Elf on the Shelf –– a timeless tradition?

Or the most creepy thing that comes out every holiday season?

If you are blissfully unaware of this daunting tradition, the idea is that an elf travels to children’s homes and watches them to see if they are good or bad.

Then, they fly back in the night and report to Santa before coming back every morning in a new spot.

Every house has its own elf with its own name and personalized traditions.

Another elf rule some follow is if the child touches the elf, it loses its magic. This rule might be the worst for me because it can lead to some awful situations.

Some parents take this way too far, like an elf cutting a child’s hair because they misbehaved the day before or more. A lot of the time, this feels like an extreme punishment for your child disguised as a Christmas tradition.

Elf on the Shelf should not be a parenting tool — if you’re going to put it on your shelf, it should be a fun memory for kids, not a punishment.

Even if it’s not as cruel as that, it’s still alarming.

Regardless of how parents take this too seriously and too far, the idea in itself is off-putting. The idea that an elf is

watching you and everything you do could work either way for a child. It could push children to act better or stress them out because they’re scared an elf will negatively report on them.

The idea of something watching you is the plot of many horror movies, so why are we chill with children having to go through it every December?

Now you might say Santa himself is technically “watching you” during the year to see whether you have been good or not — why is that fine and an elf isn’t? And while you are correct, Santa isn’t a physical object you can see or something you can touch — it’s an idea. You can actually see the elf watching you with the Elf on the Shelfs. And yes, elves don’t have real magic but they are physical.

My last grievance with Elf on the Shelfs is Elf Children, which first of all… but second of all your elves having children that judge you is so incredibly chilling.

Elf on the Shelf is a creepy tradition, often misused as a parenting tool and a weird thing to put on your shelf during a season of joy.