a little girl promises to be good...

I am scheduled a few days at an event called Mingle with Kringle, where families get to have a 10 minute private Santa experience/photo shoot. This creates too many memories to really blog them all, but there are always a few that stand out...this is one of them!

The notes I had on one little girl who was aged 9 said that her parents would like Santa to remind her to be be kind to her classmates as she had written some mean things about them in a writing. So, she and her family came in and we had the usual photos and such. She was sitting next to me, so after the photographer did his thing, I had the opportunity to just sit and talk with her.

I asked her how her elf, Holly, was and she was shocked that I knew the elf's name, which led to a bigger conversation...

Me: Of course I know Holly's name! Her reports on you are mostly good and I am very pleased to hear them...but there is one thing we need to talk about. Holly tells me that you wrote some mean things about your classmates in your writing assignment. Wanna tell me why you wrote those mean things?

Her mom chimed in with "see, I told you Santa would find out!" which caused me to throw a look at her because I don't like it when parents try to use the experience against the child. It just makes it more difficult for me to work the Santa magic.

Me: How 'bout it, you wanna tell me why?

Her looking down and very quietly: I'm sorry Santa.

Me: I know, sweetheart. It's okay...this time. (she was clearly relieved) But here's the thing: it's okay to get frustrated with your classmates sometimes or even get down right mad at them. It's okay, it's normal, and it WON'T get you on the naughty list no matter what anyone says. BUT, you don't get to be mean to your classmates and no more writing mean things about them. Okay?

Her: Okay, Santa!

Me: When you're upset or angry with your classmates or even your teachers I want you to try your best to be kind to them, anyway, like you're not upset at all. Then I want you to tell your mommy and daddy all about what happened and how it made you feel and let them tell you how best to handle that in future. YOU ARE A GOOD GIRL, we just want you to be a little kinder to others when they upset you. Okay? You think you can do that for me?

Her: YES, SANTA! I promise I'll be good!