Here are seven tips to help your little one meet Santa with grace.

1. Whether or not your child cries on Santa’s lap starts much sooner than their first encounter with Santa. It starts with their interaction they’ve had with you since the day they were born. Are you there for your child in the good times and bad? If you are, you’ll notice how comfortable your child probably is with people he/she comes across. And in the rare event that your child is uncomfortable with someone, as long as you’ve been there to acknowledge his/her feelings, your child’s social interactions with others is bound to be positive.

2. When random people show interest in your baby, you talk to those people in a normal manner and encourage your baby to politely engage with them. The key here is for you to strike a balance between being overly friendly and being overly dry when talking to others. The way that you interact with the world is important for your child. You are their role model for how to treat others. Most importantly (and perhaps most surprisingly), you teach your child in the most subtle, subconscious and overt ways whether the world is a dangerous place that’s out to get them, or if the world is a friendly place, that has their back. As you know, this simple belief is a strong determining factor in how successful, happy and at peace any individual, little or big is… so hopefully, you’re able to teach your children the emotional intelligence that they need.

3. Make great use of the abundance of holiday songs that you can listen to during this season. If you show enthusiasm, joy and interest in the holiday songs, characters and traditions, your child will most likely have a positive approach to Santa, and most things Christmas.

4. Whenever you’re about to meet someone new, don’t you like to know a little bit about that person? Most likely, you like to read about them or even see a picture of them. So when it comes to preparing your little one to meet Santa, what do you think works best? Holiday books, of course! Show your child pictures about Santa and read books about Santa’s adventures. This will not only put your little one more at ease about Santa, but he/she will acquire literary skills, vocabulary and metacognition about this jolly old fellow that your’e so excited for your child to meet.

5. Think about it. If you were a baby sitting in Santa’s lap for the first time, what would distract you? Most likely, it’s Santa hat and the uniform. So, while it’s unlikely that you have an all-out Santa suit in your home, you probably do have a Santa hat. Wear the Santa hat. Wear it normally and refer to it as something that is cute rather than something that is bizarre. As much as possible, in order to prevent your child from finding anything else about Santa’s attire scary, such as the beard, hair or eyes, refrain from scaring your child with anything, especially monsters. Nowadays, monsters come in so many shapes, sizes and colors that no wonder it’s easy for children to see “scary” in any random thing.

6. Plan for your child to meet Santa at the best time for your child, when he/she is well fed, clean, well groomed and well rested. When you arrive to the destination where your child is going to meet Santa, let him/her observe other children on Santa’s lap. While they’re looking at what he/she is about to experience, talk to him/her about it. You can say things like, “Look at the dress that little girl is wearing. Isn’t it beautiful?” or “Oh, look at that baby on Santa’s lap. He looks comfortable.” or “Look at Santa, he seems like a friendly person.” or “Look at that mommy, she’s taking a picture of her child.” or “I like the way that the baby smiles at mommy.” Be sure that your energy is positive, light and calm so that your child has the best opportunity to ease into this experience.

7. When the moment of truth arrives and it’s your child’s turn to sit on Santa’s lap, talk to your baby. Tell him/her “Do you want to take a photo with Santa? Let’s go sit with Santa.” Sit the baby on Santa’s lap. Encourage your baby to look at the camera in a calm, cheery manner. You can say, “Look how beautiful you look.” If your baby does look at the camera, great. If not, that’s perfectly okay. Let your baby be. Take the picture. Pick up your child from Santa’s lap. Thank Santa. Say bye to Santa. Encourage your child to say bye as well. That’s it. Let life flow and don’t dwell on whether the picture was superb or not. Your child’s happiness and stress-free interactions with the world are more important than anything at this moment. Come to think of it, if you notice carefully, you’ll see that your child’s personality came through beautifully in that photo. Cherish that personality that your child’s soul is expressing above anything else. After all, this season is meant to be among the happiest times of the year, although with a happy baby that you’re in tune with, any day can be as happy as the next. And that is what living a happy life made of.