10 Holiday Gifts That Will Cause Your Child Lasting Psychological Damage

[Pacifist Patriot]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-shrink-tank/201012/10-holiday-gifts-will-cause-your-child-lasting-psychological-damage

1. Elf on the Shelf. The "Elf on the Shelf" is a Christmas tradition, where parents hide a small elf doll at various places around the house in the days leading up to Christmas. The elf on the shelf is a "scout elf". He watches over the children to make sure they are behaving and each night he flies to the North Pole to report back to Santa. The feeling of constantly being watched by a magical creature that is just waiting for you to screw up is surely a breeding ground for a lifetime of paranoid psychopathology.

I realize I'm opening a can of worms here, but this is, in some respects, how this non-theist feels about theism.

I've actually never heard of this tradition, but my kids have gotten 6 of the ten gifts on this list. I'll just add this to the long list of reasons they should be saving up now for their therapy bills courtesy of mom. ;-)

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. 7 out of 10. My work is almost done. n/t

[Matariki]

2. That was fun. n/t

[tridim]

3. I agree about Etch-A-Sketch..

An interesting contraption for sure, but a lame toy and an awful artistic medium.

Paper and pencil is 1000 times better.

[Leftist Agitator]

8. Yeah, Etch-A-Sketch totally sucks...

:eyes:



You were saying?

[tridim]

9. I still think it sucks, although obviously great artists can eek out a nice image.

I speak from experience, I hated it because it held me back as an artist in my formative years.

Lite Brite was equally as bad. It's even worse now because it runs on batteries instead of AC.

[smiley]

12. I once knew someone who could draw like that

on an etch a sketch. He would spend days doing amazing drawings and then in an instance - shake it up - without documenting what he had done. Absolutely amazing (and slightly crazy) if you ask me.

[DBoon]

4. You mean like the Christian god?

"The feeling of constantly being watched by a magical creature that is just waiting for you to screw up is surely a breeding ground for a lifetime of paranoid psychopathology."

[rationalcalgarian]

6. Exactly like the christian god!

[freshwest]

5. Oh, no, so this is where it all started. I'm doomed!

[MattSh]

7. I kept looking for that sarcasm smiley in this article.

Was this in all seriousness? So what then does he suggest? Skip the holidays altogether?

:sarcasm:

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. I'm hoping it was just a lame attempt at humor by someone who is not a humor writer.

[auntsue]

10. If that was not satire then this guy is twisted -

Has he never heard of play or the concept of pretend? He must think kids are made of spun sugar - yikes they are not so fragile. If these toys could cause such "trauma" imagine how he would react if a kid fell and scraped his knee? Kids are so resiliant. They can deal with almost anything if the people around tham are tuned in and there is good communicaton about feelings and reality. all I want to say to this guy is "Oh please!"


edited to fix typos

[DavidDvorkin]

13. Trumping them all: the Bible.

[nolabear]

14. This has got to be bad humor. If he was serious he'd be drummed out of the corps.

Even pop psychobabble knows better. Yeah, he's just screwing with you, moatly to get back at the world for his parents scaring the hell out of him with that damned elf.