Our church has a lovely egg hunt every year organized by the middle schoolers. They even hide the eggs for the toddlers inside a fenced in playground and keep the older kids away. The eggs for toddlers are filled with healthy snacks like crackers and gummies instead of jelly beans and chocolates, which is very thoughtful and I'm in support of until I'm trapped inside the toddler fence knowing Mr. Lipstick is devouring the jelly beans our four year old brings him and all I have are stickers and goldfish.
Instead of watching a sugar-crazed four-year-old run like a mad woman from tree to tree and deliver candy into my hands, I was with my two year old, desperately trying to get her to pick up a plastic egg. Just one. Just get one plastic egg darling. It's right there... yes, pick it up, no, don't put it back. It's for you! With everything else in your life you yell "MINE" why not this? Just lean over and pick it... oh wait, another kid just took it. OK, let's pick up that pink one over there... Quickly, before the other kid gets it again... I suddenly felt sympathy for all of those egg hunt crazy parents out there. They probably were lovely people until they experienced the unending frustration of trying to make their two year old have fun.
Littlest Lipstick had no interest in finding plastic eggs. Absolutely none. She sucked her fingers and looked at me with her skeptical "my mommy is crazy" eyes as I kept trying to convince her to pick up that blue plastic egg at her feet before another kid did. She obviously did not understand why we were standing next to a playground and she wasn't playing- and why I kept telling her to pick up items on the ground when usually I make her drop the pieces of trash-treasure she somehow digs up on any other playground. She stared at me like this was some sort of trap.
I knew I couldn't pick up the eggs myself- that would be wrong. It was for the kids. But my kid wasn't participating- she was missing out on this moment! Her childhood was flashing before my eyes. This is it- her two year old Easter- it only happens once! She must find eggs!
Plus, the eggs were EVERYWHERE. There was nothing hidden about them. All she needed to do was bend over and pick up the egg. Or turn around. Or go down the slide. Just going down the slide would knock down a few eggs. I could catch them in the basket and we could count that as finding them.
I wasn't alone. The playground was full of parents equally frustrated and toddlers equally confused. We all stood, laughing awkwardly, while trying to mentally will our confused children to just bend down and pick up the eggs. As though we've ever had luck with trying to mentally will a two year old to do anything. "Look! Over here! Can you find the egg? Where are they? Oh my goodness! What's behind the slide?" Nothing. Fingers kept being sucked. A few older kids who caught on to the game grabbed the egg in question before our young ones could figure out what's happening. Our kids didn't care- but somehow we did.
It is physically uncomfortable to watch your child NOT pick up the egg in front of them.
Parenting is hard, always. But there are times when we don't recognize just how hard it is. Standing there, watching a child not participate in what should be a very fun time is surprisingly difficult. And when we don't realize it is difficult- when we keep trying to fix it and force the situation instead of standing back and watching the show- we create a mess. As I pleaded with Littlest Lipstick to just pick up the **** egg I had to remind myself that this wasn't about me. I wasn't in charge of organizing her perfect childhood or making sure she finds her fair share of eggs. It's going to be OK if she misses some egg hunts or falls down or we don't get the perfect Easter picture. I can't do all of these things for her. I can't make it happen.
We forget this as parents. We feel responsible for so many aspects of our child's life that it is hard to draw lines between what we can and cannot control. It's easy to criticize the helicopter parents until that moment when you are there yourself, trying to make your child's life perfect. Perfection isn't the goal for childhood. We need to stand back, take a breath, and let it be messy. As uncomfortable and frustrating as it is.
*It should be noted that although she resisted collecting eggs at the hunt later on Easter she overheard me saying that we were out of eggs- meaning real eggs for cooking. She started yelling, "NOT YOURS MOMMY! MY EGGS!! I FIND! MINE!" like she has royalties on all the eggs that enter our house after rejecting eggs that morning.
I knew I couldn't pick up the eggs myself- that would be wrong. It was for the kids. But my kid wasn't participating- she was missing out on this moment! Her childhood was flashing before my eyes. This is it- her two year old Easter- it only happens once! She must find eggs!
Plus, the eggs were EVERYWHERE. There was nothing hidden about them. All she needed to do was bend over and pick up the egg. Or turn around. Or go down the slide. Just going down the slide would knock down a few eggs. I could catch them in the basket and we could count that as finding them.
 |
| She found one egg. She's not impressed. |
It is physically uncomfortable to watch your child NOT pick up the egg in front of them.
Parenting is hard, always. But there are times when we don't recognize just how hard it is. Standing there, watching a child not participate in what should be a very fun time is surprisingly difficult. And when we don't realize it is difficult- when we keep trying to fix it and force the situation instead of standing back and watching the show- we create a mess. As I pleaded with Littlest Lipstick to just pick up the **** egg I had to remind myself that this wasn't about me. I wasn't in charge of organizing her perfect childhood or making sure she finds her fair share of eggs. It's going to be OK if she misses some egg hunts or falls down or we don't get the perfect Easter picture. I can't do all of these things for her. I can't make it happen.
We forget this as parents. We feel responsible for so many aspects of our child's life that it is hard to draw lines between what we can and cannot control. It's easy to criticize the helicopter parents until that moment when you are there yourself, trying to make your child's life perfect. Perfection isn't the goal for childhood. We need to stand back, take a breath, and let it be messy. As uncomfortable and frustrating as it is.
*It should be noted that although she resisted collecting eggs at the hunt later on Easter she overheard me saying that we were out of eggs- meaning real eggs for cooking. She started yelling, "NOT YOURS MOMMY! MY EGGS!! I FIND! MINE!" like she has royalties on all the eggs that enter our house after rejecting eggs that morning.
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