Elf On The Shelf Research Paper

Every year when winter comes, the holidays come rolling in, there are several holidays celebrated by families that all involve their own special traditions. For those who celebrate Christmas, a certain little elf has become all the rage and is finding its way into the homes of many and becoming a yearly tradition for millions of families. This little elf is, The Elf on The Shelf, which has exploded with popularity over the past ten years since its debut in 2005, in 2013 it even took place in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in the form of a giant balloon. Many parents and teachers utilize Elf on The Shelf in their homes and classrooms, but the main problem with Elf on the Shelf, is that it teaches children that unfamiliar surveillance is okay and it normalizes the idea of always living under the watchful eye of some greater being. …show more content…
When you purchase the book it also comes with an elf and the family gets to name that elf. The elf you receive is considered one of Santa’s special scout elves that he sends from the North Pole to help watch on all the little boys and girls to determine who will end up on the Nice List and who will end up on the Naughty List. Each night the parents are supposed to move the elf into a new placement, some get incredibly creative with this. The elf stays in sight of the children in the house all day and at night time the story states that the elf will fly back to the North Pole and report to Santa (who is referred to as, The Boss,) on how the children of the household have behaved. A line many kids would hear from their parents, and on I heard from my parents as a child, “Santa is watching,” every now and then, but this takes that to a whole new level of