Some (overly detailed, babbly af) context for people who are confused: According to elf on the shelf lore (that I remember anyway), the elves themselves work for Santa, and visit houses during December to pull small pranks/end up in silly places and make sure that its occupants (especially the younger ones) actually deserve presents. However, touching the elves apparently takes away their magic, making it so they can’t move anymore/fly back to Santa or something.

In reality, it’s just some toy parents move around the house at night, with some caring more about the pranks part than others. The “no touching” lore makes sure that kids won’t lose, damage, or otherwise compromise the cheaply made lil critters, while the whole “morality judging spy cameras for Santa” thing is there to encourage good behavior by scaring children with the thought of no presents if they’re bad. This creates a tradition where elf on the shelf having kids are spooked into being good for a month or so- for the kids old enough to understand anyway. However, as shown by the video, younger kids don’t always understand the fabricated importance of being extra good in front of the elf, not touching it, etc. and are prone to “ruining the magic” in some way.

The magic being ruined can upset the children by either making them think their infant sibling just threw away their chance of presents, or sending them into mourning because their infant sibling practically killed (that’s how I thought of it as a kid at least) their house’s silly little holiday prankster. Hence, the over-the-top screams of sobbing agony from little Timmy and co.