![]() ![]() It is not the holiest of days, nor the apex of spiritual celebrations. Hanukkah is not the same as Christmas, and I never pretend otherwise. Despite the shopping, cooking, decorating madness, as an outsider, it feels like people are trying to help other people.ĭecember always brings the Hanukkah/Christmas cage match. For a few weeks, the world feels like a giving, thankful, bright, happy place, and I love basking in its glow. Somehow, though, as everyone else is decking and lighting and sending their tidings, it is impossible to avoid being swept up in a tornado of good cheer-that is, of course, if you can tune out the commercialization of every possible facet of the celebration. I have no halls to deck, no lights to hang, no tidings to send. And I primarily love this most wonderful time of the year because I don’t celebrate Christmas. ![]() And, if you’re just sitting there beneath a massive pile of smiling elves and stuffed reindeer, patiently waiting until your kids finally grow out of all this bullsh-t and you can get some peace? Um, same.There are many things about Christmas that perplex me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love the Christmas season. ![]() Or, if your kids are already counting down the days until the Elf on the Shelf shows up, awesome. So if the Reindeer in Here sounds like the perfect fit for your family, more power to you. We get to choose how we introduce it and what kind of role it plays in our holiday celebrations. The thing with the Elf on the Shelf, the Reindeer in Here, Santa Claus, the Mensch on the Bench, and every other friggin’ holiday “tradition” that hasn’t been marketed to us yet is, these things don’t need to compete with each other. No biggie.īut, even for parents who do use the Elf as some sort of behavioral aid, it’s hard to imagine things are really so out of hand that we must be “empowered” by a crazy-eyed reindeer to finally ditch the tradition before we cause permanent damage. I move it around and my kids think he’s just there to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. “The Elf on the Shelf is watching you, each and every Christmas.” As a parent, I’m not particularly down with the whole Elf spy thing - and a lot of parents aren’t - so our Elf exists solely for fun. “The Elf on the Shelf is watching you, what you say and what you do,” it posits. Secondly, children need to learn self-control and to do the right thing for its own sake.”īut, as an Elf on the Shelf mom myself, I can’t help but wonder if we’re all getting our panties in a twist over nothing. First of all, it’s just lazy parenting - the easiest, but worst, way to get your children to behave. David Kyle Johnson, PhD, wrote for Psychology Today that, like Santa, the Elf on the Shelf is a lie that “threatens your parental trustworthiness.” He adds, “… Stopping bad behavior with promises of future reward is … a terrible and harmful practice. The Reindeer in Here is still a spy, but it’s a friendly spy. And, lest you have any doubt that this reindeer is meant to be a savage clapback to the Elf, the makers even created Shelf the Elf, a social media movement to “empower parents” to fight back against the “creepy” and “stressful” Elf culture.Īs Newsweek reports, some psychologists do claim the Elf on the Shelfactually has the potential to be damaging to small kids. They even made this handy chart to show how the Reindeer stacks up to his, um, competitor? “After naming their own reindeer, the child is encouraged to show it around, taking it to a different place each day, both inside and out of the house so that when Santa comes on Christmas Eve, he knows as much as possible about the child, how good they’ve been and exactly where to deliver the presents.” and report on the fun adventures they have with their host family. Rather than showing up to provide 24-hour kid surveillance to Big Santa, the Reindeer in Here’s job is to learn about kids - their likes, dislikes, personality, where they live, etc. He’s a “cute and cuddly” reindeer with big blue eyes and one horn that’s smaller than the other. The Reindeer in Here was essentially created to be the anti–Elf on the Shelf. Children’s author Adam Reed invented the Reindeer in Here, and it’s coming this Christmas to take the Elf down. One dad who found himself firmly in the latter camp decided it was time to create a rival for the Elf on the Shelf. ![]() To others, he’s that creepy little f-cker we forgot to move again last night. To some, the Elf is a beloved harbinger of Christmas cheer. The holidays are fast approaching, which means it’s almost time for the arrival of Christmastime’s most controversial guest: the Elf on the Shelf. ![]()
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