Elf on the Shelf

Okay so I’ve been interested in elf on the shelf for a couple of years now. Everyone I asked would never explain it to me or tell me where to get one from.

After doing some research, I found that it’s been highly criticized. Some of the comments range from

“Bullying kids into behaving for gifts”

“Lying to kids about Santa”

“A dangerous parental crutch”

and my personal favorite

“It teaches kids that it’s okay for the nsa to spy on them and report back to the government”

So is elf on the shelf a great thing or a bad thing? Why?

Do you think it conditions kids to accept the surveillance state? Why?