Is your Elf on the Shelf causing more stress than joy?

For almost twenty years — 17.5 million sold since 2005, when the Elf on the Shelf trend originated —the tradition has seemed like a clever, innocuous, holiday trend — the cute little elf purportedly moving about the house when no one is watching.  But lately, if social media videos are any indication, the elf’s antics have escalated to becoming full on, theatrical productions, creating more and more work for parents and more stress at an already stressful time.

“Parental stress at the holidays is high for a variety of reasons, including financial and inflation issues,” says Amanda La Guardia, associate professor of counseling at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Human Services.

La Guardia was a recent guest on WVXU, where she pointed to the pressures of trying to make the season perfect and explained how she approaches the elf tradition with her own young daughter.

"Try to find a tradition around it that works for you and doesn't cause stress," she said, adding that it's really not that important if the "Elf" forgets to move at night.

"I don't get worked up about it because it's really not that important. There are other things for me and my daughter that are really important over the holidays that we focus on. So, sometimes [the elf] might do something crazy if I'm in the mood to set it up that way, but otherwise, I just kind of let it be. If I forget, I forget, it doesn't cause any problems. And I try not to put that pressure on myself," she added.

Listen to the interview.

Featured image at top of Elf on the Shelf in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade courtesy of iStock/tarabird.