We had a little situation at school today...
Somebody touched the elf!!!
Which apparently is waaay against the rules.
Chloe is devastated.
This Elf on the Shelf may be a bit controversial...some think it is a great motivator for good behavior before the holidays. Others may feel it is detrimental to encourage children to behave well because an Elf is watching rather than behave well because...ummm...it's the right thing to do and we want to please Jesus and be more like Him.
It is all in fun, right?
Well, as stated, Chloe's class has an Elf on the Shelf. She has been very excited about it and completely caught up in the world of 'a magic elf watching her' and 'relaying her good behavior to Mr. Ho Ho Ho.'
Until... somebody touched the elf!
...which makes him lose his magic powers and causes him not to return to the classroom.
Again, devastated.
It was the first thing she told me about when she got in the van.
I commiserated to an acceptable level in my opinion...
Once home, her behavior began to deteriorate, so she was sent to her room to reset...which caused her behavior to further deteriorate. (Viscous cycle.)
Once she was ready to 'talk' (instead of scream and melt down) we discovered the Elf was at the root of her poor behavior...she was SO MAD and SO FRUSTRATED that she lost the fun of the elf because of someone else's poor choice.
But it goes even further...
She is sincerely concerned for the Elf's well being.
Because, not only has he lost his magical powers, he has now lost his ability to return to Santa and now he may 'never, ever, EVER get back to Santa!!" (Poor, Elf!)
Which then brings her to the conclusion that Santa will not find out whether she has been naughty or nice and therefore won't bring her anything for Christmas. Cue another melt down.
In my opinion, this Elf on a Shelf thing has backfired.
We try to console her that Santa has other informants...aka Mom and Dad... and that we are confident that she has, indeed, been a very good girl...
It has helped for the moment...
If he does not return to the classroom, should he 'show up' at our house???
Not gonna lie...a little bit tempted to invite the little dude over...
You know...just 'cause it wasn't fair for the whole class to miss out on the fun...
Torn...
DO it!
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