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Original poster

Do most five year olds believe in the Easter Bunny?

36 replies

MirandaG · 08/04/2009 12:52

DD1 does, and the tooth fairy and of course Father Christmas, but I've seen several children who looked about the same age choosing their own eggs in the supermarket. Am I setting her up for an enormous disappointment when she realises that none of these actually exist? I don't think I ever really believed in Easter Bunny or the tooth fairy so I don't quite know how I've got myself into this situation with DD. Would be interested to know whether this is the norm or not. Thanks

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mrsmaidamess · 08/04/2009 12:53

We don't do the Easter Bunny. That's not what Easter is about. Its a marketing ploy invented by shops .

DumbledoresGirl · 08/04/2009 12:56

Good Lord no. I had never heard of the Easter bunny until I already had children and even then I thought it was a euphemism for parental largesse rather than an actual bunny children are supposed to believe delivers them chocolate. None of mine have ever had any doubt that their eggs are bought for them by me (I even ask them which ones they would like) or by kindly relatives.

ForeverOptimistic · 08/04/2009 12:57

Ds does but he also tells us what egg he wants from us too. We buy him two eggs, one from us and one from the easter bunny. The easter bunny hides all the eggs including those from grandparents etc.

I'm not sure that everyone does the easter bunny thing when I was growing up we didn't although we had father christmas and the tooth fairy. The fairies also bought us our birthday pressies which I assumed was the norm but am yet to discover another family that did this. We don't follow that tradition with ds.

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mrsmaidamess · 08/04/2009 12:57

I imagine The easter Bunny to be an American thing.

pollywobbledoodle · 08/04/2009 12:58

dh dresses up as the easter bunny and dd [5] and her friends humour him.......worked when they were 3 tho'

compo · 08/04/2009 12:58

we don't do the Easter Bunny either
It is hard enough keeping FC and the tooth fairy going without all that crap too

pollywobbledoodle · 08/04/2009 12:58

for an egg hunt that is

Habbibu · 08/04/2009 12:58

I'd never heard of it as a child. My dad used to do quite cool treasure hunts for us, though - little typed notes all over the house!

compo · 08/04/2009 12:59

faints at the idea of a dh dressing up as the easter bunny, why on earth?

AbleSister · 08/04/2009 12:59

no
is it a thing you are supposed to belive in?

Original poster

MirandaG · 08/04/2009 13:00

Oh God why did I ever start this? I mean the bunny not the thread. I think it comes from having quite a large gap between DD1 and DD2 - if I'd had another baby when she was a toddler I'm sure I would have had better things to do with my time...

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Original poster

MirandaG · 08/04/2009 13:02

Pollywobbledoodle - that is fab...I mean dreadful

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stealthsquiggle · 08/04/2009 13:03

DS does and he is 6.

Weeellll, I suspect he knows really and is playing along - but the Easter Bunny takes credit for egg hunt/trail and eggs from us - any from anyone else are credited to whoever provides them.

pollywobbledoodle · 08/04/2009 13:07

he refuses to put the mask and boiler suit on just for me tho'

Original poster

MirandaG · 08/04/2009 13:08

Yes, similar to stealthsquiggle. We're in Ireland so I'm hoping that loads of Irish people will come on and tell me that it is completely normal...

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Portoeufino · 08/04/2009 13:13

In Belgium they have the Easter Bells. They disappear off (not sure where) on Good Friday (i.e don't ring) and come back on Easter Sunday, and as they ring the eggs fall out of them into the gardens. Much better than a Bunny in my opinion and at least has the religious link. DD does believe this (and in the Tooth Fairy). She is 5.

So half a tonne of chocolate eggs needs to be distributed in the garden before she gets up on Sunday. I honestly don't know how we will manage with that amount of Belgian chocolate!

MrsPuddleduck · 08/04/2009 13:16

We always have an Easter Egg hunt in the garden on Easter Sunday. DS1 is 5 and a half and is looking forward to it.

TBCoalman · 08/04/2009 13:22

My boys are older than 5 and claim to still believe in the Easter Bunny. He only hides one small cream egg each in the garden though. The buttons eggs are from me (and I need to replace them as h and I scoffed them last night).

Original poster

MirandaG · 08/04/2009 13:39

I do struggle with Easter as a religious festival though, particularly the glorfication of Christ on the cross (and I had a full on Catholic education so am very familiar with it all). Not much fun explaining that one to a five year old.
Probably why I prefer the old pagan bunny - isn't that what Easter comes form anyway 'oestrus' ie fertility, new born bunnies, eggs chicks etc? Can't blame the Americans for everything! (Especially not with the arrival of Obama...swoon)

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Portoeufino · 08/04/2009 13:39

Wikiexplanation:

"German Protestants wanted to retain the Catholic custom of eating colored eggs for Easter, but did not want to introduce their children to the Catholic rite of fasting. Eggs were forbidden to Catholics during the fast of Lent, which was the reason for the abundance of eggs at Easter time.[7]

The idea of an egg-laying bunny came to the United States in the 18th century. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhas," sometimes spelled "Oschter Haws." "Hase" means "hare," not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare, not a rabbit. According to the legend, only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter.[8] In 1835, Jakob Grimm wrote of long-standing similar myths in Germany itself. Noting many related landmarks and customs, Grimm suggested that these derived from legends of Ostara.[9]

The German and Amish legends were most likely rooted in European folklore about hares' eggs [10] which seems to have been a confusion between hares raising their young at ground level and the finding of plovers' nests nearby, abandoned by the adult birds to distract predators. Hares use a hollow called a form rather than a burrow. Lapwings nest on the same sort of ground, and their nests look very similar to hare forms. So in the Spring, eggs would be found in what looked like hare forms, giving rise to the belief that the hare laid eggs in the spring."

Original poster

MirandaG · 08/04/2009 13:47

Portoeufino, that's fascinating, thanks. I didn't know the bunny was supposed to lay the eggs - am definitely not going there with five year old

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FigmentOfYourImagination · 08/04/2009 13:49

DD is 6 and no she doesn't aside from a jokey sort of a way.

She does, however, still believe in Santa and the tooth fairy (although that is waning now)

justaboutback · 08/04/2009 13:50

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Linnet · 08/04/2009 13:51

We've never told either of the dd's about the Easter Bunny and when I was little I'd nevr heard of the Easter bunny. I always thought it was more an American theme rather than British.

My brother and I always went along and chose the Easter eggs we wanted from the shops and my girls do the same now.

louii · 08/04/2009 13:53

I dont know anyone whose child believes in the easter bunny, we will prob do an egg hunt but DS knows it is us that hides them.

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