| No Images? Click here  Hi friends!My week has been consumed by Elf on the Shelf — in good ways and bad. The Elf, which has a rather sweet history, isn’t allowed in our house. There is much debate out there— and I mean A LOT — about whether the hokey holiday tradition is a good or bad influence on kids. As far as I’m concerned, have all the elves at your house that you want, I just don’t want to be responsible for remembering to move something every day for a month.That said, my oldest son is right in the target age for Elf on the Shelf. And while we don’t have one at our house, he gets to look for “Chippie” every morning at school. And man does he seem to love it. This is all fine and good with me, until a conversation we had the other night before bed made me stop and think. Those ten, maybe 15, minutes of pre-bedtime cuteness (you know what I’m talking about) were interrupted on Wednesday when, out of nowhere, my son looked at me and said, “Mommy, does Santa like me?” Shocked, I said, “of course, sweetheart. You’re a good little boy, and even if you weren’t, he’d like you.” He looked relieved and I asked him why. He couldn’t — or maybe wouldn’t — tell me. But it made me think about the elf at school and what all the kids talk about while there.There’s so much necessary discussion about good and bad behavior in much more sinister ways lately amongst grown-ups. But does Elf put too much of a premium on being watched… and only being kind when you know someone is “reporting you to Santa”? Have we forgotten what it means to be generous and thoughtful all year long? Do you have strong feelings about The Elf? Any strategies you'd like to share?"Can't get enough Elf? Here are 17 tweets from parents about The Elf and some of the awesomest parodies of our little friend.Funniest tweet from parents this week  Book to love
For when you just want to scream I’m prepping my New Year’s Resolution and I’m hovering around the idea of becoming the Orange Rhino, i.e. actively working on yelling less at my children. Like everyone, I’m a work in progress and I’m hoping to dive into this challenge with my kids’ best interests at heart. Read more here. More stories from the trenches:  A guide to helping you raise the kind of person you'd like to know.Love what you see? Send it to a friend. Did someone forward this email? If so, subscribe here. Can't get enough? Check out (In)formation and The Good Life. |
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