Easter’s Contact Sport

I am done taking my kids to public Easter Egg Hunt events. We have tried different event venues throughout the years and it’s always the same experience. Our attempt at the mall yesterday was the last straw.

It always comes down to the parents ruining it. These are hunts geared for ages 0-5 so I would expect gentleness since there are babies and new walkers present but instead people run over and my kids get overwhelmed and scared by the intensity while they watch adults push other people’s toddlers out of the way to get the egg for their kid. It’s almost like watching a football game.

I almost had to reduce myself to their level (minus the pushing) to ensure that my kids could get 1 egg each. I have since learned that this is not unique to my area and such craziness has made the news before even leading some event organizers to cancel egg hunts due to the parent’s behavior.

So instead of taking the safety risk and dealing with the stress of dealing with these crowds in the hopes that my kids will get 1 egg with candy that I don’t want them to eat.  We witnessed children crying because the hunt was over in seconds and they didn’t get a single egg while other kids had baskets full with at least 10 of them courtesy of their parents.

I have decided to do our own hunts at home from now on. Over the years I have accumulated a collection of plastic eggs from previous hunts and I will proceed to fill them with raisins and other snacks, coins for their piggy banks and small treats such as stickers and erasers. I will hide the eggs in our backyard and let them free to hunt and find the eggs at their leisure and without pressure while we let the crazies tackle each other.  And while I am at it I may actually start to do them in Ostara next year instead.