Easter Bunny

This morning, as I was riding the tram to work and crocheting a little Easter basket, a boy who looked to be about four years old asked me what I was making. “An Easter basket,” I said. “The Easter Bunny will put Easter eggs in it when he comes.” Then the four-year-old lectured me, quite indignant: “The Easter Bunny doesn’t exist—it’s the parents who bring the Easter gifts!”
What do you think about that? I remember when my son was little, he believed in the Easter Bunny—just like I did when I was a kid. Is believing in the Easter Bunny still a thing for kids these days? I was a little disappointed by the little boy’s reaction.

It’s such a shame. Of course the Easter Bunny doesn’t exist, but you don’t have to say it out loud. Our grandson is also 4 years old and already very excited. We’re decorating and making crafts, because we want the Easter Bunny to be happy when he comes to visit us.

My children also believed in the Easter Bunny and are now passing that belief on. We also believe in St. Nicholas, the Christ Child, and the good luck fairy. The only thing he doesn’t believe me about is the stork :-)

And we plan to keep these traditions alive for a long time to come. 

My eldest is 11 now. Well, you can’t really expect him to believe in it anymore.
But my daughter was still firmly convinced last year that the Easter Bunny hides all the eggs. She’s 8 now, too, but she still wants to believe.

I also think it’s a shame to take the magic away from your kids right from the start. But I have a colleague who does just that. She says she just doesn’t understand all that lying to children. So I guess it always comes down to your point of view.

That’s just the fast-paced world we live in. I actually think that it doesn’t always do children any favors to push them into “real life” so early.

After all, it’s an exciting time for the little ones (and for parents and grandparents too)—a time when they make Easter crafts or learn Christmas poems, for example. You should enjoy this time for as long as you can.

Oh yes...

At our house, the Easter Bunny hid the Easter baskets too, St. Nicholas came with a sack and Knecht Ruprecht, and the Christ Child brought the presents while we had to help in the kitchen after dinner on Christmas Eve (all attempts to catch the Christ Child failed... Even our trap in front of the door once... :D) ... 
At my grandpa's house there was once a very sleepy St. Nicholas who accidentally hid the chocolate Santas ;) (He must have mixed something up)

St. Nicholas exposed himself when I was still very young ("...I'm not the real St. Nicholas!"), and I believed in the others until I was about 5 or so. 
I was always looking for logic in everything, and to me it was simply illogical. For as long as I can remember, I told my parents that it just couldn't work, the world is far too big for that to be possible. My big brother and my older cousins certainly didn't exactly help me keep believing ;)

But I digress. Basically, I think believing in it is lovely. It's wonderful as long as children can do that. But sometimes things just go differently: other children at kindergarten, older siblings, ... give it away, or the parents simply don't want to "lie"... 
Somehow it's a shame, but I think the children still aren't any unhappier because of it.
I still enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs even when my parents had hidden them. 

I also believe that this magical time for children should be preserved for as long as possible. However, preschool or older siblings sometimes throw a wrench in the works. Then it all comes out — such a shame!

My son once asked me when he was 6, when he was already in school, whether it was true that the Easter Bunny didn’t really exist. So I answered him — without lying: “The Easter Bunny comes to all children who believe in him.” He was very relieved, and the next magical Easter was saved. :-)

I can still remember very clearly the day I lost my belief in the Christ Child. I was still pretty young then. But I had an older brother (who I still have today). He showed me the secret box where our parents had hidden the Christmas presents. I was a little disappointed, but that was the end of my belief in the Christ Child.
I then bragged to my friends about what I knew. A few other kids stopped believing in the Christ Child, too. So I don’t think it’s all that unlikely for a young child not to believe in the Easter Bunny or the Christ Child—and it’s not always the parents’ or the way they were raised that is to blame.