We don’t own an Elf on the Shelf, but this time of year Pinterest and blogs are full of creative ideas on things cute little antics for the Elves. I’ve chuckled more than a few times at some of the ideas parents have come up with.
However, there is something I don’t quite understand. If the whole idea of Elf on the Shelf is for the elf to watch kids and then give Santa a naughty or nice report on the children, why are the elves put in positions of looking naughty themselves? Shouldn’t they be setting good examples for the children they have been tasked to watch?
Examples. . . . .
Yes, I know Elf on the Shelf is a fun way of passing the time until Christmas arrives. I think in many if not most cases, it’s most fun for the adults in the house. Even though we’ve chosen to not participate in the Elf on the Shelf craze, I have no doubt that coming up with fun and creative ideas for the elves, setting them up and waiting for the kids to find them brings a lot of laughter to homes. I’m also sure that parents are spending time explaining how the elves antics should not be practiced by the children in the house. Still, I can’t help but wonder how many parents have found their kids doing the exact thing their elf on the shelf did the day before?
Elf or no elf, I hope all are having a wonderful holiday season full of smiles and laughter.
worldofweeks 
We haven’t really had that problem. Even our copycat kiddo doesn’t copy Buddy. (By the way, we actually did roast marshmallows over a candle the other night…we made smores 🙂 It really is fun. Every morning when the kids get up, I hear them on the search for Buddy. The only problem is that sometimes Buddy falls asleep before moving… 🙂
You’ve had more winter weather down there than we’ve had up here. The tornados that moved thru our area last month knocked our power out for about 20 hours, but no roasting marshmallows over a candle. We’re fortunate in we can still light our gas stove with a lighter in a power outage and would be more inclined to roast marshmallows over the stove 🙂
My concern is the child who would decide to roast a marshmallow over a candle without adult supervision because that is what the elf did. Glad you don’t have one of those kids. I think my youngest would be very influenced by the elf’s antics though as she frequently acts out things she has seen.
I totally agree with you Debbie. We do Elf on a Shelf, but she is always sitting nicely in a different spot each morning and that is it. She has left a note to the kids from Santa asking them to do better before they end up on the Naughty list but that is about it. I know for a fact my kids would do as the Elf did if we had her doing any antics, I can hear it now “But mom Mangie did it!” And yes our elf’s name is Mangie!
I wasn’t thinking of your children when I wrote this, but now that you mention it, I can see one of yours in particular, trying out Mangie’s antics 🙂 I won’t mention “his” name though. LOL!!!!
And Mangie? Who came up with that name? 🙂