Easter 2009 was one for the record books (or at least the family scrapbook).
Not because our family celebrated a birth, mourned a death or scored the winning lottery ticket during a late night gas run (darn Powerball). Rather, this Easter will live in infamy thanks to a series of events that taught me an important lesson in parenting: Never say never!
“NEVER. EVER. EVER. AGAIN!”
Those were the exact words I used in a blog I posted a few days ago addressing my distaste for public Easter egg hunts.
After a nightmarish experience two years ago where my then toddler daughter was mowed down by an overzealous (seek: freak) mother “helping” her son grab as many eggs as possible (never mind that there was a 10 egg limit), I swore off attending city-sponsored “family-friendly” egg hunts.
This year we planned to attend a low-key Easter egg hunt hosted by a friend of mine with a huge backyard. Unfortunately, said friend’s parent had to undergo emergency surgery late Thursday, and the hunt was subsequently called off.
The news came as a major disappointment to my supremely confident preschooler, who could already taste the chocolate she just knew she would score at the backyard hunt.
The situation left me in a quandary: Do I disappoint my little bunny just because I was scarred from a previous public Easter egg hunt, or do I bite the bullet and head to our local zoo’s hunt and hope for the best?
I opted for the latter and couldn’t believe what happened as a result:
My daughter had an absolute blast!
The event was tear-free, drama-free, kid-friendly and candy-filled… despite the fact that the cloudless mild spring day brought out a record number of families.
I should note that unlike city-sponsored egg hunts, which are free and open to everyone and anyone, our local zoo’s hunt required shelling out nearly $10 per child. Which is not to say that an admission fee begets civility, but I will say that my daughter remained upright for the entire event and the back of her jacket wasn’t covered with size 10 adult shoe prints.
Kudos to zoo officials for having a quasi-effective plan for keeping human participants from acting like their caged residents. Each child was limited to 12 empty eggs, which could be redeemed at various candy stations located throughout the zoo.
That was the plan.
Unfortunately, the gorgeous weather brought out more participants than zoo officials had anticipated, so the rules were modified a bit. Translation: Kids who didn’t want to wait for employees to hide extra eggs could get free candy at the visitor’s center.
Once that announcement was made the place cleared out pretty quick. As a result, my daughter was able to make a clean sweep during her hunt and scored 30 eggs. Needless to say, by the end of the day her Easter basket resembled a Halloween bucket after 3 hours of trick-or-treating.
The lesson: Never say never to public Easter egg hunts… or pictures with the Easter Bunny.
I NEVER, EVER thought I would EVER see the day that my costumed-character loathing daughter would EVER get within 100 feet of Peter Cottontail.
But apparently Easter miracles don’t only happen in Jerusalem because I am now the proud owner of not one, but two photos of my child actually SMILING next to the mall’s Easter Bunny.
Never say never!
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