DEAR PARENTS AT EASTER EGG HUNTS – CALM DOWN

 

 

Dear some parents at Easter egg hunts,

 

I remember a time we went on an Easter egg hunt when my son was just a year old, barely starting to walk. He didn’t get many eggs since he was still new to walking and he would walk those cute wobble walks where his butt goes all over the place(the cutest thing ever). He managed to grab 2-3 eggs and already by then, most of the eggs were gone. But when he saw an egg several feet away, he smiled as he wobbled as quick as he could to the egg and he squatted down to pick it up with his hand just 6 inches away from the egg when a dad appeared out of nowhere and snatched the egg and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Flabbergasted, I looked around to find the culprit. “Did I just see a grown man steal the egg from my baby?” I thought. “Maybe it was a kid? No…  He looked like he was in his 30’s…”

I remember another hunt we went to, I saw a dad go around and grab as many eggs as he could, as fast as he possibly could while stuffing it in a bag, for an Easter egg hunt for age group 1-3.

Just two days ago, there was an Easter egg hunt at our local mall. They only handed out 100 tickets to make sure each kid would get enough eggs. We placed ourselves between the crowd that formed before us and as I overlooked the field of eggs spotted a giant golden egg the size of my head. “Look!” I pointed to my son. Do you want to see if you can get that golden egg? My son, now 3 1/2 years old and much faster, nodded excitedly. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, GO!” The host shouted. My son ran towards the egg and as I looked around him, I saw a few other full grown woman, moms, also running towards the golden egg with fierce determination and speed. I thought to myself, “These moms wouldn’t grab the egg. They would have the decency and the common sense to know that when on the flier it said for kids ages 1-5, it didn’t mean kids ages 1-50, or kids 1-5 PLUS their accompanying 20,30,40-something year old parent. Plus, they announced before the hunt that parents are not to get involved or pick up the eggs for their kids(which should be common sense but it’s so sad that they have to even announce that).” My son was getting closer to the egg but he had nothing against these full grown adults. One mom snatched it and ran away even before any kids were within 4 feet from the golden egg. I watched her in disbelief as I saw her run to give it to her son who looked to be 2 years old.

I don’t know what was in that golden egg. A gift card to the mall? A t-shirt? A diamond ring? You’d think that was what was in that egg by the way the parents were acting!

Parents. Please. You need to calm down. An Easter egg hunt is not a war. Even though it has the word hunt in it, it’s not a hunt like medieval times where if you don’t catch the animal, you starve and die. But that’s how you act! It shouldn’t be a win-lose situation where the winner takes all or the winner takes the most. And have you looked inside the eggs of all the Easter egg hunts you’ve been to? They’re cheap candy! More eggs = more candy = more cavities = more money to spend at the Dentist!

Sadly, at every single public Easter egg hunts I’ve been to, there are parents like this every single time without fail. And every single time without fail, there are kids crying while clutching to their almost empty baskets as their caregiver looks at the child helplessly.

 

Since these hunts are crazy and I can’t change other people but I can change myself and how my kids act(for now anyway while they’re little), here is what I do to help ease the craziness.

1. My kids see me not stressing about how many eggs they get so they don’t stress. They know that this is not a race but more of a group activity where everybody should be having fun. I tell the kids that it’s not a big deal whether you get 1 or 50, it’s just a plastic egg after all.
2. When we go to these hunts and I see that there are lots of kids and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of eggs, I give my children the maximum number of eggs they can pick up. Usually 10 I say. Once they pick up 10, I scope out the situation and if there are still plenty of eggs, I give them the go.
3. Whether I’ve already given them a limit or not, I walk with them and when I see that they got enough eggs(enough as in enough to go around for all the other kids), I tell them to stop, that they got enough eggs and let’s let the other kids get them, especially the younger ones whom are slower at running.
4. After the hunt is over, we walk around and try to find the kids whom are crying. Then my kids all share their eggs with the crying kids. We let the crying kids pick out the eggs themselves from the baskets instead of just grabbing the eggs and throwing it in the crying kid’s basket, we think that makes it more fun for the crying kid. We don’t say how many they can take, they are free to grab the number that makes them happy. Every time though so far, the parents tell them just one more, or no more, and if I think it’s still too little, my kids will throw in a few more eggs in there for them.

 

These Easter egg hunts should be a fun, care-free, happy activity for all the kids and parents involved. Let’s not make it a fierce competition and cause anxiety or crying kids! It’s just an Easter egg hunt after all. If you don’t agree with me, come find me when the Easter egg hunt is over. I will give you a dollar that you can go to the dollar store and buy some candies, which will be way better and way more candy than all the candies you managed to grab from all those eggs.

 

Love,

A parent who wishes for world peace at every Easter egg hunt.

 

via SIZZLE