Do we need to take the fun out of everything? Honestly, after the Switch Witch began to show her face a few years ago (you know, the ‘good’ witch that trades the hordes of Halloween candy kids score for a toy of some sort so that kids don’t eat their weight in mini chocolate bars and gross licorice candy) I began to slowly lose faith in humanity.
Seriously, it’s one day a year! Teach your kids to practice good dental hygiene and let them live a little!
But I digress. Kind of.
Full disclosure. I’m Jewish, so while I did partake in trick or treating, there were never any Easter eggs in my house on Easter Sunday. So my level of indignation on this topic is likely lower than it would be if someone tried to take away yet another childhood tradition. Still though, I remain of the mindset that some traditions shouldn’t be tampered with. If one blogger’s hate-filled rant is any indication, there are parents out there who are ruining one of the best parts of Easter. The chocolate!
That’s right, they’re trying to take the chocolate out of Easter.
Now, I may have never been privy to the enjoyment that is running through the house finding chocolate eggs all over the place—but I can still image the insane joy of a treasure hunt for chocolate. How fun would that be? The equivalent I had in my house at the same time of year was hunting for a dry piece of matza.
But it seems that the chocolate is being replaced with candy eggs. Candy. So let me get this straight; these chewy milky morsels of chocolate goodness are being replaced with hard candy eggs? For what purpose? Clearly not health reasons.
“There is nothing more disappointing to a child than waking up on the morning the Easter Bunny comes back to life after a year in retail purgatory to find their little bunny basket piled high with teeth-cracking candy eggs. Not the loss of a favourite toy. Not the death of a much-loved pet. This, this is the nadir of a childhood gone horribly, horribly wrong,” John Birmingham wrote for TheAge.com.
A bit dramatic? Sure, but I’m with this guy. What’s the deal?
I get it, we like to create our own traditions but this is one shift that just makes no sense. If my grocery store aisles are any indication, there is a serious expectation of chocolate on Easter. Like, an entire aisle’s worth of expectation. There are chocolate eggs with eggs in side, Dora shaped chocolates, bunnies filled with Smarties. Like Spiderman? You can get his effigy in chocolate! The world is really your chocolate oyster. You have a favourite shape, there’s a chocolate for that at Easter.
Please, parents, let the kids have their chocolate. That’s what they’re expecting to find Friday morning. That’s what they really want. And no, we don’t need to give kids every single thing they want but really, if you’re going to give them hard candy anyway, just give them the darned chocolate.
Birmingham has a real genuine, heart felt PSA for parents as this weekend approaches.
“I don’t like to offer advice to parents, but parents, heed my advice. If you or the Bunny does not deliver the good stuff this Sunday, you will have failed and your children will run away to Africa to join up with the first warlord who offers them a half chewed Freddo [an Australian chocolate frog].”
Let them eat chocolate!
Totally agree! We will always hide easter eggs and do up an easter basket for kids. I also use it as an excuse to give them outdoor stuff I would end up buying anyways.
But chocolate will always be part of our easter. I have a lot of friends who refuse to buy it and I just shake my head. My only problem is my daughter doesn’t like chocolate (or candy). Lol. But I still buy it. Then I just put it in a dish for treats or company comes over. She may not like chocolate but loves hunting for them.
Growing up it was always Sunday morning for us too. We’ve kept that tradition going for our daughter.
psst….Sunday morning….we hunt on Sunday morning 🙂 rookie mistake!
Or…do people hunt on Friday morning? Is that a thing? Growing up it was always Sunday for me and my family..