This weekend the girls and I participated in a sporting event in which I am not a big fan...a public Easter Egg Hunt. If you have ever attended one, then you understand why I refer to it as a sporting event. I was not oblivious as to what I was getting myself into before we set off for this annual festivity. We had given up on these hunts many years ago as my (now) tween also is not a fan. However, this year was the first year that my toddler was old enough to participate. My original intention was to go as a family so that my husband could witness this momentous "first" in our daughter's life...especially as it would quite possibly also be a last. My plans were changed as my husband ended up away on yet another temporary assignment. After re-living home videos of my tween cheerfully participating when she was a toddler, I talked my hesitant tween into accompanying me so that we could capture my toddler's first Easter Egg Hunt on film for daddy.
We arrived to the hunt realistically early in order to find parking as I know the chaotic level of attendance that nearly every event on base attracts. As I stepped out of the car, my grand illusions began to quickly fade. There were already a couple hundred people waiting in line for the Easter Bunny despite the fact that he would not be arriving for at least another half hour. Another crowd was already gathering around the entrance to the roped off area where the hunt would be taking place. Despite the fact that the egg hunt for the first age group would not begin for 45 minutes, we decided that pictures with the Easter Bunny would have to wait as we knew that the line would not move quick enough. As we wandered around killing time before the hunt officially kicked off, we began to question being there.
As the actual hunt time draws near, the crowd swells and rumors circulate that over 1,000 people are in attendance. I decide that it is time for my toddler and I to join the crowd of parents with their toddlers that were swarming the entrance to the 0-3 age group hunt. My tween is locates herself along the boundary ribbons (within my eyesight) ready with the camera to capture the moment. I clutch my toddler tightly in my arms and question my own sanity as we wait in the crowd of screaming babies and pushing parents. At 5 minutes until the start time, the crowd lurches forward unexpectedly. The hunt was not supposed to begin, but the officials are unable to control the parents at the front. As the crowd continues to surge forward, Round 1 begins. I see a rubber ducky amongst the eggs and head to that spot to plop my toddler down. She reaches for the ducky and I tell her to put it into her bucket. My toddler reluctantly drops the ducky into the bucket as I show her a colored egg. She then picks up the egg and clutches it between her hands. I look around to see parents grabbing handfuls of eggs and shoving them in their children's baskets. Within that quick minute the hunt is done. There are 3 more eggs sitting between my toddler and I; so, I quickly toss those in the bucket as well and retreat. As we head out, I spot a poor rubber ducky getting stepped on...abandoned and unwanted. I pluck up the ducky and add it to my toddler's loot. When I was again safely outside the boundaries, I look around to assess the results of the chaos-- some parents walk away toting full baskets and others console their children who got none. My toddler's final score: 4 eggs filled with 2 crunched suckers (amazing they could put a sucker in an egg), a handful of small hard candies and gum that she can't eat, plus 2 small rubber duckies.
Round 2 came with chaos. Thankfully, I did not have a participant in the 4-6 age group. A mob of young children stood at the entrance as the workers re-scattered plastic eggs across the open field. Surrounding the boundaries were the disgruntled parents mumbling about the fact that they were not allowed to stay with their children. Several parents gave up on the rules and helped their children in from the sidelines as the stampede of children entered from the starting line. I watched in amazement as greedy children pushed and shoved to get the eggs as their parents cheered them on. As chaotic as the scene of children scrambling to steal eggs out from under one another was, the true chaos came afterwards when many of these young children realized that they had no clue where their parents were. The loud speaker began to name off one child description after another as frantic parents called out their children's names...I witnessed many tears shed and not just by the children. As we tried to stay out of the way while we waited for the next age group to begin, we went to say "hello" to a family we know. Their 4 year old boy was crying and the mother explained that he was excited before the hunt began, but as soon as the official said "go," he was pushed down and only received one egg. I told them that it wasn't much, but he could have all of my toddler's hard candy as the only thing she could eat were the suckers and the only thing she really cared about were the rubber duckies she had been clutching in her hands ever since she got them.
By round 3, ages 7-9, the officials were watching the sidelines and the participants were planning strategy...though most people had the same strategy-race to the far end. Once again, we were just onlookers for the greedy chaos. I was thankful that my tween had moved up to the oldest age group as round 3 also had a lot of kids and frankly, a lot of them were bigger than my tween. I thought that I would have been fearful of whether or not she could hold her own as those kids looked like they meant business. My thoughts were founded as we watched one child receive a direct blow to the face after snatching an egg that another child had planned to grab. I couldn't help but wonder how this tradition of greed had to do with the original theme of Easter.
Round 4- ages 10-12, the final round. My tween found herself a good position at the front of the pack. However, as more and more children joined, my passive child was pushed to the very back. Just as the hunt was about to start, my tween partnered up with her friend Jacob. They had a strategy of their own-- Jacob would block for my tween and she would grab. Their game plan was short lived. As soon as another hunter pushed my tween out of the way, she decided to go with a new plan: just grab what she could. The final scores for Jacob and my tween: a bucket of eggs each (all kids in their age group scored that amount), a small amount of hard candies, a few cheap trinkets, and a ton of bunny stickers...neither child scored the coveted slips of paper for chocolate candies or stuffed animals.
Well daddy, I think this is one milestone that you'll never witness as I don't think the girls and I want to brave this greedy pandemonium again. As it is, it is much more fun for the girls to hunt for the chocolate filled ones that mommy hides at home.
3.28.2010
3.17.2010
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