Elf on the Shelf
He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! For generations children have been good because they knew that Santa was watching, but in 2005 Carol V. Aebersold came up with a new way to keep children behaving during the holidays, a book and toy titled “Elf on the Shelf”. The story is a charming picture book telling the familiar tale of how Santa Claus knows who’s naughty and nice, describing elves visiting children between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve to be Santa’s eyes and ears. This book comes with a small soft toy in the form of an elf that parents may sit on a shelf to present the story to their children in a more realistic way.
From this perspective the story seems harmless and simply like a sweet Christmas tradition, but in recent years many critical views on the idea of sitting the elf in ones home have come about. The two most common ideas being it robs children of comfortable privacy, and enforces the idea one should only be good for the benefit of receiving presents.
David Kyle Johnson (Ph.D.) argues that the Elf on the Shelf is ‘ lazy parenting’ and ‘the worst way to get your children to behave’. He supports his belief by expressing that children need to learn self control and develop a sense of right and wrong on their own terms. He further states that the Elf on the Shelf implements the idea that good behaviour will always be rewarded, even when this isn’t the case in the real world and won’t be the case in their adult life. Child psychologist Melinda Wenner Moyer calls discipline by lying a ‘parent crutch’ and sweet until overdone, where over time it will develop trust issues in children and take away a child’s critical thinking skills (their ability to question things and use logic). But it’s just a little white lie right?
Having one’s child believe in things is important; the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, friendly ghosts on Halloween, and of course Santa Claus. But when a lie like a plush elf that is watching you and moves at night is unveiled, what else will children stop believing in? If it’s not true that Elf on the Shelf is alive, then what makes anything mom and dad told me true? So before putting an Elf on the Shelf in your home, think about what the holiday is really about. Faith, believing, and love. None of those three things include discipline by lying, so strip the holiday down to what it really is and you’ll have the real magic of Christmas.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
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