I have a question.....about the Easter Bunny..

[Proud_Democratt]

Why do we feel this need to lie to our children, and pretend there is an Easter Bunny???

[FrannyD]

1. Why do we lie

about our country being a Democracy?

[aquart]

2. because religion is conservative

and the moon hare lingers into christianity, the newcomer.

nothing wrong with honoring our roots.

you know the eggs are both fertility symbols for spring and stars in the heavens, right?

[shain from kane]

3. Why do you pretend there is a Ronald McDonald? n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

4. For the same reason I suppose parents have perpetuated Santa Claus

and the Tooth Fairy. It's practice to believe in faith without the empirical evidence to prove, leading to religious devotion as an adult. Even kids understand that fairies, ogres, and sorcerors in fairy tales don't exist.

Or one could just shrug it off, saying "It's cute. Let them be kids."

[Webster Green]

5. Are you saying there's no tooth fairy?

WTF!?:P

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Uh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . . . n/t

[silverweb]

20. LOL

That was my daughter's reaction, too. She was slightly pissed to learn that Santa Claus was a fake and she didn't much care about the Easter Bunny.

But when she then extrapolated that there was no Tooth Fairy, I truly thought she might never forgive me. She was furious with me for that myth for the longest time and still remembers how angry she was -- at all of 5-1/2 years old.

She demanded to know what really happened to the teeth she'd hidden under her pillow and I had to show her that I'd saved them all.

It's a funny story now, but she was really very upset at the time and so angry with me.

[xchrom]

6. because when you're a child there is still magic.

it's just fantastical fun.

[Poppyseedman]

7. I have always told my kids the truth

There is no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny or Tooth fairy.

Just why we do what we do, which is mostly for religious reasons. Birth of Christ, death of Christ, Christ is Alive and tooth decay.

They are only slightly deranged from it.

:evilgrin:

[noahmijo]

8. I think we should teach our kids that the Easter Bunny is fake

just like Eskimos :)

[SmokingJacket]

9. Does any kid *really* believe in the Easter Bunny?

I never did, but then again, maybe my parents weren't really into it.

We still perform the charade for my own kids, but they know perfectly well no rabbit is showing up and hiding the eggs WE colored the day before! It's fun to pretend. But if my kids demanded to know the truth (as one kid did with Santa) I would tell the truth.

[FlippyDoo]

11. Good for you SmokingJacket

I did believe in Santa as a very young child, but I never believed in the Easter Bunny. Actually, I can't think of any of my childhood friends that believed in the Easter Bunny either.

[KyndCulture]

10. My parents never told this lie! GLADLY!

nt

[rucky]

13. What's wrong with pretending? n/t

[shenmue]

14. You know...

if you don't believe in Santa Claus, he won't come to your house.

[ashling]

15. It pisses off the religious right

see the thread (sorry, no link) somewhere on here about a fundie religious easter ritual that involves crushing eggs and beating the easter bunny.

Yes, this makes then slather at the mouth and uulate (I just use this word because I recall that it was the word of the day a while back on dictionary.com -- that's another thing that chaps these people off: being open to expanding your educational horizons, i.e, lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness) at the moon.

Are we having fun yet?

[Canuckistanian]

16. This year we decided to 'skip' the Easter Bunny explanation

For our 9-year old son. He's autistic, but we didn't see any reason to treat him like a 5-year old.

So, when he asked last night when the Easter Bunny was coming, we decided to play along, just one more year.

So, he got his gifts this morning and was happy to see them.

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Because there has to be a subconscious archetype for the sexual rebirth

and rampant fornication which accompanies springtime.

These ancient pagan symbols have survived 2,000 years of Christianity- they ain't goin' anywhere.

[stellanoir]

18. All kids know the difference between myth and reality.

Or as one kid told Robert Johnson the Jungian psychologist. . . "A myth is true on the inside and not on the outside." They know the difference between truth and fiction and spirits and sentient beings.

STOP LYING TO YOUR KIDS.

And maybe just maybe they'll grow up to be adults who won't accept continual deceit from their leaders.

To ascribe the greatest magic to untruths is a form of child abuse and sets them up for profound mistrust later in life. It's not at all cute.

Sorry but I feel quite strongly about this.

/rant

[Proud_Democratt]

19. Love your outlook!!!

[raccoon]

24. I strongly agree.

I never believed in the Easter Bunny, but I believed in Santa.

I was really p.o. when I found out Santa wasn't real. And I thought, well, if Santa isn't real, then I guess God isn't either.

I did a lot of thinking and reading before I decided that God isn't a celestial Santa Claus.

One of my co-workers said once a belief in Santa Claus could be detrimental to poor kids who didn't get what they asked for because their parents couldn't afford it. I think so too.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

21. Children don't look at "truth"

in an adult manner. It isn't clearcut to them. In my teaching experience (since '72) those that "believe" just kind of move into understanding without mental trauma. Children enjoy fantasy.

[FM Arouet666]

22. Why do we lie to them about jesus?

A big rabbit deposits eggs filled with candy on easter sunday. RIGHT?

A jolly old fat man adorned in a cheap red and white suit delivers presents while riding a flying sleigh pulled by reindeer. RIGHT?

A man proclaims himself to be god, resurrects the dead, cures leprosy, walks on water, opens up a loaves and fishes fast food chain. Oops, almost forgot, dies on the cross for the sins of all humankind, past present and future, ascends into heaven, promises ever lasting salvation and the world lives happily ever after. Yeah RIGHT!?

I don't know, let the kids believe in the bunny. I don't see much in the way of violence and intolerance committed in the name of Bugs.

Just a thought.........

:evilfrown:

[Inland]

23. Um.....this is a religion and theology question? Really?

Because it seems to me to be the sort of invitation to a bunch of horseshit paralells between having a decent amount of fun with two years olds and religion. Just thinking.

By the way, the answer to your question is: because the littlest kids ENJOY it, and it allows for colored eggs and choky bunnies as a special, fun treat. But doubtless that giving children a simple, childish pleasure won't be good enough. And they can raise their kids any way they want.

[NAO]

25. It is a less gruesome, more believable lie than the other fable

about the guy who gets beat to a pulp, nailed to a telephone pole, stabbed in the side, dies, gets buried, and then comes back from the dead like some zombie from a b-horror movie. Yeech. Then there's that stuff about eating his corpse and drinking his blood! That fairy tale is way too horrific for children, so the Easter Bunny was invented.

It's just so much nicer to tell children that a magic rabbit leaves chocolates and colored eggs for them.

***
***

Q: What do Jesus and Colored Easter Eggs have in common?

A: Dyed for us!

[nemo137]

26. That's an utterly awful pun

but I still laughed.

[TreasonousBastard]

27. Oh HORRORS! We're LYING to them...

well it just seems to me that in the 15,000 years or so our species has been raising kids, we've made a lot of mistakes but we've also figured out that kids have incredibly inquiring minds and really love the fantasies until they can understand the realities.

I don't doubt some damage can be done to them by inflicting them with wierdness, but the stories can also instill understanding and values into them that they can't get any other way.

[NMMNG]

28. Just curious

What values does the Easter Bunny story instill in children, and why can't these values get instilled any other way?

[TreasonousBastard]

29. Can't think of any offhand...

but someone probably came up with some somewhere. But, I was talking generally, and just don't see anything harmful with a playful story about a bunny dropping eggs around. No more than kid's storybooks or so many of the other rituals we have with kids.

As far as other means of instilling values-- I don't think many of us actually think much in those terms when entertaining our kids, but it's just another tool to use in raising them. It gives them what we want them to know in their terms. And a lot of it is nicely prepackaged and easily done communally.

[Proud_Democratt]

30. What are these "values" instilled by an Easter Bunny???

Just wondering...I have an inquisitive mind???

[Solon]

31. I can tell you what it and its actions symbolize, but not really...

what values they relate too. OK, the bunny, or rabbit, if you prefer, is the favorite animal and symbol for the Goddess Eostre(Estrus and other words come from Her name). She's a Goddess of Fertility and Growth, so the Bunny, acting as her proxy spread that fertility through another symbolic symbol for fertility, the egg. Pretty simple if you think about it, Easter is a fertility festival, even the name of the Goddess is the name for the festival itself.

[Proud_Democratt]

32. Thank you, Solon!!!! Finally.... an educated answer.

[immoderate]

33. What about the E. Bunny's bowtie?

What does that symbolize?

Let me also point out that the E. Bunny cannot tell a lie.

--IMM