My 5-year-old blames her bad behavior on Elf on the Shelf

A five-year-old has beaten her mother with the family’s Elf on the Shelf.

Her mother is now worried about how to handle things, feeling as if her daughter has played the last uno reversed card.

“she’s lying to me”

In a Reddit post, she explains:

“My daughter (5) keeps doing naughty things and says Elf on the Shelf did it.

“Last night, the elf got into cotton balls and Q-tips and made snowflakes on the bathroom counter. My daughter came out of the bathroom this afternoon and said mom, the elf made snowflakes with her flosserstoo!

“She obviously knows the elf didn’t do such a thing—and they fixed the flossers. So she’s lying to me.”

Now, the mother is faced with the moral dilemma of balancing her daughter’s honesty with preserving the magic of Christmas.

“So she must know the elf is fake? But maybe not,” she thinks.

“I don’t know what to do. She keeps doing this kind of thing and I’m just at a loss. I don’t do anything?”

“Looks like karma”

The comments section offered reassurance, suggesting that the behavior is harmless and imaginative.

“Looks like she just wants to play the game too,” one commenter wrote.

“Oh, how the twists have come,” added another.

Some were more critical.

“You teach her that this inanimate object is ‘doing’ these ‘deeds,’ but then when she does the same thing, you want to know if you should punish her?” read a scathing reply.

And this band member simply replied, “Sounds like karma to me.”

“More magical”

In a follow-up comment, the mother clarified her position, insisting she was not seeking to punish her child.

“I’m not upset with her at all and I’m surprised at everything she’s done to the elf. “I just wanted to know if I should talk to him about the elf and that it’s real,” she said.

While she was initially worried that her daughter’s involvement might ruin the spell, she has since made up her mind.

“I was worried that by doing this it was no longer magical, but I think the points here are right,” she wrote.

“I’ve decided after hearing back that I’m not going to talk to her and just move on unless she asks me.”

After all, she has embraced the creativity of Christmas.

“It’s more magical that she’s participating,” she concluded.