The Great Easter Bunny Debate of 2009

Several years ago, I was at the intersection of Brentwood and Hwy 40 in St. Louis when I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Don't Lie To Your Kids." I'm not sure why I remember that so clearly. I didn't even have a child at that time, but it really stuck with me. It has been on my mind this a lot this week as I have struggled with something I never expected to second guess.

On Wednesday, I went shopping and picked up a few things for Caleb's Easter basket. Rudy didn't know what was in the bags and, in trying to help me unload the car, accidentally let Caleb see some of the surprises I had gotten for him. Curious as always, Caleb wanted to know what that stuff was. I told him it was a surprise and he couldn't see it yet. That minor incident got me thinking about the Easter Bunny and why we have the traditions that we have for Easter, Christmas and other holidays.

Last night while scrapbooking with Stacy and some people I've never met before, I brought up this topic. Two of the women at the table said that they have chosen not to follow the traditions of Santa or the Easter Bunny. The more we talked about it, the more I agreed with them. After all, why do we lie to our children about fictional characters that have absolutely nothing to do with the holidays that we are celebrating?

After lots of internal debate and some interesting discussion on Facebook, I brought it up to Rudy today. We quickly came to an agreement that we don't want to lie to Caleb unnecessarily and that we are ready to make the change from what's expected to what we choose to do as a family. So, from this point forward, we aren't celebrating Christmas with Santa or Easter with the Easter Bunny. Don't get me wrong - we're not completely shunning tradition, we're just tweaking it to meet our needs. We will teach Caleb that Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and all other fictional characters are just that - fictional. Pretend. Make-believe. They are characters, just like Mickey Mouse and Lightning McQueen. They are things that are for entertainment, but they simply are not real.

Our reasoning for this decision is twofold. First, our family's major holidays are centered around our Christian faith. The secular celebrations of Christmas and Easter have become overwhelming in our society. We have lost sight of the true meanings of these two holiest of holidays. The birth and resurrection of Christ are too often overshadowed by "What is Santa bringing you?" and "What's the Easter Bunny going to bring?" We want to bring our celebrations back to where they should be. This doesn't mean that we won't exchange gifts as we've always done and it doesn't mean that we won't allow Caleb to glue cotton balls on a paper Santa's beard or have his picture taken with an Easter Bunny (like we did today at the church egg hunt). We aren't taking this to an extreme level - just making some changes internally as a family. Second...as I said before, we don't agree with lying to our child unnecessarily. I heard about a child who, when he found out that Santa wasn't real, asked his mother if she was lying about Jesus too. I can't even imagine being in that predicament. How do you justify telling a child not to ever lie, but then lie to them about something so insignificant?

Tomorrow morning, we'll be celebrating Easter. We'll be giving Caleb an Easter basket with some candy and a few small gifts that we know he'll enjoy. These gifts are our way of showing him that the holiday is a celebration, even though he's not old enough to understand the true meaning of Easter. We are giving him gifts as a symbol of the gift that Jesus gave to us - the gift of forgiven life. And at Christmas, we will give him gifts to celebrate the birth of Christ - the gift of God's Son.

We'll continue to celebrate Easter by dying and hunting for Easter eggs, as eggs are a traditional symbol of renewal and, for some, symbolize the tomb that Jesus emerged from on the 3rd day after His death. Next year, I plan to introduce the Resurrection Eggs that several friends have suggested, as Caleb will be old enough to understand the basic principles that they teach.

Unfortunately, my main concern and my hesitation in this decision hasn't been about us. It's been about other people. How will we keep Caleb from being that kid who tells all the others that Santa isn't real? I guess we'll cross that road when we get to it.

For now, Happy Easter! May you be blessed beyond your expectations. It's amazing how God does that sometimes, isn't it?