The Madness of the Crowd
It's 2:45 in the morning and I just finished stumbling around the dark backyard in my flip-flops placing about a hundred Easter eggs under bushes and in trees. All so the kids could have a fun and carefree egg hunt in the morning.
I wasn't going to make a big deal of it, but yesterday we went to this huge egg hunt at a local car dealership. In years past I'd heard of this event and how wonderful it was, with prizes galore and tens of thousands of eggs. So we went down there and waded into the crowd.
It wasn't so much an egg hunt as it was an egg riot. And the worst offenders were the parents. I couldn't believe what I was seeing... Parents scooping up eggs for their kids. One mother even grabbed an egg right out from under a child's hand. It was madness, fueled by the fact that some of the eggs held prize tags that you could trade in for extremely cool baskets, toys, and even cash.
The kids were mostly interested in the candy. But the parents were out for bling.
Before the hunt began, the organizers repeatedly asked the adults to step back from the egg hunt entrances, to let all the children get to the front, but only a few parents complied. There were many sobbing kids who weren't able to get past the wall of grown-ups. By the time it was all finished, the sea of eggs had been reduced to a minefield of broken plastic and flattened candy. I saw more than one parent throwing an egg and its contents to the ground when it didn't contain a prize number.
We've been to other egg hunts that were wonderfully handled. This one, however, was an embarrassing mess. It made me feel rotten that my kids had to witness such greed and selfishness, especially during a supposed children's event.
I'm a recovering cynic, and I try really hard to focus on the positive and good things in this world. How ironic that on Easter Sunday I am instead reflecting on all that is wrong with humanity.
In about six hours I will watch my kids run happily around the backyard, joy on their faces from merely finding the hidden eggs, and maybe I will forget the madness of yesterday's awful crowd.
I wasn't going to make a big deal of it, but yesterday we went to this huge egg hunt at a local car dealership. In years past I'd heard of this event and how wonderful it was, with prizes galore and tens of thousands of eggs. So we went down there and waded into the crowd.
It wasn't so much an egg hunt as it was an egg riot. And the worst offenders were the parents. I couldn't believe what I was seeing... Parents scooping up eggs for their kids. One mother even grabbed an egg right out from under a child's hand. It was madness, fueled by the fact that some of the eggs held prize tags that you could trade in for extremely cool baskets, toys, and even cash.
The kids were mostly interested in the candy. But the parents were out for bling.
Before the hunt began, the organizers repeatedly asked the adults to step back from the egg hunt entrances, to let all the children get to the front, but only a few parents complied. There were many sobbing kids who weren't able to get past the wall of grown-ups. By the time it was all finished, the sea of eggs had been reduced to a minefield of broken plastic and flattened candy. I saw more than one parent throwing an egg and its contents to the ground when it didn't contain a prize number.
We've been to other egg hunts that were wonderfully handled. This one, however, was an embarrassing mess. It made me feel rotten that my kids had to witness such greed and selfishness, especially during a supposed children's event.
I'm a recovering cynic, and I try really hard to focus on the positive and good things in this world. How ironic that on Easter Sunday I am instead reflecting on all that is wrong with humanity.
In about six hours I will watch my kids run happily around the backyard, joy on their faces from merely finding the hidden eggs, and maybe I will forget the madness of yesterday's awful crowd.
Permalink posted by Phil at 2:48 AM
11 Comments:
That is just sad! I'm sure your kids are going to enjoy your egg hunt much more. Have a fun time!
And that is why are you a good dad!
That is truly sad, sorry to hear your kids had to witness that, those adults truly forgot the spirit of giving, what selfish people there is out there, hope you kiddies have enjoyed their Easter hunt at home, the way it should be!!
How incredibly sad for those parents. They do not know what they are doing...if they did, they might have a different outlook. I wish I could say I am always unselfish (wouldn't that be nice) but I'm not...granted, I would NEVER do the things you mentioned in the post but I am selfish. I hope your kids had a blast at your house hunting easter eggs!!!! Happy Easter!
Ugh! That sounds pretty awful. And you are committed, hiding eggs outside at 2 in the morning! I hid all mine inside this year. It's not supposed to be in the 30s on Easter!
I just finished reading your post to my husband and told him he could have written it. He has always felt this way about large group Easter egg hunts, and he never took our kids to participate because of the crowd, and the way they behave. So each year we hide eggs in our backyard and make it fun for them. Even though they are 11 and 12, they still enjoy coloring eggs and hunting for them on Easter morning.
We only hid about 2 dozen eggs but the kids had a blast in our front yard.
No more big egg hunts for us, either. we had the same experience 1000 miles away and 5 years ago.
Sounds pretty horrific.
We did more of a treasure hunt this year rather than a straight forward egg hunt. it was a lot of fun.
Wow, that's unbelievable! I'm sure your home Easter Egg Hunt made a much more indelible mark on your kids.
Our church hosted a large group egg hunt, but it was a wonderful and well-organized affair (I can say that without too much pride, since all I did was show up with my kids...lol!) The park was sectioned off with yellow plastic tape and each age group got a section to hunt in so even the tiniest tots could enjoy the action--everyone left with a basket full and parents were snapping great photos right and left!
Hope you got a few good photos yourself! :)
We don't have any events quite as severe as that car dealership, but they all still feature a mob of kids ready to stampede over one another -- often 10-year-olds herded together with 2-year-olds. Not fun.
I never attended public egg hunts in my youth, and I think my daughter won't be missing anything if we conduct our hunts at home. Stickers, stamps and coins instead of chocolate, gum and marshmallows.
Hopefully, your kids will remember your egg hunt in the backyard, instead of that chaotic mess.
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