Below is a site where you can make a personal video from Santa to your child/grandchild. Very cute. I made one for my 3 yr old and will play it for her tomorrow.

portablenorthpole.tv

great find, my son is going to love this. thanks

Thanks for the link...very cute

Thanks! I played it for DS this morning. It was fun.

Thanks, I was looking for this the other day and couldn't find it.
They did a really good job on it this year. Santa said my son's name perfectly and it is an unusual name. My son loved it!

Thank you!!! This might have made my non believer a little more of a believer

I was wondering if Santa actually says the name of the child. There was a list of names but of course my DDs name was not one of them. I could have selected another version of her name but she can read her own name and am guaranteed she would scream foul!

It was precious to watch her as she watched the video. Big saucer eyes and whispering Santa Claus. I selected the part of how Santa knows if you have been naughty or nice since we have been using that method for her stubborn states. They couldn't have done a better job on that one! So today when she was trying to be stubborn, all I had to say is 'I hope Santa's elves aren't watching.' Haha ... she quickly changed her tune.

Katelyn's mom are you at all concerned that your daughter may resent the effort put into trying to trick her to behave? I understand this is a common cultural practice but personally I would advise caution. I know as a gifted kid I felt betrayed when I found out Santa was a lie being used to manipulate my behavior (and that was long before there were tricky videos to reinforce the point). YMMV and all that - just thought it was worth mentioning.

Not at all. I personally think our culture has gone to the extreme with attachment parenting. And then is baffled why their DC doesn't know how to play on their own and is always attached to their parents or frustrated that they, the parents, don't have any private time to themselves.

I have no problem with 'trickery' as you put it. If it makes her stop and rethink her actions than great. My parents did the same with us as kids and though I figured out Santa and the Easter Bunny way before the normal age; I certainly did not resent the attempts of using it to keep my behavior in check.

I'm not sure what it has to do with kids learning to play on their own?

It is interesting how different kids react to this sort of thing. One common characteristic of gifted kids is having a stronger sense of justice. For some kids that can play out in feeling insulted or disrespected when they are lied to. Another possibility is in feeling like adults are kind of pathetic that they have to resort to lying to get behavioral compliance. I remember feeling as a kid like the adults who had to try the hardest with the threats were the ones who were most pathetic and powerless.

There are many responses to any given situation and clearly you had a negative one. I see Christmas as a magical time and am always reminded of the famous editor's response to Virginia:

"Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished."

I have to ponder how you yourself deal with your kids and this season.

I don't see how any of that fits in with lying and threatening kids to make them behave. This seems like a poor substitute for actual childhood imagination and excitement about the holidays.

There are many holidays and many ways to enjoy them. One thing I prefer about not lying to kids is that there isn't a shift or lessening of excitement about the holiday once the secret is revealed.

passthepotatoes, isn't Santa's naughty and nice list a part of the secret, the tradition?

How many parents actually threaten their kids with "I wonder if santa's elves are watching" or rather use it as a light hearted phrase as intended at this time of year. I really think you are stretching the point by implying that this somehow leads to a childhood of being lied too.

I really don't see the argument and think this falls under different styles of parenting. I am comfortable with the traditions in our house and have no problem using the naughty or nice aspect.

Using your argument I guess I would be at fault for allowing my child the imagination she has and especially for playing along with her as she is being chased by a lion or becomes one herself and chases me. I would never squash this part of her nor would I deny her the right to experience the idea of Santa and like I said before... I have no problem using the naughty or nice aspect to have her rethink her actions. Just like I use her daily imagination to show what is right and wrong behavior and vice versa ... she is always showing right and wrong behavior with her stuffed or imaginary friends.

Two things.

1. Computer programmers tap into a lie that has been told several times over and create a realistic video using personal information supplied by the parent. The video suggests the child is being watched and if they behave they will receive gifts. This is not based on imagination because the child isn't not imagining anything - at the very core the whole thing depends on the child thinking it is real.

2. A child using their own imagination creates and pretends a story. She decides on characters and a series of events and controls and participates in the action. She knows it is pretend.

These are entirely distinct processes. Outside of the Santa context if you heard of a parent hiring computer programmers, paying for television air time, hiring people to hang around the mall all to tell their children something that wasn't true presumably you'd at least find this odd if not possibly a bit abusive.

As I said before this is one of those YMMV things. People don't all react in the same way for sure. There are lot of variables concerning the individual personality of the child and also I'm sure the way in which they find out and if parents are invested in pushing the manipulation. Given the tendency of many gifted children to be concerned about issues of respect and justice it may be worth considering the long range implications.

He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good...
That is a pretty fundamental aspect of the tradition. The naughty/nice manipulation is certainly a part of the video posted.

And, to be clear, I'm sure most people do intend to be lighthearted. It doesn't mean of course that children will feel the same way about it.

For the record, my son was one of these kids, exceptionally so, and I am pleased to say that he survived the santa experience unscathed.