Are Mall Santas Given Background Checks

Honey, Go Sit on That Stranger's Lap: Should Parents Be Skeptical of Mall Santas?

December 12, 2010

Long lines at malls prove that many parents are comfortable letting their kids sit on Kris Kringle's lap! While most of us wouldn't hand our children over to a stranger, there's something about a bearded man decked out in a red suit posing for pictures that suddenly makes it OK. Like other moms and dads, I assume that the "powers that be" running the temporary Winter Wonderlands are doing background checks on these supposed St. Nick's, but I can't be positive that the occasional creeps don't slip through the cracks. Are parents too lax about tot safety when it comes to festive fun?

Source: Thinkstock

7 Comments

laurabeth57 2 years 23 weeks

Statistically, your kids are in more danger from people you know/trust. AND YET, I find the whole thing creepy. Do I think it's dangerous? You're probably in more danger of getting a bug from all the kids in one place than from something sinister. Will I ever force my kids to sit on some random old guys lap? NEVER. if they really want to when they are older, I probably won't stop them (maybe subtly discourage them). I just find old men who want to spend a ton of time with kids automatically suspect. I know most of them are probably really good guys and I hear they make a good paycheck. But still. Gross.

Girl Jen 2 years 23 weeks

Yes! What Anonymous ladies #3 and #5 said! Just because there is a miniscule chance that some stranger (not even a position in a person of trust! someone who may come into contact with my child once or twice if that!) may have an extremely disturbing but uncommon attraction to children, is not going to make me deny my child her childhood. If she wants to sit on Santa's lap, that's fine with me. If she doesn't, even better, because then I don't have to wait in line! :D But seriously, I'm not going to skip Santa or the waterpark or the fountain in the park because there may be a pedophile in the vicinity. Now, people in a position of trust are a different matter entirely. Those people, who will be with my child when I'm not there, must earn that trust and it's not easy.

2 years 23 weeks

They have just as much chance of the guy strolling the mall on a regular day and visualizing my kid later. I don't like the question though. Should parents be skeptical? If they want to be, and have a gut feeling, yes. It's not up to me to say what should make other parents skeptical. Should *I* be skeptical? I don't think so, and I'm not. There are far too many areas in life where creeps fall through the cracks, and in a situation where I have total observation of the encounter from start to finish, I'm not even remotely worried unless something in that particular Santa tripped my radar.

amber512 2 years 23 weeks

Then again, do I really want them seeing my child's face to think about later? At least I wouldn't know? I don't know. I'm telling my kid's the true story of Santa Claus anyway and am not planning on taking them to actually sit on some guy's lap.

2 years 23 weeks

I don't leave them alone with the guy and everyone's staring right at them. Is there really a mall Santa who's going to grope a child with a photographer, two elves, at least one parent, and a line full of other families staring at them? I don't find it creepy. To each their own, but no, I will not end this tradition that really has far less chance of problems than sending my child to school where they're alone with a teacher and no witnesses on a day to day basis.

snowysakurasky 2 years 23 weeks

omg thank you! i thought no one else understood the creepy factor. maybe its because i didn't do this as a child? but i am not enthusiastic at all about this tradition for my kids

amber512 2 years 23 weeks

I mean there are a TON of witnesses so I doubt they could really do anything. Funny though, I never really thought about how creepy it sounds.