Santa actor praised for response to girl refusing to sit on his lap

A man dressed as Santa Claus has gone viral on TikTok for his message about consent after a little girl refused to sit on his lap.

Content creator Katie Love (katielovesocial) took to TikTok to share a video of a man dressed as Santa Claus talking with her three year-old daughter, Adley. 

When Santa asked the toddler if she wanted to sit on his lap for a photo-op, Adley responded with a firm “No.” In response to her reluctance, the actor gave an important lesson on bodily autonomy.

“This is her body, and she’s in control of her body,” he said in the clip, which has gone viral with 2 million views. “Way to stand up for yourself, and way to say what you believe is right,” Santa told the little girl. “If you don’t want to, you say no.”

While the youngster looked a little confused in the video, Love cheered on the bearded man from behind the camera. “This response was [fire] Thank you Santa for respecting my daughter’s choice & even applauding her for it,” she wrote in the caption.

TikTok users flooded the comment section to praise Santa for his progressive message. “Love that he didn’t try to push her into it and that she knew her own mind to say no,” one person wrote.

“I love this. No reason to pressure her to be uncomfortable for a picture,” another added. “I just cried. As a child who was uncomfortable w touch and fam who pushed me, this is so good to hear,” a third said.

Others shared personal stories of similar experiences. “When I was 4 my parents took me to see mall Santa and he walked up to me to say hello and I told him to go away and sit back down and he did,” one person commented.

“Our daughter didn’t want to directly sit on Santa’s lap, and when asked she kindly said ‘no thank you’ and Santa said that was ok!” another shared. “My daughter saw Santa once and didn’t sit in his lap. I love when kids voices are respected,” someone else wrote.

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