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<\/p>\nA MUM revealed she\u2019s banned Elf on the Shelf\u00a0 – because she fears he\u2019ll teach her kids how to be bad.<\/p>\n
Sarah MacRory, 36, uses a technique called \u201cgentle parenting\u201d to show her kids respect and boundaries.<\/p>\n
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She doesn\u2019t let them watch certain telly shows, including Horrid Henry and Peppa Pig, to shield them from bad influences.<\/p>\n
So she has no intention of inviting in a mischievous elf who will trash the house and cause chaos every night for almost a month.<\/p>\n
Sarah, from Aberdeen, said: \u201cElf on the Shelf isn\u2019t welcome in our house.\u00a0 I think it teaches children bad behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSome adults melt chocolate and say it\u2019s done a poo on the floor. I\u2019ve seen one shave a dad\u2019s eyebrows and others have cut hair and snipped pyjamas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are behaviours I don\u2019t want to have in my house. We very much teach the children about respecting each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want them to think it\u2019s okay to go shaving your parents or siblings. Or cutting their eyebrows off. That\u2019s disrespectful in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The elf is a worldwide phenomenon with parents having to cook up crazy ideas every night then posting the results on social media.<\/p>\n
Aside from being a bad influence, busy mum-of-three Sarah fears that she would never have enough time to do it properly.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n She said: \u201cI\u2019m not against it. I have respect for the parents who do it every year- but it\u2019s a lot of work.<\/p>\n \u201cI can understand why it would be fun. But the pressure of having to think of all these things\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s more the anxiety of forgetting. I would be lying in bed stressed to the max worried about what I\u2019m going to do with this little elf the next day.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a ten year commitment I don\u2019t think I\u2019m prepared to make.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarah, married to firefighter husband Scott, has seen first-hand the negative impact the elf can have.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cOne of my friends online had elves with whiteboard markers that drew all over the washing machine\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey stuffed their children\u2019s favourite teddies in the washing machine and wrote \u2018hahahaha\u2019 on it.<\/p>\n \u201cThen they got annoyed a few weeks later when their child drew all over the living room wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut they modelled that to them. I think that it really can teach bad behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarah fears the elf could be traumatising youngsters when it cuts up a prize painting they made for their mum and dad, for example.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n And she\u2019s concerned that some parents maybe don\u2019t appreciate the deep impact some of the stunts could be having on the youngsters.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cThey\u2019re being told the elf is there to spy on them for santa.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the elf is wrecking the house the child thinks it wouldn\u2019t have happened if they had been good.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the time children are taking responsibility for that and I don\u2019t think adults realise it can be damaging.<\/p>\n \u201cAll this cute and funny content for social media could be having a real negative impact on your child.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarah never used the elf with eldest son Tyler James, who is 16 and has additional needs<\/p>\n She fears that suddenly introducing him now could be confusing for the teen.<\/p>\n But if her two youngest kids Everleigh-Reign, three and Theo-Baylin, two, became dead set on having an elf she might have to change her mind.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cIf my children begged and begged for elves to visit, maybe I would cave.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want them to be happy and I definitely want them to enjoy the run-up to Christmas.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I would be more conscious of what they\u2019re doing. I\u2019d probably have them making breakfast and hot chocolate rather than being bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarah offers tips and advice to mums online and has set up a community as the Half-Assed Hippie Mama.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/close-womans-hands-picking-cigarette-861349840-1.jpg\")
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