I still remember when my husband brought the box with the elf home explaining the concept to me. We move this elf around the home to "help keep watch of the kids" when they least expect. I hope I didn't roll my eyes but I know I wasn't truly feeling it. I didn't want to be my usual "negative Nancy" about it since he seemed so excited to try it out for our two young kids, both still Elementary aged at the time. He was always good about being the fun parent that did fun things, like Elf on the Shelf. I always felt like these charades were silly and required one more thing to remember to do in an already "busy" schedule. But really, what is so hard about moving the elf to another part of the home? I will tell you it was social media! The pressure to create elaborate scenes of the Elf getting into mischief. Still, I let the fun continue and even participated moving it. Still, I don't think we ever used it the way it is described in this article...you know, to scare kids into "acting right" and earning their gifts.
It is an interesting read and leads to asking, are these experts on to something or just killing Christmas fun?
Parenting experts give parents warning about continuing the Elf on the Shelf tradition and how it can be bad for the kids.
Photo: Getty Images
You know what was fun about our Elf, her outfits! Our Elf had a leather jacket.
In case you didn't believe me when I said the expectations to allow this Elf to move about freely and get wild...the hashtag helps give you all you need to know.