A Wife Catches Major Heat After Sharing She Bailed Her Husband Out Of 'Elf On The Shelf' Duties

A mom on TikTok is getting a fair amount of backlash after sharing that she totally let her husband off the hook when it came to the mental load of the infamous Elf on the Shelf.

In a photo posted to TikTok, she shared that her family’s Elf on the Shelf named Sparkle “broke his leg” in an ice skating accident and needed to stay off his leg for three days to rest. On the photo, she wrote, “I'm going on a girls trip for the next 3 days and know my husband's limits. Broken leg for the next 3 days.”

Typically, when parents decide to enter the world of Elf on the Shelf, starting December 1, the elf moves into your home, gets into mischief and “keeps watch” over the kids to make sure they’re behaving right before Santa makes his way from the North Pole.

Now, some parents just move the elf around the house to different spots and let the kids go on a little scavenger hunt, but other parents get super into the concept, creating funny scenes and scenarios for the elf. Much to the delight of kids!

This mom clearly didn’t trust her husband to be able to follow through with three days' worth of Elf on the Shelf duties, and so, Sparkle broke their leg, absolving her husband of any sort of mental or physical labor that comes with the elf.

The comments were not exactly laughing with the OP over her creative decision. Some people saw the move as enabling her husband’s incompetence.

“omg so cute! an encouraged lack of meaningful engagement between your kids and their father! I had a dad just like this growing up!!” one user wrote sarcastically.

“Im on a girls trip and left my adult husband in charge of the elf and because I refused to ever infantilize him he doesn't act like an infant,” another said.

Another wrote, “that's actually pretty sad that he can't do something for his kids for three days.....”

Some moms in the comments were defending the husband’s possible forgetfulness (or... disinterest), noting that moms “forget” to move the elf all the time, and sure, that might be true. However, as one commentator put it, “Why are yall saying "moms forget every day"? This isn't about him forgetting. This is about her feeling like he's incapable of doing it. She could just as easily check in to make sure he remembers but she chose to just absolve him of the responsibility completely”

Another said, “So you're gone and the elf doesn't move? my kids wouldve picked up on that instantaneously. Thank goodness my husband isn't a child himself and moves the elf most of the time. Men are adults. They can handle things if you make them accountable.”

Another wrote, “waiting for her to defend in...3...2...1...”

And defend him she did!

One user wrote, “They can take care of the children AND move an elf.”

The OP replied, “That man can play, color, play tag, go on daddy daughter dates, volunteer at the school but will most definitely forget the elf.”