Baby Greed

On the day before Easter, I invited a few tots over for an Easter egg hunt. Following my family's example, I color coded the eggs, so that each kid would have the exact same number in their basket at the end. I was tying to avoid the free-for-all, knock-em-down, greedy run for the money type hunt...the kind I participated in when I was about 4 years old.

I don't remember much, but Mom brought me to a shopping center of some kind, and there was a fenced off area in the parking lot. On the word 'go,' about a million other kids and I went a'running, with big dreams and baskets in hand. I remember seeing a little stuffed bunny, or some such thing, way far away. I ran past countless eggs to get there, only to lose it to a faster kid. I'm not sure whether my memory is accurate, but I believe I left with an empty basket.

I don't think I'll ever bring my kids to a 'survival of the fittest' egg hunt, at least not until they're old enough to process the competitive nature of the event. The capitol (in downtown Lansing) has a hunt on the lawn every year, and I read about it in the paper last week. One little girl left the hunt with just one egg, and her quote was, "Well, I guess it's better than none!" Sorry, little honey, I feel your pain. Next year you're invited to our house. We'll make sure you feel like a winner!