What if you are NOT doing elf on the shelf?

[PesoPenguin]

Ds is 5.5 and incredibly cynical, I think he's teetering on the edge of believing at all he doesn't believe that toys come to life in a Toy Story way and I just asked him if he thought that if Santa sent him a toy elf it would come to life at night and he said, "don't be silly." However, a lot of the other mums from school are already discussing their elf on the shelfs this year and I'm not sure how to deal with ds if he asks about them. I don't want to potentially spoil it for others by saying it's not true but I know he wouldn't believe in it if he saw it.

ilovepowerhoop a lady who was trying to be helpful told ds that santa watches him through the burglar alarm sensor. Que questions such as, "Can santa see me on the toilet/ in the bath etc." (NO) and ds dancing naked in front of the sensor...

I've never known anyone do this in real life, only on mn, and they look creepy. No elves on shelves here, seems like unnecessary faff and weirdness.

Like kittie cat said, I don't want DDs to think they're being judged by a fucking elf!

Erm .... could someone point me to the relevant reference material so I can bring myself up to speed on 'Elf on the Shelf'....because I swear if I see one more thread about it without knowing what the heck it is my head will surely explode.

Never had such thing in my day or indeed my children's day and that wasn't that long ago.

In fact I was on MN when they were children!!!

So people are deliberately constructing some Orwellian fantasy about their kids actions being permanently reported back to Santa through the medium of some horrible little elf who watches them day and night?

My god, there is going to be a whole new web of issues in the psychotherapists' offices from 2020 onwards. Insanity. On so many levels.

For my 12 year old last year I dug out his reindeer soft toy hand puppet and he had some fun around the house (and in my car, and at my work) with us. No reporting to FC, just the reindeer, and then his friend the soft toy snowman, getting up to mischief. Thinking about maybe doing it again this year for a bit of fun, even though he's now 13! Inspired by elf on the shelf but fun only.

Anyway, we used to ring Mrs Christmas and give her an update on DS's behaviour (the number to ring is/was 123)

I'm getting old. I see this as proof of a slide into imbecility, infantilism, and an uncritical lapping up of crass, American consumerism at it's very worst.

And it somehow manages to be all of that whilst simultaneously having an air of the sort of uptight prudery that leads some people to use the phrase: 'front bottom' in a totally non-ironic way.

I know I shouldn't care: it's a crap marketing toy (for gullible adults). So what? But these threads quite often turn into a civil war. And here I am- taking sides.

celestial - its the all seeing 'Eye of Sauron'. That is a big concept.

I used to just tell my DCs that if they were naughty I was going to ring up Santa and tell him not to come.

Didn't do them any harm - although as they are now teenagers it is hard to tell.

I've just realised how rude my post was.
Those are just thoughts I have in my head. I feel bad for having spilled a personal opinion and being rude about people - some of whom have described the pleasure they take from this on this thread.
Each to their own.

OP - if you don't want to do it, don't. As other posters have said, you just answer any questions your child has noncommittally and change the subject. It's not a big deal.

And take it as a practise run for honing your diplomacy skills for secondary transfer in the years ahead.

Each to their own opinions /ways of doing it/ not doing it but I love the fun my kids get out of it , and hope they pass it down the line. It's all about creating fun and memories, and it can be done as over the top as you want or as cheap/frugal as you want. xx

"The Elf on the shelf " was a book written in 2005 by an American family WITH MERCHANDISING IN MIND.

Oh boy it worked. People don't even like the original idea that if you touch the elf the magic goes, so do it their way but still they "do" the elf on the shelf.....

It doesn't have to cost you anything financially - it didn't cost us anything last year, I just used soft toys DS had forgotten about, food and glittery snow I already had, and did funny and sometimes mischievous things, which prompted much mirth and eye rolling (moreso at my ability to do silly things with soft toys). I had never done it before.

Quite simply - you can your own thing. And you don't have to do anything, if you don't want to. Do what's right for you and yours.

Elves on Shelves (wow, consistent Englilsh pluralisation for once!) hadn't been invented when our DCs were of an impressionable and un-cynical age, but I don't think the concept would have lasted 5 minutes in our house. Seems to me like yet another way of stretching the monetisation of Christmas to the limit. Bring back the Advent calendar of my childhood, with picures, not bits of chocolate, behind the windows!

Have only ever heard of Elf on a Shelf on MN and it always seems a bit forced to me....it's not a real tradition in this country. And I don't believe most children will really believe the elf comes to life, will they? Personally I'd ignore it - likely or not your son won't mention it. And if he does I'd just brush it off by saying not all children need elves to check up on them and then move the conversation on.

I've only ever heard of it on MN too. I don't really know what it's for. Is it a thing to make your dc behave well in the run-up to Christmas because the elf is watching them? If so, I really don't like the idea of having to invent fake spies to trick dc into behaving well.

Cat from japan, on the contrary, I would say you are a welcome reminder that the lunatics have not yet entirely taken over the asylum!

I expect very few of those who are elving their shelving have ever read 1984 or heard of the eye of sauron or considered, really, what they are effectively teaching their children about the 'normalisation' of the modern attack on rights of privacy to a centralised figure of authority...

Hang on, I'll bet the Elf on a shelf isn't a marketing construct but a very advanced brainwashing technique introduced by the FBI to desensitise today's youth for total government control! I KNEW it!

Ooh now, celestialsquirrels - eye of Sauron on the shelf! That would surely make the little blighters behave .