This isn’t really a throwback because it’s timely and relevant every year and I intend to keep posting it until all the demented parents stop waging psychological warfare on their young children.
(12/22/2012) Most of you are familiar with the Elf on the Shelf right? In the Elf on the Shelf tradition these poorly dressed little plastic elves are mischievous minions of the red suited overlord who spy on the every move of children and report back to their tyrannical leader. That allegedly quaint little elf doll was invented about 15 years ago as a new, and for some toy making company, moneymaking tradition. Fortunately for my kids I wasn’t aware of The Elf on the Shelf when they were young enough to believe in it.
Parents put these little Elves on a shelf and the children are told that the Elf cannot be touched or it will lose it’s Christmas magic. The elf allegedly flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa every night. Man kids are gullible! In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “What a bunch of maroons!” The nightly flight is how parents explain that the Elf is in a different spot when the kids wake up each morning.
Of course this crazy little ruse makes kids behave in the weeks leading up to Christmas! They’re terrified! Are you kidding me? Even now if you told me a Chuckie doll was going to sit on my shelf and stare at me while I slept, or that it might be moving around my house at night? I would never go to sleep again. The kids have got to be too terrified or too tired to misbehave. No wonder they have a weeks vacation from school after Christmas. They probably spend that week sleeping for the first time in a month.
onemomsworld.wordpress.com
This tradition sounds like psychological warfare against children. How long before we see kids who have grown up with this tradition seeking counseling for PTED, Post-Traumatic Elf Disorder?
dannyoulittlerock.com
Funny. I just spoke with some kids yesterday about EOAS. They seemed to believe in it yet had really. They knew knew all the rules about having the elf and seemed ok with having it in their house. There are now girl elves and bad (green) ones that say bad things about the good elf. Strange new tradition for Christmas
Seems very mean spirited to me. I didn’t know about the new girl elves and the bad elf.
If Santa sees you when you’re sleeping, and knows when you’re awake, and knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake, why does anyone need an elf on the shelf? I never started that tradition in our house.
I’m with you…creepy! I am afraid I myself would get up in the night and take care of that little wandering elf! 😛
LOL That interesting book on the shelf – “When Parents Hurt” …. who?!
I don’t know! I saw that too. Doesn’t sound like a fun read.
Love it! We don’t do Elf on the Shelf. I really don’t want to remember to move him every night. Plus, my hubby has a “Chucky complex.” If I was going to do the Elf thing, I might move him after hubby was asleep. He might wake up to the Elf staring down at him. Heeheehee…but I’m not that kind of girl. 🙂
Aww….you’re missing out on the fun of terrorizing your hubby and kids! You know your hubby would scare you if he could!
My brother got me and my daughter a Mensch on a Bench (Elf on Shelf for Jews!), but he just sits on the mantle til Hanukkah. I don’t move him around and try to frighten my kid with him 😉
LOL someone else mentioned the Mensch on the Bench to me today and I was thinking of writing something about him too
Awesome! I must read that one!
I’ll probably do it closer to Hanukkah
The trick is to keep it fun and make it a game. In all fairness, psychological and emotional havoc are long-standing holiday traditions in many families. This just incorporates a small Christmas-themed Chucky doll into the mix. 😉