I don't know how to look my child in the eye, and tell him that the easter bunny's coming!?
My parents never told me that (that I can remember), and I never felt I lost out about that stage of believing in Santa or the Easter bunny.
Last year, with Hugh just turned 4, was our first Easter that personally I noticed all the commercial side of things taking over the festivities a bit more. I didn't have a problem with it - it was lovely. We went camping on the weekend with some great friends and had a lot of fun. A bit of a milestone for me though, was to witness my beautiful boy being old enough to respond to his Da and Uncle who noticed the Easter bunny out the window, and follow, in absolute delight, his cousins to go hunt for the chocolate that the bunny left hidden throughout the garden. It was enthralling for him! And the week(s) that followed with ALL THAT CHOCOLATE was cool too!
But this year it's grown even more. Hugh remembers that egg hunt and the Easter bunny very well and he and Nate have been eyeing off the easter chocolates set at eye-height throughout all the shops since what- February? On top of that, at school Hugh has been making hunting baskets, chocolate moulds, easter bonnets (they had a beautiful hat parade to show off their awesome work too, which was very special and I would have loved to see more than the 30 seconds of it that I did, because I was late) Nate has been making easter stuff at his creche's and playgroups too and it is great to have the theme for the kids to get excited about easter, but now I'm feeling a bit of pressure here- Except for the fact that I can not look Hugh or Nate in the eye and say, the Easter bunny is coming! I can also not look them in the eye and say, the Easter bunny is NOT coming!!!
Yesterday Hugh brought home some bunny ears from school to make with his brothers. We sat colouring and talking about easter, and we had some little easter treats to give his teachers on their last day of term this week. I can't remember what it was that Hugh said (I wish I could, to justify what I'm about to tell you that i said!) but my response was, "Hey, you know that Easter isn't even actually all about this stuff in the end." I was a bit gobsmacked but Hugh actually asked me what's it about, and continued to be interested in what I was saying (I would have expected him to say something more like Oh, yeah and then ask me for some more drink or what colour next or can we stop this now, I want to play computer). What am i sposed to say? Jesus dying on the cross? Is he old enough to get that? I'm only just starting to get it now. So I'm winging it here: "It's like how at christmas, we celebrated Jesus being born, and then at easter, we celebrate him being born again." (Hugh continues to listen. What the. not even a perplexed look) "So he died, a heap of men killed him and stuff, but God brought him back from the dead, and now we don't have to worry about death! Cos we just have to ask Jesus to look after us about that." Now this is a bit of a pearler: Hugh looks at me, actually thinking about what I'm saying, and goes, "So, some guys killed Jesus. so maybe the Easter bunny helped saved him, and gave everybody chocolate!" "umm... nah, not really" "Well, did Jesus give us the easter bunny?" I couldn't help myself now, because I'm having a pretty grown-up conversation with him already, so i stopped it at that- I can't hear any more precious stories about the easter bunny being Jesus or anything- "Hugh, some guys don't believe in Jesus, cos they can't see him and stuff, so they just made up the easter bunny instead!" I got a bit of a double take, but I'm not sure what was taken in out of that. There was a bit of uncertaintity on my side of things because I don't want to take away from Hugh's childhood easter experiences! So I didn't mean to blurt out that some guys just made up the easter bunny. And I didn't mention it again either, I didn't have to, because he was actually more interested in the fact that some people don't believe in Jesus!! To him, Jesus is Air. So He is very real to him!
I don't think that the Easter bunny takes away from the real reason we celebrate Easter - Jesus claiming victory over death forever! How could anything take away from that? This is something that should be celebrated everyday. As aussie kids, they can't avoid all the kafuffle that will happen about the way Australia celebrates their long weekend, and that's okay with me. We will have a bit more chocolate and stuff in the house this week, and maybe even an easter egg hunt again, because we're Australian. I just pray that Woz and I keep getting plenty more opportunities to teach our boys as they grow older, about what we believe.
It is super tricky hey Kiah. I tell Ellie "It's fun to imagine a bunny coming and hiding Easter eggs isn't it!" I won't tell her that it's real and in fact I have told her that Santa and the Easter Bunny are things people like to imagine and sometimes people even dress up like them because it is fun. She is a little confused by it all but I find that the imagining thing seems to work for us.
ReplyDeleteSo hard though hey.
You're doing a fantastic job with your kids.
Love Kerensa :)
Hey Kiah,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. My Mum's approach (which I am following with the boys) was to never tell us anything about Santa (Father Christmas to us) or the Easter Bunny but always reply with what do you think. When she debunked them she told us this as it was important for her that we knew we created our own myth (with the help of marketing and commercialism etc) but that Jesus was real and not part of the myth.
Her concern was that kids sometimes on learning about the Easter Bunny and Santa think that the whole true story is myth also.
As it is something you seem to be interested in I thought that may interest you. You are doing a fabulous job with your boys and your blog is thought provoking and interesting as always. I would love to hear a bit more about what Doula raining you are doing some time too.
Much love from afar,
Josephine
Sorry, are you saying Santa isn't real?
ReplyDeleteWhat the..?? When did that happen?
**
Okay, in all seriousness, this is an age-old question asked by most Christian parents: whether to go with the Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy myth or not in relation to their faith. Lisa and I are going to go with Santa and the Easter Bunny, although when Mikayla's old enough to comprehend the idea of Jesus and his birth, death and rebirth, we'll make sure she knows that there's a difference between the two. Equally, I respect people's decision not to get their kids to believe in Santa and the rest, but it's darn hard going against the ever-increasing flow.
Great post, Kiah!
Im loving hearing about your life with the boys :) What precious conversations! :D
ReplyDeleteHey Kiah, Thanks for that post. When I read the title I was really interested in what you would have to say about it all.
ReplyDeleteI was always pretty sure about not telling our kids about things like Santa and the Easter Bunny (my folks just didn't make a big deal about it, didn't focus on it or avoid it). But the clincher for me with Charli was when she asked me if God was imaginary, I then had no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't be clouding her mind with untruths.
Like Rodney has said, it is each parents choice about whether to go down that road or not, so I think it's great that you have addressed it on your blog.
Thanks again Kiah