I’ve realized that the Easter Bunny has turned into something of a Santa in our house. This started because in the past, I decided to put minimal amounts of candy into my kids’ Easter baskets and instead fill them with other things like balls, bubbles, clothes, crayons, books, etc. I did that because I didn’t want my kids eating/receiving so much candy. I don’t want to be the “wierd” mom and completely deprive my kids of Easter candy, but it’s against my overall view of health and wellness to give my kids candy that is unnatural in color and have ingredients that sound like a science experiment in them.
I thought it would be better to instead put stuff that they could do something with, use, or be artistic with, in their baskets, rather than just junk food to eat.
My daughter is 3 1/2 but remembers last year’s Easter basket and all the cool stuff in it. And she’s really looking forward to it again this year. Recently, we were at Target and my daughter started telling me as we passed the Easter section,
“I’m going to ask the Easter Bunny for a My Little Pony.”
I said, “Mila, the Easter Bunny isn’t Santa. You don’t request presents from him.”
A little puzzled, she agreed, and we moved on.
But in the past weeks, she has continued to say things with a BIG SMILE like, “I hope the Easter Bunny gets me another Frozen book and a new necklace with a cupcake on it!”
My sweet girl. She is so optimistic and happy. When in our lives are we so content looking forward to or possibly receiving, just a kids book and plastic necklace?
I want to bottle her up and keep her like this. But I know talks are coming soon about being grateful for what we receive and her understanding she’s already got so much.
I didn’t mean to create a Santa Bunny. I certainly want to correct where I’ve steered wrong in my attempts to make our baskets better than just pounds of candy. It reminds me of how challenging parenting can be. It always takes analysis to determine where we are driving and if that’s the direction we’ve intended to go.
laurenchavosky 
I love the idea of a Santa Bunny but empathize with your good intentions gone awry! I can just see that BIG SMILE. Good luck! Thanks for sharing.
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So cute! Your daughter sounds like a treasure. Just enjoy them because before you know it they don’t care about the Easter bunny.
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I was just thinking about this the other day as I was buying things for Lily’s basket. Like you, I don’t want to have a bunch of candy, but as I eyed all the items that I had gotten, I had to wonder if I went a bit overboard for an Easter basket. It’s hard to know when to draw the line sometimes when we want to see our kids excited and happy.
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