown!) didn’t move her!!</p>
<p>I think even now she glances at him sideways, not entirely trusting him ;)</p>
<p>I have 3 children - none of them ever wanted ANYTHING to do with sitting on Santa’s lap. They were also never fans of any dressed up characters. Not to say that Santa is a character, but…</p>
<p>My older son once saw a zipper on the back of a character at a birthday party. After that he would always look to see if there was a zipper. If he did not see a zipper the character was real!</p>
<p>My oldest was afraid of charector and clown around…and if we ever went to a parade, they would absolutley single her out to approach…she still hates clowns</p>
<p>youngest was he opposite and always gave the hugs…except the time when invited to a birthday party that had a gross teenage boy inside of a Powerpuff girl costume…he did the macarena and none of the kids would go near it</p>
<p>Same here - oldest D was afraid of Santa, clowns, people dressed up as Disney characters, the characters at Muppets on Ice (or whatever it was called - 21 years ago!)!! I once spent part of a birthday party in a garage holding D staring out the back windows at the party…that included a clown! We finally gave up and went home before we passed out from the heat in the garage! When her younger sister was born and showed no fear of Santa, she finally let her guard down and would sit on his lap.</p>
<p>One of my daughters HATES characters. In fact we couldn’t go to Disneyland for two years until she was old enough for us to reassure her that we would definitely walk away from Mickey (or whoever) before he/she came close. </p>
<p>She has developed a sense of humor about her phobia, but she hasn’t lost the phobia. When we said, kidding of course, that when she got married we would have the rabbi dress as Mickey Mouse she turned and said, “Well, you’ll have wasted a lot of money because I’ll just turn around and walk out!” And she was totally serious.</p>
<p>My kids were OK with Santa, but I used to dread the Easter party at my in-laws’ club. My d was terrified of the Easter Bunny, and the “egg hunt” (plastic eggs thrown out onto the lawn) was worse than any pinata. I was always afraid that someone would be trampled. When I look back at those pictures, yeah, the Easter Bunny was pretty scary-looking.</p>
<p>“My older son once saw a zipper on the back of a character at a birthday party. After that he would always look to see if there was a zipper. If he did not see a zipper the character was real!”</p>
<p>shrinkrap, thanks. I thought it was so cute too! He loved Santa, Disney characters, etc. Btw, we have the most adorable video of him at about 3 y/o telling Mickey that he no longer bites his nails. While he was telling this to Mickey he had both hands hidden behind his back!</p>
<p>This thread made me smile. You know, I have been in a pretty bad mood lately, with the husband losing his job soon, and the economy, and living in Illinois where we can’t seem to find a governor that is not a criminal.</p>
<p>I thought back to the last global recession which was from 1990 to 1993. My kids were very small and adorable then, and I don’t remember being nearly as negative then as I am now. I had lots of fun events to go to- Advent concerts, the first time at the pumpkin farm, apple picking, hanging out at the park.</p>
<p>Maybe having small children insulates you from negativity and gives you hope. I think I will watch some video of my kids when they were little and see if I feel any better.</p>
<p>I am 54 and I remember very well being very afraid of Santa. I would make my parents cross the street if I saw Santa coming. We lived in a small town where Santa walked the streets greeting kids. I wouldn’t get near him and my older brother knew how to make me cry by threatening to take me to see Santa. My mom has no idea why he scared me so. My daughter had no trouble with Santa and I have many pictures of her sitting happily on his lap.</p>
<p>I was told that kids who fear the mall santa, clowns, and Disney characters etc have a deep seated fear of adults pretending to be something they are not. They are usually pretty bright and are profoundly suspicious of the Santa/clown/characters motives. I was that way as a kid ( I have a picture of myself SCREAMING on Santas lap) Now, I now generally save that fear and mistrust for politicians.</p>
<p>We have terrific pics of our kids sitting on Santa’s lap every year…EXCEPT we don’t have either kid when they were two years old. They both cried and were terrified (both loved Santa as one year olds and three year olds…but NOT two year olds). We still chuckle about it. Got them all dressed up, stood in line, and they both melted down.</p>
<p>I knew one little boy who was scared of Santa because he didn’t like the idea of someone being able to come into his house during the night. The boy became extremely attached to his mother after learning about Santa and wouldn’t even go into a room in his home by himself.</p>
<p>Add another to the “I hate clowns” list. Especially the ones with X’s painted over their eyes. And harlequins. Brrrr.</p>
<p>Was never a big fan of visiting Santa. We were dressed in our best clothes, marched to the back of B. Altman (or was it Lord & Taylor?), waited on line in the cold for the awkward brief chat with Santa, handed a coloring book and peppermint stick and sent on our way. Eh.<br>
Tried it once with S1, who screamed bloody murder. Never again.</p>
<p>I used to take the kids to see Santa at the San Francisco Emporium. There were kiddie rides on the roof, and if you rode the ferris wheel you got a terrific view of SF and the Bay. Santa was in a special room on/near the roof, a winter wonderland. On a lower floor you could decorate cookies. It was really magical. Of course, the Emporium eventually closed, was torn down, and was replaced with a Bloomingdales. Very modern and boring. The beautiful Emporium stained glass dome is in a corner of the mall where nobody sees it.</p>
<p>I remember my youngest son was very unhappy with the Santa thing when he was about two, but by age three he became very excited, when he figured out the old guy would bring him TOYS. We went to the mall and were waiting in a very long line that curved around a corner. By the time we got around the corner and he could actually see Santa, he flung himself out of my arms (knocking my glasses off in the process) and went running to the front of the line screeming, “Santa! Santa! It’s me Bobby!” Then he flung himself on Santa. In the meantime the crowd moved out of line to watch and I’m on my hands and knees trying to find what is left of my glasses and not get stepped on.</p>
<p>S1 never had a problem with Santa. S2 went through the “no way” stage at about 3 years old. Later S2 would sit on Santa’s lap at the mall but would not speak to him. S1 would take S2’s list and make requests on his behalf.</p>