To think it's a bit sad to use 'Elf on a shelf' as punishment?

[MoanaofMotunui]

I always though the idea of Elf on a shelf was to have a bit of fun and bring a bit of magic to children before Christmas.

However a neighbour has just told me that, because the children had not been listening yesterday, the Elf has written a letter to the children telling them over and over how 'bad' they've been and that need to work harder otherwise they won't receive any Christmas presents (but that he has been naughty during the night and she has lots of stickers around the house with slogans like 'naughty elf at work')

Neighbour has also sat in-front of the children and eaten their advent calendar chocolates for this morning.

AIBU to think this is a bit sad?

[mustbemad17]

That's really cruel!! We have an elf for the first time this year & yes she has written to myDD saying 'be good for mummy' but this is extreme. Especially if the elf is getting up to all sorts overnight, bit hypocritical of santa's helper!!!

[Littlelambpeep]

That is sad and not in the spirit of Christmas at all.

[insancerre]

That's awful
I've seen elf dummy CCTV cameras and think if you need to resort to scare tactics and bribery to get the children to behave then you are a pretty shit parent
What on earth do they use the other 11 months of the year?
The threat of a smack?

[MrsAJ27]

Thats awful and to eat their chocs out of their advent calendars is just cruel

[mustbemad17]

The idea of santa is bribery really. The whole 'naughty or nice' list thing? Same idea. But if santa was being a naughty little shit overnight then telling kids off for being kids, it would be a whole other story.

I plan to get my elf into trouble tonight then have her writing a letter to santa saying she's been naughty 😂

[AdmiralJaneway]

I have an Elf but it’s purely fun. It’s cruel to use it like that and says a lot about parenting methods!!

[MrsJayy]

The EOTS has imploded that is horrible but i have heard/read a few stories of elves telling children off.

I hated santa is watching you need to be good for santa when my kids were young nowadays poor kids have a bloody elf to please as well

[Paddington68]

Bin it, burn it, destroy it.

[TrinitySquirrel]

It is creepy as fuck to even use one at all.

[drspouse]

YANBU at all.
I was especially WTF at the person who told my 3 yo that FC wouldn't give her any presents if she was naughty (she didn't want to get in the buggy).
Because threats are SO effective at making children behave.

[MrsJayy]

It is creepy as fuck to even use one at all.

It is a creepy fecker

[TakemedowntoPotatoCity]

I know someone with a Santa cam complete with flashing red light. Her DD is a handful though. Still think it's too much, personally.

[Blahblahblahzeeblah]

I don't know, when i was a childthe "Father Christmas only visits good children" line was touted a lot, threats of there only being a lump of coal in my stocking etc. I'm not damaged by it. The advent calender thing is cruel though.

[MrsJayy]

yes I saw a Santacam being installed yesterday

[mustbemad17]

'He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows if you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good, for goodness sake'

Personally i'd rather be able to see the thing that is 'spying' on me than spend my time worrying about some magical creep 😂😂

[TheWhyteRoseShallRiseAgain]

To be fair from your title I came on to say EOTS would be an excellent punishment for either myself or dd2 in this house we are both terrified of the creepy wee feckers.
On reading the op however no I think that’s really sad, yes Santa’s naughty list you have to be good is a kind of abstract but that is just a bit far writing letters and eating the chocolate in front of them.

[Myheartbelongsto]

God, what a bitch to eat the chocolates.

[ClashCityRocker]

My mum used to wrap up some potatoes on Christmas day and put them amongst the presents.

Apparently they would have been presents but they were turned to potatoes for naughty behaviour....


Never worked as a deterrent and did create a bit of glumness on Christmas day trying to figure out if the potato would have, in fact, been the puppy (which of course, my parents or any responsible parents would never have gotten me) I so desperately longed for, had I kept my bedroom a bit tidier.

I hate the whole being good = material riches thing anyway.

[Glumglowworm]

Horrible to eat their advent calendar chocolates!

Most of the elves I’ve seen are creepy faced fuckers! But I do like seeing what my friends with children have the elves get up to. But they do treat it as a bit of fun and emphasise the good behaviour rather than punishing bad

It’s all very well Santa sitting in judgement, but not a naughty elf that gets up to mischief overnight and then goes and tells tales about children being naughty

[mustbemad17]

Clash we used to get actual coal nestled in with presents 😂 Only once we were older tho, then it became a standing joke as we did it back to my folks. It's always pretty awesome saying to your dad 'ah that must be from when you did x' 😂 Wouldn't do it to small people tho, bit harsh!

[fleshmarketclose]

That's really not kind. Thankfully Elf on the shelf wasn't a thing when mine were small but I'd have ignored it anyway because I couldn't have been bothered keeping up the pretence for a month tbh. Never told mine Father Christmas was watching because unless you intend to deprive them of Christmas gifts what's the point? I did tell them they needed to be asleep before he could come though which was technically true as I needed to get the gifts out of their hiding places.

[DesignedForLife]

She ate their advent calendar chocolate in front of them? That's just heartless

[LunasSpectreSpecs]

You wrote that sentence wrong. I should be

"AIBU to think that having elf on a shelf is a bit sad?"

[YellowMakesMeSmile]

Santa or elf related discipline is awful, using fictional characters instead of actual parenting.

One way to mess up the children's self esteem.

[DunedinGirl]

Ugh, what a horrible thing to do to your kids. I'd be worried there was a pattern of this sort of behavior...

Not an EOTS fan really. I appreciate that others get fun out of it, but I don't like equating getting presents with being good- I can't bear the though of that stupid myth perpetuating when there are kids who may well get very little or even nothing cos their families can't afford it.