Elf on the Shelf
A cool family tradition or child’s version of Big Brother?
It seems that a very popular Facebook topic this month, at least for those with kids, is The Elf on the Shelf
I didn’t know a lot about The Elf on the Shelf, and I know I wasn’t the only one, so I decided to do some research about the history of the elf and exactly what it is. The Elf on the Shelf history goes back hundreds of years and became popular again in the 1950’s. The book The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition was published in 2005 by Carol Aebersold and Chandra Bell. The basic idea is that a scout elf is adopted by a family. Every night from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve the scout elves fly back to the North Pole to report to Santa about the behavior of the children their adopted home. Then they fly back from the North Pole and hide in a new spot.
This brings us back to the question is the elf a cool family tradition or a scary observer. I think it really depends on the family and kids. I know a lot of families like the idea of The Elf on the Shelf, but are a bit disturbed by the face of the elf that you get with the book, so they use a different elf. Others think the idea is just silly and don’t buy into it. I can see their point. Many children don’t need an elf watching them to believe that Santa knows if they’re being naughty or nice. Other families just love the whole idea of the elf.
Originally it seemed a bit silly to me, but after doing my research on it I started to warm up to the idea. I like the idea of getting to hide the elf in a new spot every night, and I think children must have a lot of fun looking for the elf’s new spot every morning. Personally I don’t think the idea of having an elf watching you is really that creepy. Children already believe that Santa is watching them, so what difference does it make if they are able to see and know how Santa watches them? I’m thinking that we might just need to adopt an elf for next Christmas.