Saturday, March 22, 2008

Egg Hunts...WWJD?


In general, parents suck. Took the boys to an Easter Egg hunt today. Jack got to compete in the 2-under division. The hunt was pretty crowded, lots of families there. When the whistle blew, it seemed like every kid had at least one parent assisting them with the hunt. I thought the hunt was for kids, so I let Jack go at it himself. Parents were boxing him out, hovering over areas of the field in the hopes that their kids would get a couple precious eggs. One parent even carried her 2 year old over to the coveted "golden egg", so that her child would win the special prize. Good stuff...this is why I dread the day I have to sign my boys up for non-competitive soccer or tee ball. The parents were into this way too much, and did all they could to ensure their kids had the most plastic eggs filled with cheap stale candy. Apparently the fact that not a single egg was hidden was still not easy enough for the kids. I thought I'd let Jack go at it himself. He'd have more fun, or so I thought. Instead he ended up without eggs. When it came time for the 3 year olds, Carter was scared by the loud cheers and bumbling around of parents. He came to me and asked to go home. Looks like they inherited my love for crowds. The good thing is that neither of them really seemed to care about the eggs.




The madness surrounding today's event got me to thinking...WWJD? When Jesus held egghunts for his disciples, did they get crazy about finding that golden egg? I bet at least one of them was annoyed about the craziness of being the one that gathered the most plastic eggs filled with cheap candy. I'm sure others got sick of Jesus' antics and wished he didn't hide the eggs. And if there wasn't enough Cadbury eggs to go around, would Jesus take one and multiply it for his disciples?

...why do we hide eggs on Easter?

9 comments:

Louis Winthorpe III said...

Best easter egg hunt I've ever seen was by this couple I knew who did not have any children. They filled plastic eggs with doggy treats and let their two dogs sniff them out to find them in their backyard.

Louis Winthorpe III said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg

Very interesting. I did not know...

Louis Winthorpe III said...

That last post in response to your "why do we hide eggs on easter" question.

Short answer: it is speculated that eggs were forbidden during Lent, and since chickens didn't stop laying eggs, there was a surplus by Easter. Guess that somehow mutated into you beloved Easter Egg Hunts...

Strap said...

having technical difficulties with youtube.

Unknown said...

An Easter egg hunt should be a challenge to the kids, if they are going to get candy in the end, they should have to work for it. Sounds like the hunt was more of a 'everybody needs to win' type of event and those are really hurting our future. Children need to learn more about hardwork and how to accept failure and loss. My suggestion is have you own hunt in your backyard that does provide a challenge to the boys.

Anonymous said...

They should just ban the parents -- they can cheer from the sidelines.

Aren't eggs a symbol of fertility, and that whole spring/fertitlity rites?

Louis Winthorpe III said...

Yes, Keith. Goes along with the "continuation of life' and the whole Resurrection theme...

Strap said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Strap said...

thanks for the education.