Never had elf on a shelf when I was young and Christmas time was still magical. If I have kids I won't bother with it (or maybe just do one day around a week or so before xmas when an elf comes to visit to check on things) but not an everyday having to constantly come up with new ideas thing.
Well if you really want to know it was a clever bit of capitalistic marketing. So the idea of an elf had been knocking around before this but it was VERY different. For one thing very few families did it. For another it was a homemade stuff elf that was called “an elf on the mantle” and that’s where it stayed to watch the kids and report to Santa. I had a roommate whose dad’s family had one in the 60s. He and his siblings learned that if they just made sure that they weren’t in line of sight of the elf that they could carry on being naughty, so kinda back fired. Anyway so moving forward in time to 2005 and this mother & daughter team took that older idea and wrote a cute little children’s picture book about an elf on the shelf and included the most adorable little doll ever to go with it. A doll that children can’t touch or “the magic leaves them” even though it’s clearly a toy and is begging to be played with but I digress. This book and “toy” came on the market just in time for social media so parents started posting pictures of their elf “doing different stuff EVERYDAY” and sharing it with all their friends. It pressured other parents into getting their own elf because “you don’t want your kids to feel left out of the FUN do you?” Thus leading to more sale of said book and “toy”. Seriously this never would have taken off without social media and the keeping up with the Jones mentality. Well the company couldn’t just leave it alone with just the book. They needed the families that had already bought into it to buy more stuff like a new outfit for the elf every year. And the stuff reindeer with its own book explaining how the elf rides the reindeer back to Santa every night to report on the kids behavior but this toy the kids are allowed to play with unlike the elf. Oh and don’t forget the new movie every year to reinforce once again that this elf is essential to making your Christmas wishes come true. Without this marketing, I mean elf, Christmas just wouldn’t be possible. And remember that this is a Christmas TRADITION that you can’t choose to skip once you start or your kids won’t believe in Santa anymore and that would make you a terrible parent if your kid thought that Santa wasn’t real because YOU forgot to move the elf doll in the night into a new and creative place for the kids to play hide and go seek with and that you NEEDED to post online so ALL the other parents see that your a GOOD parent who cares about making their kids Christmas magical for an entire month never mind that your tired and exhausted from all the other things you have to do 😮💨 Not to mention that this essential “Christmas tradition” (that was invent in 2005 remember) is actually teaching kids the wrong lesson. Be good only because someone is watching you because we live in a surveillance state. Kids should be taught to be good not because someone is watching but because it’s the right thing to do even when nobody else sees it. Same thing goes for the parents by the way. Stop posting pictures of the stupid elf. You’re only putting undo pressure on yourself and others and free marketing to the capitalist company that wrote that stupid book and is trying to squeeze as much money out of you as possible. So to sum up: I’ve hated this idea since I first saw it in 2008 in my book store that I worked at and I still hate it today. It’s creepy and unnecessary and you don’t NEED it to make Christmas magical for your kids. So stop over complicating Christmas and enjoy the simple things that were actual traditions in your family and not ones a marketing campaign told you should be your tradition. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk🙃
@@sheleavitt06Oh my god yes, the surveillance state thing is why I hate Elf on a Shelf. My niblings love it so we have one or two but I never treat it like a naughty or nice behavior monitor. That aspect of it creeps me out, It’s just a fun toy that gets up every night to do something new. They’ve even made little bedrooms for them before, it’s really cute
So happy that elf on the shelf is not a real thing in Belgium we have mostly Saint Nicholas on dec 6th and then Christmas kids get gifts from parents and family so no pretending
Lady, fathers are just as capable as mothers. They can do things just like mom. I don’t like the elf. I think it brings unnecessary stress to drama for kids. It’s one thing for Santa to be watching you. Now you have a mini chucky? Nope. I’ll stick to God and Santa.
She sounds like the 'i had a hard time and no help as a mother so everyone else should too' kind of person
Never had elf on a shelf when I was young and Christmas time was still magical. If I have kids I won't bother with it (or maybe just do one day around a week or so before xmas when an elf comes to visit to check on things) but not an everyday having to constantly come up with new ideas thing.
Where did this Elf on the Shelf craze even come from. We never did this growing up
Well if you really want to know it was a clever bit of capitalistic marketing. So the idea of an elf had been knocking around before this but it was VERY different. For one thing very few families did it. For another it was a homemade stuff elf that was called “an elf on the mantle” and that’s where it stayed to watch the kids and report to Santa. I had a roommate whose dad’s family had one in the 60s. He and his siblings learned that if they just made sure that they weren’t in line of sight of the elf that they could carry on being naughty, so kinda back fired.
Anyway so moving forward in time to 2005 and this mother & daughter team took that older idea and wrote a cute little children’s picture book about an elf on the shelf and included the most adorable little doll ever to go with it. A doll that children can’t touch or “the magic leaves them” even though it’s clearly a toy and is begging to be played with but I digress.
This book and “toy” came on the market just in time for social media so parents started posting pictures of their elf “doing different stuff EVERYDAY” and sharing it with all their friends. It pressured other parents into getting their own elf because “you don’t want your kids to feel left out of the FUN do you?” Thus leading to more sale of said book and “toy”. Seriously this never would have taken off without social media and the keeping up with the Jones mentality. Well the company couldn’t just leave it alone with just the book. They needed the families that had already bought into it to buy more stuff like a new outfit for the elf every year. And the stuff reindeer with its own book explaining how the elf rides the reindeer back to Santa every night to report on the kids behavior but this toy the kids are allowed to play with unlike the elf. Oh and don’t forget the new movie every year to reinforce once again that this elf is essential to making your Christmas wishes come true. Without this marketing, I mean elf, Christmas just wouldn’t be possible. And remember that this is a Christmas TRADITION that you can’t choose to skip once you start or your kids won’t believe in Santa anymore and that would make you a terrible parent if your kid thought that Santa wasn’t real because YOU forgot to move the elf doll in the night into a new and creative place for the kids to play hide and go seek with and that you NEEDED to post online so ALL the other parents see that your a GOOD parent who cares about making their kids Christmas magical for an entire month never mind that your tired and exhausted from all the other things you have to do 😮💨
Not to mention that this essential “Christmas tradition” (that was invent in 2005 remember) is actually teaching kids the wrong lesson. Be good only because someone is watching you because we live in a surveillance state. Kids should be taught to be good not because someone is watching but because it’s the right thing to do even when nobody else sees it. Same thing goes for the parents by the way. Stop posting pictures of the stupid elf. You’re only putting undo pressure on yourself and others and free marketing to the capitalist company that wrote that stupid book and is trying to squeeze as much money out of you as possible.
So to sum up: I’ve hated this idea since I first saw it in 2008 in my book store that I worked at and I still hate it today. It’s creepy and unnecessary and you don’t NEED it to make Christmas magical for your kids. So stop over complicating Christmas and enjoy the simple things that were actual traditions in your family and not ones a marketing campaign told you should be your tradition.
Thanks for coming to my TedTalk🙃
@@sheleavitt06Oh my god yes, the surveillance state thing is why I hate Elf on a Shelf. My niblings love it so we have one or two but I never treat it like a naughty or nice behavior monitor. That aspect of it creeps me out, It’s just a fun toy that gets up every night to do something new. They’ve even made little bedrooms for them before, it’s really cute
Geraldine... It's none of your damn business. XP
Good job making her VERY frustrating.
Geraldine COMPLETELY missed the part about it being a helpful coping mechanism for the kids. 🙄
I hope Geraldine's Elf goes old-school fey, and gives her elf-locks while she sleeps. 🤬
I'm so glad this wasn't a fad when my littles were growing up .... way too much extra pressure!
Heaven forbid he be a dad.
Did she ever hear of "minding your own business." ??
My reply would be, "why are you so interested?"
So happy that elf on the shelf is not a real thing in Belgium we have mostly Saint Nicholas on dec 6th and then Christmas kids get gifts from parents and family so no pretending
someone sounds a bit jealous
Lady, fathers are just as capable as mothers. They can do things just like mom. I don’t like the elf. I think it brings unnecessary stress to drama for kids. It’s one thing for Santa to be watching you. Now you have a mini chucky? Nope. I’ll stick to God and Santa.
You like him so much how about you go and marry him? Oh wait you already have a husband don't you ? Geraldine