For those of you other families who don't celebrate Easter... The Easter bunny does not come to our house. Yes, I said it! Oh, the horror! That's right, no colored eggs, no baskets, no jelly beans, no chocolate, no special Easter dinner, and no church service. We'll have a great family day doing chores and playing in the backyard. Maybe even a family bikeride or a picnic for lunch. Here's my dilemma... Monday morning at school my kids will be asked "did the Easter bunny come?" or "what did the Easter bunny bring you?" Anyone else out there have to prepare their kids for this? What do you say to them about why the Easter bunny doesn't come or why you don't celebrate Easter? My 8 year old knows what Easter is and why we don't celebrate it but my 5 year old doesn't.
I am not religious and do not celebrate that part of Easter. The Easter Bunny does bring stuff for my daughter, and we spend the day with family.
I like the excuse to give my daughter a few things & see her happy & having fun :) She loves to dye & decorate eggs, and do egg hunts.
Why doesn't easter bunny visit you guys?
whatever the answer is that is what your kids should say.
different religion
lazy :)
don't want to spend the money etc
just be honest. teach kids about honesty
"Nope, no Bunny at our house, we went for a bikeride and then to the park and did family stuff, that's how are family celebrates". What did your 8 year old say when he/she was 5?
How about this-"We're Jewish".
If that is what you have chosen for your family, then you must teach your children to deal with any "negativity" so-to-speak that comes with the territory. Choose the way of life, choose the consequences (good and bad). That is just the reality of living in a diverse world. Peer pressure and teasing will always be around regardless of what lifestyle you choose for your family. It is impossible (and not really healthy) to shield your children from the reality of life. Our goal as parents is to help our children learn how to handle these situations, hopefully in a positive way. Being a parent is the toughest job there is. But if we want to raise rational, intelligent, moral, human beings, then we must stay the course. Sometimes it is actually harder on parents than kids! Good luck.
Thanks for asking this - we've done the local neighborhood hunt (my son's only just turned 4), but I haven't gotten into the basket and bunny stuff either. Halloween's enough of a candy centered day for me (I end up gaining the weight LOL). I don't "forbid" anything, but the easter bunny is something at the store, it doesn't magically deliver candy to my house, and I don't think I'm crippling my son by not going crazy about it. I saw another mom who does an egg hunt in her house on easter day and she puts change in the eggs - I like that idea and I'll do it cause it sounds like fun.
I love learning the background of holidays - here's wikipedia info for easter eggs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg.
Just tell them to say that they are not Christian and that is a Christian holiday.
Teach them to say, "we do not celebrate Easter."
If they ask why, teach your children why your family doesn't. Most kids are fine, with "We do not celebrate... "
I grew up with a young girl that did not celebrate birthdays because of her religious beliefs.. so this meant no ones birthdays. We learned to not even invite her because she told us, she "would never attend." It was just the way they believed.
When they were smaller, my kids would just say, 'We celebrate Passover.' Somtimes they would get the 'What? no easter bunny? No eggs?' etc., and then they would say that we sometimes do the egg hunt with their grandmother (not Jewish), but that we don't do Easter at our house. Same story at Xmas/Hannukah. They are older now and pretty much 'I'm Jewish' covers it, but when they were younger the other kids didn't get it and needed a bit more explanation. But I just never acted like it was a big deal and it never became one. My kids are proud of their heritage now and enjoy answering questions and explaining things, so I guess it worked out.
We celebrate Passover. There are also several Muslim children in DS's class so I really am not concerned. We did go to an Easter egg hunt this weekend. DS (5) told me that most of the kids believe that the Easter bunny at the party was real - but that he was going to let them believe in it. LOL
Be sure to teach your kids to say the truth. We don't celebrate Easter because _________ (whatever your reason is). Your kids will need to learn how to deal with being different as every child is different in some way. Don't make a big deal about it. As long as your kids know why, they will figure out what to say.
Then when they come home, don't ask if anyone said anything. They might think it is a bad thing if you make it a big deal. Instead, I would ask, "Did anything good happen today?" and "Did anything bad happen today?" Let them decide what to tell you.
we do celibrate easter but we did not celebrate halloween. we grew up christian and my mom was a bit outside of the box as we never belived in santa, tooth fairy, easter bunnys and no pumpkins either! before third grade i felt like i was missing out but after third grade i felt kids who still belived were a bit sissy - that was my third grade logic. durring halloween i simply told my teachers we did not celebrate those holidays and when asked why i explained it was because we were christian and the holiday was about the devil. i would think your five year old would and could understand why you dont celebrate easter. she also could understand how to let others belive what they do and try not to ruin it for them. fyi- my hubby and i now celebrate everything!!! i am a bit of a holiday freak. this past christmas he finally understood we truly did not belive in santa at all. he only understood because he had to explain to me exactly why gifts werent wrapped and what the heck he was doing!
