The Elf on the Shelf

i was with my nephew recently and his parents and i was introduced to a piece of technology that they are using to help with behavior control. The elf on the shelf is a stuffed toy elf that you put on the shelf and then you tell the child that it's like santa's spy who's watching you all the time for being good. It usually sits in inaccessible places to help with this no touching thing but every night while the child is asleep it moves.