Sorry about the dark grainy picture, folks. My camera batteries were dead, so I took a photo with the video camera, which obviously doesn't take good pictures.
This morning (Monday, the day after) Damon woke up crying because Easter is always terrible, bad things only happen to him, etc. We hoped he would be over the the disasters of yesterday, when the Easter bunny didn't bring any chocolate bunnies, Anne kicked his basket and broke his hard-boiled eggs, and then Jake made his hard-boiled eggs into egg sandwiches--no such luck. I tried to be sympathetic for a while, but finally told him that if he was going to focus on things like this, instead of the Resurrection, then we wouldn't do fun things like Easter egg hunts anymore. He cried for a few more minutes sans the whining, and he hasn't mentioned his ruined Easter since.
Tangential subject: how much do you/would you encourage belief in things like the Easter Bunny? When Damon asked me if there was really a Santa, I made sure he really wanted to know and then told him Dad and I were Santa but he shouldn't tell other kids, because it's not nice to ruin their fun. And with Easter, I didn't make it much of a secret that I was the one who had hidden the eggs. Jake is horrified at how I've ruined the fun of the holidays, but I just don't feel comfortable selling fabrications to my kids. I'll have to ask my friend Cindy W. about this sometime--I know she'll back me up, and her kids seem happy enough even though she's told them the truth since they were little. Do you think I'm a monster?
5 comments:
If you're a monster, I am too! Our kids have always known Daddy is Santa, and the Easter Bunny has never really been mentioned. We took Jonah to a primary Christmas party when he was a Sunbeam; afterward, he said he now knew Jesus wasn't real & Santa was (because he'd just seen Santa & has never seen Jesus.) What a sad day that was! :) I think it's much healthier to focus on who is truly Real, myself. ...although I don't think people who teach their kids about Santa are monsters either, for the record. :)
MONSTER! :)
No, we're the same. We let them believe in the magic of it all, but if they ask...we tell the truth.
Not a monster! Santa still comes to our house, but not the Easter Bunny. Max was actually really afraid of big rabbits (long story) last year, so we told him the Easter Bunny would skip our house. We gave the boys a basket of goodies ourselves and told them the gifts are to remind them of the gifts the Savior gives all of us. So far so good. I think this will be our new tradition.
Kadin has always been pretty skeptical about the whole santa deal. He said to me one time when he was four, "Santa isn't real". and I said, "yeah, so....?" then why do we give presents at christmas? Kadin: "because the wise men gave presents to Jesus". Me: "is Jesus real?" .... "yes". So, we have "From: the three kings" instead of "From: santa" written on our gifts under the tree =). It's kinda the same thing with the easter deal. Last easter we put two easter baskets in the front room easter morning and filled them with seed packets, gloves and simple garden tools. They were soooo excited. And when they came to say thanks... we hugged them and said you're welcome... happy easter! and I'm sure there was a piece of candy or two burried in the grass somewhere ;-) So, If you're a monster... then I'm ummm aaaa wellll Darth Vadar?
I think Alex was 5 or so when he asked Tom if Santa was real. Tom thought it was silly and a bad precedent to lie to him, so he told him the truth. I, however, didn't think it through and warn him against sharing the sensational news until I got a lovely irate call from a mother who's little boy had been forever scarred by the truth. Now we say, "Santa isn't real, but it's fun to pretend, so we don't tell other kids and spoil their fun."
The easter bunny? Now that one doesn't make much sense to the kids. A bunny, with no hands, somehow getting in the house to bring a basket full of stuff?
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