Easter Egg Hunt

This morning I took Aidyn to a little Easter egg hunt at the grocery store in our town. I had decided a little while ago that we weren't going to do easter baskets this year and, besides, the hunt is the fun part anyway. The flyer advertised that there would be over 2000 eggs and there would be first, second, and third place prizes in each of the age groups.

Before we went I advised Aidyn that there would probably be a lot of other kids looking for eggs in the same place she was. I asked her, "So, how do you think you'll need to be?" I've found that if her attitude is her choice (and her idea) in advance and with time to prepare herself, she is much more likely to behave nicely. I expected her to say that she would need to be fast but still be careful not to run into other kids or something like that. But, she completely rocked my Easter weekend. She said, "Well, I guess I'll have to be really patient." I pressed her further and suggested that she would need to be really fast and she looked up at me and said very quietly, "Oh. Well, that's not very much like the real Easter at all."

I admit that I kind of dismissed her as we rode toward the store. I had completely missed the profundity of what she said. Competitive person that I am, I was so focused on that first, second, or third place prize for her. When we got to the store I took her to the 4-5 year-old aisle and turned her loose looking for the little shiny wrappers of 2000 chocolate eggs. I kept my eyes on her every moment as she gently walked along, simply moving out of the way of the faster and more aggressive hunters. She actually purposefully passed every other pile of eggs or so and pointed them out to some of the other kids. One of the store workers came up to her and showed her a big pile of eggs and she just nodded and looked at other kids as if to say, "Yeah, I saw them." I told the worker that I thought she was trying to save some for the other kids and the worker, incredulous, replied, "Well, no one has found those ones yet!"

Then I looked around. Oh my. Bigger kids were pushing littler ones. Adults were grabbing whole bunches of eggs for their kids. Parents were even getting the "big eggs" that had the first, second, and third place prizes in them--actually leaving their preschoolers alone in an aisle with 50 other people and running ahead to grab a plastic egg with a prize inside. I looked back at my little girl as she smiled up at me and said, "I think I have enough. Thanks for bringing me here, Mama."

As we left the store we walked past the table where parents were arguing over prizes and the rules of the hunt and came home with our 35 shiny chocolate eggs. I told Aidyn how proud I was of the way she had acted with kindness, gentleness, patience, and love for the other kids. Her only response was, "Ok. Thanks mom. Can I have one of these candies right now?" Oh yes, Baby. You can have one of those candies.