Mother is accused of 'traumatising' her young son with 'evil' Elf on the Shelf prank

Elf on the Shelf is a well known Christmas tradition that allows cheeky parents everywhere to indulge in a little mischief and a lot of creativity.

Based on a 2005 Children's book of the same name by American authors Carol V. Aebersold and Bell Chanda, it sees mothers and fathers rearrange naughty elves in the night while their little ones sleep.

When they wake up, they'll find the elves in precarious positions, often involving items around the house - whether it's climbing the walls or stealing their children's sweets.

It's completely up to the parent how far they take the shenanigans - but is it possible to go too far?

British mother, Beth Watson, who goes by @bethwatson1x on the app, has divided opinion on TikTok after she shared a video of her latest Elf on the Shelf prank - featuring her sons dead pet goldfish.

She wrote: 'Noticed we had a dead fish this morning, thought Brilliant idea for naughty elf.'

The camera pans to a fish bowl with some live goldfish swimming around, but one dead one scooped up in a net on the side.

Beth positioned the elf to be sat on the microwave holding the net, as if he went fishing and caught the family pet.

Next to him was some chips and a post it note that says 'Hey Carter, Caught us a fish for tea. Would you like some chips with that?'  

The TikTok was seen by more than 2.3 million people in just three days, with viewers divided on the controversial prank.

One user wrote: 'Talk about traumatising them,' meanwhile another penned 'Nah I would acc cry, I remember when my mum used to flush my fishes down the toilet when they died'.

Another viewer commented, 'these parents on my fyp with these elf’s are really going all out this year'.

Others agreed: 'That’s actually so mean… (definitely something I would do)' and 'this is evil, love it'.

However, some people were less than impressed, with one person commenting on the size of the fish tank: 'the tank need to be at least 20, 30 gallon tank, gold fish grow so big and that's why they're dying as in tiny bowl'.

Meanwhile, some said: 'that’s just traumatic' and 'Emotional Damage!!'. 

Someone joked, 'this would definitely be traumatic but this is hilarious I’d love to see reactions,' which prompted Beth to film her son Carter discovering the scene in the morning.

In the TikTok, she says 'Go look over there,' and her child asked 'Why did they kill it?'

She read out the post it note and he laughed and ran away from the goldfish. 

The little one said 'He's dead' and his mother replied, 'I think so, don't you? What are we going to do with it? Can you believe he's got a fish?'

However, the youngster seemed to find the situation funny, with one commenter writing 'awe what a bubbly little boy you’ve got absolutely love this reaction'.

Another said: 'Bless him he took it so well! Actually a nice way to tell him it died he’s laughing and smiling!'

Others joked, 'This is hilarious,' 'Aw bless him he took that like a champ' and 'brave posting this the fish police will be out in force'.

It comes just after a horrified four-year-old battered her naughty elf toy to 'death' - after seeing that it had flung toilet paper all around the living room.

Tamara Castle, 26, from Bexley, Kent set up the festive prank for her daughter Betsy on the morning of December 1.

But the appalled toddler was furious when she saw what had been done, and 'killed' the Elves Behavin Badly doll in a rage.