The Easter Bunny.....blech

[New Creation]

I can get behind St. Nicholas, because he's based in truth. But I have a really hard time getting behind the stupid Easter Bunny. I don't want my daughter to think "Easter Bunny- chocolate, candy" when she thinks of Easter. I want her to think of Jesus ressurected.
So far, this isn't the case. She's only 4 and a half. Last year the Easter bunny wasn't really mentioned until a day or so before Easter.
Yesterday she drew a bunch of pictures to deliver to our (not Christian!) neighbours. They were pictures of the last supper, the Crucifixion, Mary being assumed into Heaven, etc. So her mind is in the right place right now anyway.
But this morning she said "how many more days until the Easter bunny comes mum?" and the thought just turned my stomach for some reason. Perhaps its my pagan roots getting to me.
My husband is behind me in giving her an alternative to the Easter bunny but I'm not sure what to do.
What do you folks say and do an d how do you feel about it?

 

[princess_ballet]

My parents always did (and maybe still do...) the Easter bunny. I never had a problem with it and I certainly understand what Easter is all about today.

As do my brothers.

I guess I just see it as one way in which we "celebrate." Just like giving presents at Christmas and putting up a Christmas tree.

I don't know, just my thoughts...

 

[Memento Mori]

Well, growing up in a secular home I thought Easter was a secular holiday for a long time because of the Easter bunny and eggs thing. I think the Easter bunny's OK as long as it's clear that he works for Jesus. He's the Risen Christ's herald.

 

[judechild]

... El Easter Conhito. My mortal enemy.

 

[Gwendolyn]

Keep the focus on Christ and don't lie about the Easter Bunny. It has its roots in pagan stories. Your daughter can still enjoy chocolates and treats without the Easter Bunny lie. She can still do egg hunts and such. After the Lenten fast, chocolate and eggs are feast fare

 

[MoNiCa4316]

I can get behind St. Nicholas, because he's based in truth. But I have a really hard time getting behind the stupid Easter Bunny. I don't want my daughter to think "Easter Bunny- chocolate, candy" when she thinks of Easter. I want her to think of Jesus ressurected.
So far, this isn't the case. She's only 4 and a half. Last year the Easter bunny wasn't really mentioned until a day or so before Easter.
Yesterday she drew a bunch of pictures to deliver to our (not Christian!) neighbours. They were pictures of the last supper, the Crucifixion, Mary being assumed into Heaven, etc. So her mind is in the right place right now anyway.
But this morning she said "how many more days until the Easter bunny comes mum?" and the thought just turned my stomach for some reason. Perhaps its my pagan roots getting to me.
My husband is behind me in giving her an alternative to the Easter bunny but I'm not sure what to do.
What do you folks say and do an d how do you feel about it?

I feel similarly about the Easter Bunny... I think it should be more associated with spring than Easter..so if someone wants to use it as a decoration, or give an "Easter bunny" toy to someone as a gift, etc, - that is fine but it shouldn't be about Easter. Easter is about Jesus.

I like how your daughter made pictures of Jesus and Mary for your neighbours..

about the Easter bunny, - would it be difficult for her to learn that it's not real? I know when I was a kid, I found out pretty early on the Santa Claus isn't real, and it didn't bother me at all. (I heard my dad bringing in presents and realized it's not Santa. lol). Does she believe the Easter bunny will actually come? Or is this more of a game for her?

I don't have kids, but if I did, maybe I'd make an Easter related game with them... so they can focus on the real meaning of it while still having fun and they wouldn't need the Easter bunny, Santa Claus, etc

 

[SolomonVII]

The Easter Bunny is good clean fun.

 

[MKJ]

Rabbits, like eggs, are a symbol of resurrection and new life.

 

[CruciFixed]

I don't have any ideas but my husband doesn't know what to tell my son about the Easter bunny. He's scared of the mall one so we haven't said the Easter Bunny is bringing his basket....plus he wouldn't believe us for 10 seconds because he picked out the chocolate rabbit in his basket and all the fruits and veggies he wanted to go in it. I just stuffed it. Yeah the only candies my son is getting for easter is a rabbit and some peeps. The rest is broccoli, carrot sticks, apples, bananas, and other little fruits he picked out. I am an Easter Grinch I suppose?

 

[JourneyToPeace]

Growing up, Santa, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, and all the other fun little stories kids get told were just that for me... fun, harmless little stories. I don't think I SERIOUSLY believed there was an actual rabbit hopping around with baskets for everyone for very long at all, as a child -- I remember it being something fun, a game that my family and I would play. My mom would do a great job of hiding the Easter basket, and then she'd play "hot and cold" with me, while she'd tease me, saying "that bunny sure can hide things well!" and we'd both laugh while I searched.

As a kid, though, having fun with those fantasies didn't mean I didn't know about Jesus. I was raised a Catholic child. I went to church with family members, I knew what Easter was "really about" -- the extra mythology was just a bit of lighthearted fun that I never took seriously. *shrug*

Every child is different. I won't and can't tell anyone how to raise their kids. All I can say is, you know your child and you understand him/her very well, and whether telling them a fun fiction would cause them deep emotional distress or distract them from Jesus.

I can tell you that when I finally lost my faith in God as a teenager, it was over things a lot heavier than being told an Easter bunny was going to bring me chocolate -- I am just saying, pick your battles.

 

[MKJ]

This article, which came out at Christmas, pretty much summarizes my feelings on this issue.

I'd be much more concerned about a child focused on what seemed "real" than on one who believed in the Easter Bunny, or Santa Clause. This idea that children can only be taught what is true just leaves them prey to the idea that only the concrete and observable is real. It is, I think, an even more dangerous idea for Catholics than it is for the Evangelicals who promote all fantasy and magic and allegory as anti-Christian.

OK, Virginia, There's No Santa Claus. But There Is God

I found this particularly revealing:

Magic-talk gets under the skin of many, like renowned scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins. This is doubly so when it is what the Christ-figure Aslan, in C.S. Lewis's "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," calls "the deeper magic," an allusion to divinity. Mr. Dawkins is reportedly writing a book examining the pernicious tendency of fantasy tales to promote "anti-scientific" thinking among children. He suspects that such stories lay the groundwork for religious faith, the inculcation of which, he claims, is a worse form of child abuse than sexual molestation.

and this:

Interestingly, the curse leveled by Lewis's White Witch on Narnia -- an endless season of winter absent Christmas -- evokes both: an unholy snow smothering wondrous creation in false uniformity, and at the same time a kind of madness well understood in snowbound regions. It's not surprising that one of the first signs of the Witch's coming demise is that Father Christmas appears: "'I've come at last,'" says Santa. "'She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last.'"

 

[JourneyToPeace]

That was a really good article! When the author talked about the importance of believing in "impossible things", I smiled, thinking of the Alice in Wonderland quote about the importance of sometimes "believing in 6 impossible things before breakfast". It's a balance. If you drill all the science, the logic, the rationality out of your kids by insisting that fantasy is reality, you wind up with your head in the clouds and no firm grip on reality. If you drill all the fun, the wonder, the mystery, the fantasy out of childhood... you get Dawkins.

 

[Anygma]

i'm somewhat upset with the stuff the kids learn at school... easter bunny, leprechaun (st pat) and what not... my daughter asked about if the easter bunny was going to come and bring easter eggs... i told her easter bunny wasn't real and she protested insisting that she believe in the easter bunny. they've been asking about easter egg hunt for many days... today i found out that they've been treasure hunting in my personal stuff. breaking and losing some of my stuff while i had asked many time not to dig in my personal things in my room... so i told them the eater bunny is not happy today.

i never had easter egg hunt growing up so i don't see what's the purpose of such bunny. not even that great in a stew.

 

[religious&reasonable]

-_-

One of the coolest things about being a kid for me was believing in the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause. Pretty much made the holidays for me. Childhood wonderment and all that.

Nothing like coming down the steps and seeing those big baskets filled with nothing but every little kids dream, lots and lots of candy.

Good times, good times...

C'mon, it's not like anyone seriously believed in the Easter Bunny, it was just a fun little story that makes Easter more fun for kids. Same goes for Egg hunts and all that. It's all in good fun.

But your the parent so it's your choice. Celebrate Easter however you want to. Easter is about Jesus, and If you don't want to get into the Easter Bunny thing I can understand it, But if your daughter is making pictures of the last supper, I don't think it's going to be a problem.

 

[BAFRIEND]

i used to love dying eggs on easter and the egg hunts

when we used the plastic eggs we would all hope to find the ones with money in it- i call them judas eggs now

 

[waterlemona]

My parents never bothered with the Easter Bunny story when I was a little kid. I just had some vague idea that Easter and the Easter bunny were somehow associated... that's it.

BUT my parents tried a lot harder with Christmas and Santa! The made up all sorts of stories to cover up the fact they were the ones buying the presents. But I found out anyway, about Santa, at a young age. I noticed that Santa used the same wrapping paper as the ones we had at home. But I have younger siblings/cousins/ etc so I played along with all the Santa traditions anyway. It was fun, and harmless. When I found out Santa was fake, I didn't assume "Oh God must be fake too"... I didn't even link the two together.

As for the tooth fairy, I started "believing" in the tooth fairy when I was 9, so I could get money. *evil grin*

 

[CruciFixed]

My son doesn't have an Easter bunny but we had Santa Clause for Saint Nick. I think its up to you what you decide to tell them but we just told him Happy Easter and gave him his basket. We did a hunt yesterday with eggs he and I dyed together.

 

[chris4243]

Whatever you do, you can't tell them that the invisible entity that brings them good things on that day is a fake. If they find out you've been pretending that this entity exists (especially if using it as a reason for good behavior), they might start to question other things. Or maybe not. I've never heard of anyone's faith being shaken when they found out about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy, etc. Seems like harmless fun, and quite often the kids do know well enough that it's just a game and love to play along.

I don't remember ever believing in the Easter Bunny... we had lots of fun as a family coloring the eggs. We take turns hiding the eggs so everyone can search for them.

 

[SolomonVII]

My son doesn't have an Easter bunny but we had Santa Clause for Saint Nick. I think its up to you what you decide to tell them but we just told him Happy Easter and gave him his basket. We did a hunt yesterday with eggs he and I dyed together.

Yea, a basket of broccoli!
Now you will have to find that Easter bunny so that he can feed it all that rabbit food in his Easter basket.

 

[CruciFixed]

He actually picked all that stuff out himself. He was begging me for "trees" just a few days shy of Easter and I didn't want to over do the candy so I asked him if he wanted trees in his Easter basket and he said yeah. He loves broccoli and food like that. He once skipped out on feeding the ducks or something at a nearby lake so he could help me eat a salad I had ordered.