Welcome toSmall Humans, an ongoing series at Mashable that looks at how to take care of – and deal with – the kids in your life. Because Dr. Spock is nice and all, but it’s 2018 and we have the entire internet to contend with.
Parents are freaking donewith Elf on the Shelf.
The innocent holiday tradition started out as a cutesy way to keep their kids' behavior in check ahead of the holidays, but has been criticized for being a capitalist marketing scheme to indoctrinate children into accepting the surveillance state.
That, and parents are tired of coming up with creative ways to stage the impish — and unsettlingly creepy — stuffed doll. At this point, are you freezing your elf in a block of ice and artfully placing him in front of an Elsa doll for your kids, or for the Instagram clout?
Here are a few tweets proving just how exasperated parents feel about the dreaded toy.
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So this Christmas season, just give yourself a break and leave the elf on the damn shelf.