The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition

I heard of Elf on the Shelf not long after this monstrosity was shat upon the world, via a relative who was talking about how her co-worker had bought this for their household. She explained the basic gist of the Elf, and I found it creepy.

I decided to investigate further. After seeing what the book is about and the 'rules' regarding the elf and how you are supposed to use it, I am creeped out even more. We teach our kids that lying is bad, and it's bad enough to lie to them about Santa Claus, to add this elf to the mix just jacks it up further. And telling a child that the elf is always watching them and reporting their behavior back to Santa... I'm appalled that more people don't see how f-ed up the whole premise is.

I want my kids to show more behave ALL year, not just Dec 1 to 25 or whatever. I love Christmas, seeing family, visiting, having Christmas dinners, touching base with relatives I don't get to see often, and just having a good time and relaxing around this time. To me, this is the most enjoyable aspect about Christmas. This is what we should reinforce in our children, not behaving merely to get more gifts because they think some elf/Santa is watching them. Good behavior should be its own reward, and if you need to use a toy (and the threat of constant surveillance) to improve your children's behavior, something is very wrong here.

Elf on the Shelf only adds to the commercialism that has been piggybacked onto Christmas and seems to be getting worse every year. And really, if you need some shitty doll to manipulate your kids into being good, well, that's just shitty parenting. show less

My mom gave my oldest son the Elf on the Shelf and somehow it feels like payback on me. It's a huge deal in our area and so many kids have AMAZING elves... our elf - TIMMY - is luckily sort of lazy and a procrastinator like us. But we discovered today that perhaps Timmy, knowing what big readers we are, doesn't come to our house until we READ his book! And so, another year of elffing begins... Thanks Mom. By the way, I'm not a huge fan of the book mostly because it sets up this expectation that parents need to uphold - it created "a Christmas tradition" per the publisher/merchandiser not a tradition that could be adjusted for each family. It's coercion through our children... 1984 anyone?

This is the book that comes along when you purchase The Elf On the Shelf.

The Elf on the Shelf tradition finally made its way to our household a couple of Christmases ago. I always thought it was cute, but saw the hype around it and parents going all out with the daily elf shenanigans. As an extremely busy homeschooling Mom of 5, who's also a business owner, I just don't have the time or inclination to do this daily.

I finally decided to bite the bullet.....but, in a way catered to our family. We now have two elves...Friggley and Jackster....and plan to add a girl this year. We don't follow the no touching " rules " in the book, and we only move them around occasionally. Our children enjoy dressing our elves, and playing with them. Our show more elves only come to life at night....like all toys...and only visit Santa weekly to report in.

As far as the book itself......it's a cute story and cute idea....but, I feel like the no touching rule can make the elves come off as scary or off limits to children. We explained to our children that Santa only made this rule because some children might not be careful and take care of the elves.....since our children are careful, they can play with them. Our youngest daughter has me read this every year when we bring the elves out, but otherwise it's not really a book to read frequently. show less

This book has been a tradition in our family since 2011. We have an Elf that comes everything holiday season, his name is Mac. My children, even though one is 11 and does not believe, she still enjoys reading the book and sharing in the finding of Mac every morning. My youngest, though, he is another story. He aggravated me till we sat down and read the book. We read it on Thanksgiving night before we go to bed. He loves getting up to find Mac and knows the rules of him. Some people think this is silly and nonsense, but they are only kids once. I agree it is hard to remember to move him or create some type of funny scene for him, but seeing my kids' smiles because of it makes it all worth it! I would love to share this with a class in show more the classroom library, but air on the side of caution for this could create some tension in the room. Respect comes to my mind when this book is shared. Respect for other's beliefs and traditions. Merry Christmas! show less

“Elf on the Shelf” is one upcoming and very popular book. I like it because it has a huge influence on many young children. The book is about Santa sending his elves to keep an eye out on children to see if they are behaving well enough for their Christmas presents. This book comes with the actual Elf on the Shelf, so the children believe it is real. I liked this book a lot because it promotes good behavior from the children. I also like it because the illustrations are really detailed and the actual Elf looks like one from the book. The message of the book is to promote good behavior from the reader, because Santa, or his helpers, are always watching. I think this is a really fun book for the holidays and many children enjoy it.

The story is cute enough, but nothing major.
The English major in me found a lot of grammar inconsistencies and felt it was a little bland.
So, kinda cute, but thing to write home about.

A favorite Christmas tradition to say the least. The story is good, but the kids enjoy focusing more on the elf and what he will surprise them with the next morning.