I live in a relatively small town for the Silicon Valley. I like to think it's a friendly, neighborhood-conscious, responsible kind of town. I was shaken in my view this past Sunday by an event held at our local Trader Joe's. It was a great idea, holding an Easter egg hunt in their store. In fact, I thought it really provided for SOMEthing for the secular to do on that holiday.
Yet, it was a nearly total disappointment. It began at 8:15 am and at 8:20, when we arrived, ALL SEVEN HUNDRED EGGS were already gone. As we were walking into the store, we saw LITTLE kids leaving with baskets LOADED with eggs. Clearly, the parents had found them for the children, 2-3 year olds mostly. Bigger kids, too, but I kind of discount them because kids don't have internal monitors for appropriate behavior when in competition mode. That, certainly, is a learned behavior.
Luckily, we are blessed with an incredibly good-natured little boy. He was more than satisfied with his Trader Joe's balloon. I must say, the line for the balloons was also enlightening. All those kids - many WITH their parents - and the first "thank you" I heard for the free balloon came out of my own kid's mouth. And I was embarrassed because I had to prompt him.
The "me first" mentality that made those parents take the lion's share of the eggs for their largely non-comprehending little children disgusted me. Don and I started discussing some rules that Trader Joe's could post for the hunt, but what really got me what that they needed to be posted in the first place! Were these people raised in a vacuum? Don't they see the hundreds of eager little kids ALSO wanting to find their very own egg?
The failure of these parents to self-regulate their greedy, selfish natures forces a commercial enterprise (TJ's) to impose it from without. And, from the go-to-church clothing I saw on most of the families, most of the participants were Christian. In what universe does a Christian need moral regulation from an outside source NOT their church? So, to extrapolate to the nth degree, I saw a failure that morning not only of my usually kind community, but of human nature, Christian churches, and parents.
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We took Rhi to a Mother's Club sponsored egg hunt. The mom's putting it on put 1/2 the eggs out with little treats (change, candy, toys) and 1/2 out with nothing so that the parent's didn't have to fight with their kids. By the time Rhi figured out what was going on, most of the eggs and been picked through. She kept bringing us already opened plastic eggs. The other parents will telling their kids to open the eggs and not bring any unless there was something in them. Luckily, we figured this out fairly early and moved Rhi to the far back of the field where there was still some "viable" easter eggs to get.
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