I didn’t bring my children to participate in any organized Easter Egg hunts this year. I didn’t this year and I didn’t last year or the year before that and I most likely won’t next year or the year after that.

Oh so grumpy, right? Well, I’d love to explain. And, I happen to know that I’m not alone in this, but I’ll get to that further down. 

I have wonderful, wonderful childhood memories of Easter. In fact, I loved Easter so much that I was certain it came once every two (at least) years because it seemed an insufferable wait in between each one! Well, there was one year that my loving parents took me to an organized Easter Egg hunt in a big park somewhere in Hartford, CT. We lived in a small town about 20 minutes away from the city. What I remember about the experience was me in my pretty Easter dress holding a lovely basket, but then billions of people and children everywhere else around me. I remember a large green field in front of me filled with a sea of colored plastic eggs and then there was the starting line. The starting line? It wasn’t a race…or was it? I remember a loud man voice coming over a speaker system instructing all the children to take their places along the line and get ready…

My mom and dad led me to the spot (all the while elbowing me in to insure I’d get there). Maybe they weren’t elbowing … but I think they must have been. As a parent now myself, I know I would have been elbowing my kids into place, at the least!

I’m sure they shouted kind, encouraging words to me (shouting of course over the incessant noise of other snotty kids and beatty-eyed parents) and then the announcer said, “GO!” And, if I may, I am imagining a slow-mo deep voice shouting the command…as if everything else had slowed down and all the kids around me ran, pushing and shoving to get as many tiny plastic eggs into their basket as possible! Parents shouting it, kids shouting it, chaos, fear, adrenaline, disappointment…I am actually, 100 percent imagining, the scene from The Hunger Games (and, I’m so so sorry if you haven’t seen it and don’t know the image I’m referring to…) when the tributes arrive on the arena floor and literally have to run for their lives to grab rations and get the heck outta there before they are killed! Am I right?

Well, I don’t have a memory of running out there. I think I just stayed put,  paralyzed by what I saw around me, in my spot of the line. I remember my parents being very consoling to me. As parents they just wanted me to have a pleasant time. Ideally, it seems every child would! It’s an Easter Egg hunt, after all!

But, I’m not the only one who feels this way! I spoke with a friend at church Sunday about his similar experience as a child. And, he actually sustained personal damage to his face when someone else’s basket flew up, leaving him with a bleeding cut by his eye! His EYE, my friends! It’s all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out!

Organized Easter Egg hunts. Do I need to explain why I don’t take my children to them?

Oh, don’t worry. We enjoy plenty of our own hunts at home a month before and even a month after the holiday. Much fun is had in the safety of our own surroundings.

I hope you had a safe and Happy Easter!