Article posted Wednesday, April 8, 2015 10:53am

Dear Mary Pat,

I took my children to two Easter egg hunts this year; one at a grocery and one at a bowling alley. I assumed the hunts would be children having fun with other children. To my dismay, both hunts were taken over by competitive, aggressive parents running and searching to fill their kid’s baskets. I stood back and watched as my kids got trampled and had eggs snatched away from them by grown-ups! My youngest would not participate as he thought it was for kids only. Since when did Easter egg hunts become parents scrambling to fill their children’s baskets? And what does their behavior teach kids?

Eggsasperated Parent

Ellison Bay, Wis.

Dear Eggsasperated Parent,

Sometimes I wonder at some people’s parenting skills. What are you teaching your children by making a fun children’s event into a “win at any cost” sporting event? These are probably the same parents cursing and yelling at Little League games. It’s fine to help toddlers and little ones along by pointing and encouraging them to look in different spots, but it is completely inappropriate for adults to participate in gathering eggs themselves. Seriously! What were they thinking? I hope some of them are reading this and take a moment to reflect on how they acted … and then maybe do something nice for kids, like making a donation to the Boys and Girls Club of Door County, or giving some of those eggs to ACTUAL CHILDREN.

To answer your question, this behavior teaches these children to push and shove their way to a win, that sharing isn’t necessary, and to put their needs ahead of everyone else’s – hardly a good formula for the next generation. I did witness another two egg hunts that were the complete opposite of what you experienced. My sister sent me two videos of my niece (age 6) and my nephew (age 3) participating in their neighborhood egg hunt and their at-home egg hunt with just the two of them. In the neighborhood video, there were kids of all ages calmly looking and everyone had plenty of eggs to choose from, even more so since my nephew thought he was supposed to kick the plastic eggs like a soccer ball and wasn’t as interested in putting them in the basket. For their at-home egg hunt, my niece helped her little brother find his favorite colors first and gave him lots of hints along the way. She was actually more excited to see him fill his basket. This gives me hope for the future, and hopefully it does for you too.

Good luck,

Mary Pat