I was once a child who loved Easter Egg hunts. I loved the thrill of searching for a prize egg, and a healthy dose of competition is great for everyone, right? I couldn’t wait until my kids were old enough to enjoy one of their own, but sadly as they get older, I realize how much I dislike egg hunts.
Let me explain why. Take this morning for example, I was at an egg hunt enjoying the fact that they had the kids divided by age and grade. This would mean my hubby and I would have to divide and concur to be where we needed to be. I sent him with the older two kids and stayed with our youngest. I thought 1st grade seemed like a safe place to be. As we stood there waiting for it to start, I heard parents coaching their kids. They said things like “look for the gold eggs, they have prizes” and ” run as fast as you can to get as many as you can” and then the unthinkable happened. A mom told her kid and I quote, “Don’t worry about it if you knock another kid over, keep going. They will probably run back to their parents crying and that will mean more eggs for you!” I couldn’t believe my ears! How hateful and hurtful could a parent be. What were they teaching their little one?
The hunt started and my little one raced out to get eggs. I thought about it more and more while she was collecting her eggs. We are teaching them to be greedy…to take as much as they can for themselves, and it’s ALL ABOUT THEM. I felt shameful. Maci had a HUGE basketful of eggs and they were all filled with Sugary gum and Tootsie Rolls. Both are things that we don’t eat a lot of in our house and I don’t encourage them to have a supply of those items by any means.
I will not take a fun childhood memory away from my kids, but I will teach them to share and that while this is just a fun event, it is NEVER okay to push others out of your way or hoard things away from others. One of our family values is to be giving and loving towards others…and an Egg hunt does not line up with that at all.
After the hunt was over, the girls were looking at their collection and shared their prize eggs with each other and their cousins, so all had a prize egg.
Here is an idea that we might adopt in our household… me and my hubby will hide the eggs and each egg will have a prize in it…
- one on one time baking with mom
- snuggle time with dad and a book
- movie night with a movie of your choice
- you pick where we eat out
- mom will make bed for you
- breakfast for dinner on night of your choice
Another idea I have heard of is that each kid gets ONE color of egg to search for. This way everyone has the exact amount of eggs.
