Are you having a fun time coming up with ideas for your Elf on a Shelf? Are you kids just loving the hell out of it? Well, that is great. Also, a doctor says you are a lazy parent and your kids will grow up to be paranoid. Fa la la la la la…la la la la.
If you do not know about the Elf on a Shelf, he or she is, and this is weird, an elf that sits on a shelf…or anywhere, I suppose.
The elf than watches your kids during the holidays and reports on who is naughty and who is nice to Santa. Seems cute, right? WRONG!!!
One doctor told ABC 7 that this is just about the worst thing that has ever happened ever.
Dr. Stephanie Marcy at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles says this may result in lazy parenting.
“My concern as a pediatric psychologist is that parents are using the elf and even Santa Claus as a way to get their children to behave,” Marcy said.
Marcy says using these elves to instill fear and manipulate a child’s behavior could be seen as an intrusive mode of surveillance.
“It ends up making them in some ways a little suspicious, and in the long term, it can create even maybe a little paranoid affect,” she said.
So congrats, your kids are going to grow up to be super paranoid. As for the big fella at the North Pole, well Dr. Marcy says he is a bit different:
Is there a difference between the Elf and the Shelf and Santa Claus? Marcy says there is a fundamental difference.
Santa Claus is an abstract idea, whereas the Elf on the Shelf is right there in your house.
Some experts even say that the elf is a “tattle tale”, which is something that kids might resent.
But, before you get too down on Dr. Marcy, she is not calling for the elf to be kicked out of your house – rather she says to just keep your tradition “light-hearted and humorous”.
What do you think? Let us know with a comment below.
