Is your child’s excitement about the holidays affecting their behavior?

The holidays are a magical time for children. The promise of presents, frequent interruptions to the usual schedule, and a few extra sugary treats can add up to behavior issues you thought you had already conquered.

Several years ago, I happened upon the perfect solution to these issues in our house. Each holiday season (usually the weekend after Thanksgiving when the decorations go up) we have a visitor to our house. Our visitor’s name is Elden the Elf and he is one of Santa’s scout elves. He sits in our house and keeps an eye on what is going on. Each night, he flies to the North Pole and reports to Santa about what he has seen.

No, I didn’t come up with this creative idea myself. I had stumbled upon The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition Elf on the Shelf Gift Set by mother/daughter team Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell. The gift set includes the book explaining the concept in a great rhyming story and an elf to position in your home.

Not only does the elf help to provide a behavior reminder for LJ (without me having to be the “bad guy”), LJ has a great time each morning trying to find the new spot where Elden the Elf has chosen to perch for the day. Over the last couple of years, this has become one of our favorite holiday traditions.