Does Anyone Use The Elf On The Shelf At Their DC?

[Christina72684]

I don't have one, but have heard of the Elf on the Shelf and think it's a cute idea. I thought it might be a good way to improve behavior and nap time (which is a struggle here). What do you think?

[daycare]

what is that?

[Unregistered]

My parents had a sinister looking elf doll sitting on the fireplace mantle.... just made me thnk of that.... eek.

[DaycareMom]

I have never read it or heard of it until a friend of mine told me about it. She read it to her 4 year old daughter who was in tears and completely terrified by the end.

I think it's a cute idea, but make sure parents are OK with it first.

[Zoe]

I hadn't heard of it until last year. I've never read the book but know the basic concept. The Elf watches and reports to Santa every night right?

We have a version of that in my Swedish puppet Oskar that my grandmother gave me. Oskar "comes alive" around this time of year and watches the kids from the top of our piano and reports to Santa every night. The kids love it.

They also go to Oskar when they need to tattle. Oskar is my assistant. ::

To the OP, as long as the parents are ok with Christmas activities, I think it's a great idea!

[Hunni Bee]

Mehhh. I don't like that.

I don't like trying to control kids behavior with some unnatural, unseen force...like Santa. I wouldn't use Santa for anything, but that's a whole 'nother subject....

IMO, its like saying...be good or I'm going to let the boogeyman get you.

I like using natural consequences with kids....

If you run in the building continuously, you sit down so you don't get hurt.

If you play with your food, it has to go in the trash because it's dirty.

If you make a big mess, you have to spend your playing time cleaning it.

[AnneCordelia]

I don't like Elf either.

I think he cheapens Christmas. I love how much kids love Christmas and I think so much of that is because it's intangible and magical.

My sister has one though and loves it. To each their own.

[sharlan]

Mehhh. I don't like that.

I don't like trying to control kids behavior with some unnatural, unseen force...like Santa. I wouldn't use Santa for anything, but that's a whole 'nother subject....

IMO, its like saying...be good or I'm going to let the boogeyman get you.

I like using natural consequences with kids....

If you run in the building continuously, you sit down so you don't get hurt.

If you play with your food, it has to go in the trash because it's dirty.

If you make a big mess, you have to spend your playing time cleaning it.

I had a parent use that threat for EVERYTHING. She couldn't understand why she couldn't get her kids to bed at night. They were so afraid of the dark.

I haven't read the book, but it doesn't sound like something I would use.

[Kaddidle Care]

Not a fan of it. Some children are afraid of it and to me it just hypes up the whole Santa thing. Santa is not what Christmas is about.

Puy yourselves in their shoes. Would you like something sitting watching you all day and reporting everything to your boss? ::

[SilverSabre25]

Look up Elf Magic...it's the same concept, but nicer and funnier and without the whole "I'm watching you, don't be bad!" overtone. The Elf Magic elves move around and do silly stuff during the night. It's really quite a cute idea once you take the "watching you" aspect out of it.

I've been tempted...but I have enough on my plate in December as it is!

[Hunni Bee]

Not a fan of it. Some children are afraid of it and to me it just hypes up the whole Santa thing. Santa is not what Christmas is about.

Puy yourselves in their shoes. Would you like something sitting watching you all day and reporting everything to your boss? ::

No Santa for me and mine. There's so much other "magical" aspects about Christmas.

[Crazy8]

I've done Elf on The Shelf with my own kids for a few years now and my daycare kids enjoy finding him in the mornings too.

I've never used him to "threaten" good behavior, we don't focus on the naughty or nice thing at all, we just enjoy finding him in the mornings and seeing what crazy mischief he got into during the night. There are lots of blogs/websites out there with all kinds of silly ideas. I've had him "spill" flour on the counter to make an elf snow angel, getting stuck in the cookie jar when he was trying to grab a midnight snack. I've had him playing a game of checkers with a stuffed animal or playing my son's dsi. Sometimes he just hangs from wacky places, etc.

He's just always been a fun little addition to the holiday season for us. I am not an overly religious person and I'm fine with kids believing in Santa though so I never really thought otherwise about the elf.

[C'est la vie.]

Yup

I've introduced my own children to him this week. My four year old named ours "Mizzel".

I'm starting to introduce the idea to the 3 year olds I work with telling them we'll have a visitor to our classroom on December 1st. I don't think the "threat" to behave works at all so that's not why we're adopting our class elf this year, but they already seem to be excited.

What I'm loving is how the parents are embracing the idea. We all love to see our kids excited in a good way, (notice I said excited not hysterical). We have parents from the Virgin Islands, India, Africa, Hong Kong and Brazil as well as families that are 3rd and 4th generation canadians just in my small room of 16 children alone. They've ALL embraced Canadian Christmas. We're seeing parents choosing to follow traditions and customs of celebrations that we love in Canada. There is just something happy about that.

The thing that I loved about Christmas as a child was the magic. The elf will be in our room to bring a little "magic" to the class. The lessons in Greed, Generosity, Kindness, Charity are built in to the magic we let them feel.

I'm bringing the elf in becuase the wonder in a childs eyes is what I'm striving for every day in daycare. I want my children to know it, I want my daycare children to know it. If the 3 year olds I teach believe that they can whisper messages to Santa to a smiling elf, then great. I love that, the parents love that.

[godiva83]

I am a big fan of 'Elf on the Shelf' I have used it year after year in my classrooms, given it as gifts...and now with my own son.

I never used it as a scar tactic - no sense in making something that can be so fun, not!

My kids always look forward to December when the Elf comes out to play, searching for him in the morning and I love catching them whisper sweet nothing's in his ear. To me it is magical and childhood should be full of that magic.

If you google 101 ideas for elf on the shelf so many great ideas can be found. I love the flour snow angel, painting the kids noses red in their sleep- can't wait.

The elf is a tradition to me similar to decorated the tree, an the advent calendar.

[Meeko]

We love it!

Our little guy is called Flick. The kids can't wait to get in the day care in the mornings to see what he's been up to during the night and where he's going to sit that day. They are not scared of him at all. They love him! In fact one of the most beautiful parts of the holiday for me is watching a child talk to Flick when they think nobody is watching. They talk so sincerely and sweetly to him!