To think that the Easter bunny leaves an egg for morning

[littleloopylou]

Just found out that the Easter bunny didn't come to my ex's. My child was taken to an Easter event where the bunny had hidden some eggs for many children to find. Ex also mysteriously discovered some eggs in his car that were left by the Easter bunny, a few days after Easter.

My child thinks that the Easter bunny forgot them.

AIBU to think that ex totally dropped the ball on this?

Or a bit of materialistic stuff for Palm Sunday?

If I'd have been drinking tea I would most certainly have spat it out reading this!! I actually don't have a problem with all the made up nonsense but I can't decide whether I would have loved pancake man as a child or been scared shitless about it!

Obvs am aware of bunnies/chicks associated with Easter, but never the Eater Bunny leaving eggs - my parents (well, DM) got them for us.
DC was taken to an Easter Event with an egg hunt - wasn't as if her DF did nothing

They should probably have this section covered in the baby books. Gift Bearing Mythical Creatures. Decide pre-birth how much of a rod for your own back you want to make, but beware, telling your kids FC / EB / TF, pancake man and chocolate egg shitting chickens are not real may cause problems with other parents.

@ilovesooty surely Palm Sunday should be a visiting donkey😁
Pontius Pilate for the Hot Cross Buns?
I used to have a younger cousin who insisted that it was a Pirate.

There are some quite important points- how old is the child? How long have you been separated? When we are in this situation, we do the Easter eggs early- my kid has always been happy with this, because I don't put unrealistic expectations on a certain day, or a parent who does things differently. They had an Easter egg hunt- ok it was different to what you would have done, but their dad took them to one. The response should have been, that sounds great, not your father has ruined the day. It's up to you to accept that things will be different in each household, and if things are done differently, it doesn't mean that it's spoiled/ ruined/ destroyed.....

My child thinks that the Easter bunny forgot them

My child said "Daddy lied about the eggs. He's a liar.”

A child who simultaneously believes in the Easter bunny whilst knowing it’s the parent providing the Easter eggs?

The ones in his car were just little eggs that have been knocking around his house for a long time

I don’t believe you. Who has Easter eggs “knocking around” their house “for a long time”? How did they get there? Are we expected to believe that they randomly appeared with no input from your child’s father?

I think you’ve either made the whole story up or are massively exaggerating.

My dc is much older than yours OP. He is autistic and still believes in both FC and EB. He was very angry when he was with ex for Xmas and saw him filling stockings on Xmas eve. He still talks about how daddy is a liar and ruined Xmas.

Here - EB leaves eggs for me to hide on the day or a day when dc are here. That started during covid because EB didn't want to risk coming into the garden and has continued because it's very convenient and avoids any issues like this. We had the hunt today because dc was with dad this year and dad didn't do any eggs at all.

Incidentally I was brought up in a church going family and we always had an egg hunt courtesy of EB.

Your ex has the right to parent in the way he believes is appropriate (and as long as it is safe and practical to do so) when the child is in his care. If this means being an arse about previous family traditions then that's ok: they obviously weren't his traditions, they were yours.

So with this in mind, keep to your traditions but move the dates around. Kids don't care whether it's Easter Sunday or 25 December - they care about chocolate and presents. If you let him know this is your Achilles heel he will use it against you every time. Rise above it and create a way for your child to enjoy your traditions on another day / date.

Are.. are we supposed to be doing Easter bunny? I have dropped the ball on that one entirely. My kids (2&5) picked their own out at the supermarket 😂

I am dead excited for pancake man though. That I can get behind.

It’s literally centuries old as a tradition — keep up!

In France the eggs are brought by the local church bells, which fly in the night to be blessed by the Pope in Rome and then return bringing the Easter eggs. In Germany and Teutonic Northern Europe it’s traditionally an Easter rabbit or hare. Can’t help you if you don’t know what is a pretty longstanding tradition, tbh.

You laugh about Palm Sunday, very funny, but it’s actually crosses made out of palm leaves that traditionally you get given on Palm Sunday, not a donkey.

I’m not a practising Christian, but I don’t make fun of other people’s religious traditions. Try it sometime?

I’m not a practising Christian, but I don’t make fun of other people’s religious traditions. Try it sometime?

No, sorry. If there is no separation of church and state and we are forced to have a state religion, then everyone gets to take the piss. If people want to stop having religion forced on people, I'll stop making fun.

Try that sometime.

And the Easter Bunny may have existed as a concept, but that doesn't mean that for hundreds of years children all thought he existed. I certainly didn't and I grew up in the UK. Father Christmas yes, even the tooth fairy. But not the Easter Bunny.

Bunnies don’t lay eggs, and anyway, it should be a hare from the Christian church borrowing ideas from the pre Christian festival of Ostara, one of the symbols of which is a hare (loads of folklore all round the uk about hares)

Honestly, I would just tell them that Dad got in touch with the Easter Bunny and organised to do the hunt instead as he thought they would have more fun that way.

I wouldn’t say they were an angry weirdo, I’d say they were a liar.

People raised in this country who celebrate Easter have ‘never heard’ of the Easter Bunny and are unaware it’s a ‘thing’? really? Come on. Displays in shops and ads at this time of year must be very confusing indeed.

You don’t have to participate yourself to know what it is.

Well, I'm 64 and yes rabbits have always been part of the Easter symbolism along with eggs and chickens. But until recently I've never heard more than the very occasional mention of an Easter Bunny outside american films/tv programmes and certainly not as an egg deliverer in the UK. There were egg hunts but never associated with rabbits. My kids are in their 30s and it wasn't a thing with any of our friends and family, or as far as I am aware any of their own friends.

Yeah i agree. It seems like you just want to bash your ex instead of trying to help your child. You are separated so traditions will be different at each house. He took his child to an organised event so it's not like he just ignored easter entirely.

I was truly surprised to discover via mumsnet that some children believe the Easter bunny (and the tooth fairy) are real.

It's your child not aware that every shop sells loads of them at Easter? What does s/he think those are for if the Easter bunny gives them all out?

The Easter bunny? We don’t do this at all? Like you actually tell your child that there is an Easter bunny? I thought the Easter bunny was just like, a picture on eggs and decorations. I had no idea people actually told their child that there was a magic bunny who brought eggs? We have only ever done the Easter egg hunt and kids LOVE it! To me an egg hunt sounds way more fun than just waking up to an egg in your bedroom?

The idea of Pontius Pilate coming in the night to leave hot cross buns is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard 😂😂😂

I can’t help but feel that this is why we as parents should stop telling total lies to our kids like this? Like Easter is a religious holiday, why did you lie to you kid and say a giant bunny hops around dropping off chocolate eggs? Of course they’re going to find out that it’s not true at some point and be upset. If you didn’t make up this unnecessary lie then the child wouldn’t be upset when the rest of the world doesn’t go along with it.

I agree. Did you even go to church, OP? Or pray?

Thats a good point. We always do the easter bunny with a "wink wink" approach and try to not place too much seriousness on it but I'm now thinking I should be careful and maybe make it obvious it's a game where we pretend.

You can do both things and have the easter bunny