My baby girl is now nine years old, but she’s still a big believer in the Easter Bunny. She has autism, not sure if that’s related but she’s just a little bit developmentally delayed and I know she really still believes.
Yesterday she accidentally found the bag of basket goodies and got all excited because she thought this was just snack food and presents from me (Barbies and My Little Pony stuff). Now I have a dilemma. Should I buy her more and let her continue to believe a little while longer or let nature take it’s course and let her come to the realization that Mom is actually the Easter Bunny?
I’m more inclined to buy more goodies but then I probably baby her too much because she IS my baby and I’m not ready to let her grow up yet. I think once she realizes the bunny isn’t real the magical innocence of childhood will fade. I’m not ready for that!
MPSIMS because I’m not really looking for advice. I know I’ll buy the goodies. I’m just sad because I’m not ready for her to grow up yet!
One thing I found out is if kids are gullible enough to believe in the Easter Bunny then they will believe anything you tell them to help preserve the story.
Tell her that the Easter Bunny left the items with you because he has so many houses to visit that he was worried he wouldn’t make it to your house on Easter morning. He is leaving items with only his most trusted and dependable families.
Awww……
I think what I’d do is come up with some kind of story about how Mom helps the Easter Bunny, but I can understand if you don’t want to do that.
I still do Easter candy and Christmas stockings for my kids and my husband’s kid because they are children in my household, although the youngest is now seventeen.
The magical innocence of childhood is doomed to fade and that is no sin: it will be replaced with the magical possibilities of middle childhood and growing up.
Yes it is sad to lose something you have enjoyed but trust me when I say it gets even better: I have a 15 year old son and 14 year old daughter. They possess energy, curiosity, and drive. They have views of right and wrong and defend them with passion.
They are their fully formed future selves without the experiences that will flesh out their souls.
The Easter Bunny is fun. What comes next is better.
Tell her the Easter Bunny is very busy, so he starts making deliveries the week before in order to make sure he can get to everyone’s house so nobody gets left out.
That ought to bridge the gap nicely for another year until the truth slowly dawns on her.
Brilliant, you guys! I will just tell her the Bunny delivers early because she (he?) doesn’t have a sleigh like Santa.
I have a 24 year old who still gets a basket full of treats every Easter. I think she probably knows it’s me but we’re STILL pretending. Sigh. They’ll always be my baby girls.
Our Santa gifts (my kids are unbelievers) get wrapped and put under the tree as they arrive (saves me from having to hide unwrapped - or wrapped - gifts and I think the tree looks prettier) - long before Christmas - and this is my standard line to any child coming into my house old enough to read “from Santa” and young enough to believe. And, yep, they buy it.
On a side note, I think it’s rough enough that we’re expecting a rabbit to produce chicken eggs. Having said rabbit be portrayed as male is a bit much. I’ve always felt the Easter Bunny should be female.
We have a similar conceit which is that Santa delivers the gifts unwrapped. It started when the kids caught me wrapping gifts one year. Since then it’s become a family tradition that whenever they’re watching a movie with Santa or the elves wrapping presents I get to shout at the TV about how that is SO FAKE and EVERYONE KNOWS Santa doesn’t wrap the presents because he’s TOO LAZY to do it himself and instead I have to DO IT FOR HIM. Then I get to grumble, stomp out of the room, and get myself a Christmas cookie to make me feel better while everyone agrees that the writers should have done some research.
I am 36 and still my mother has the Easter Bunny deliver things to her house for me. Same for Santa. The stockings are always from Santa. It’s silly, but we do it.
When my daughters were little I told them that Santa Clause had called me and asked me to fill in for him at Santa Night at my office. I knew that hey were looking forward to going and figured they could tell who Santa really was when they sat on his lap.
I asked them to promise to keep it a secret because Santa was sad he couldn’t make it but he wanted the children to be happy. So under no circumstances were the other kids supposed to find out.
They were so proud that night and felt exclusive because they knew the big secret.
YES! They will! Even if you do decide to tell her now. Nine is the right age. And one thing that is really nice about once they know: they can be in on creating that magical world for other, younger children. That’s really fun!
On top of the regular magic, my grandmother convinced me that there were gnomes living in a hollow tree at the bottom of the garden. Did you know that gnomes write in mirror image and really small letters? Absolutely true. I know it for a fact because they used to leave me notes all the time. I also really enjoyed being in on writing notes for my younger sisters. Y’know, to help the real gnomes because they were busy…
There will always be plenty of magic, even when the Easter Bunny is gone. Did you know we can nearly make blood in factories to save people’s lives? How cool is that? That’s magic right there, it just has label on it that reads “science”.
I would definitly buy more candy and presents. There is no harm in that. My girls are now 12 and 13, and I will still make a basket for them for Easter Morning. I never want them to grow up, but they will eventually. The rule in my house is, if you do not believe in Santa, you get no presents, and ditto for the bunny. So, even though they both know the truth, they are happy pretending for my sake. (In a joke kind of way).
True, and my daughter is a huge fan of science. Last night we saw that there were no new Cosmos episodes yet and she said, “We can always watch the old ones!”
I really push science, but here I am encouraging her to believe in magic bunnies.
Rushgeekgirl, you’re such a fantastic mom. The fact that you’re worried about this situation proves that.
I love the idea of telling her the Easter Bunny dropped everything off early.
My little 3-year old is working on potty training, and for the past week, the “Easter Bunny” has been leaving chocolate or a toy in front of her door every morning as a way to say “Good job!” One of the toys – a little wind-up bunny – didn’t work, so I told her that I would leave it outside for the Easter Bunny and he would bring it back to Santa’s Workshop, where the elves make all of the toys for the Easter Bunny. I exchanged the toy for a new one, and THAT one didn’t work either. Now she thinks the elves are doing a craptastic job. Ha!
My mother always bought the Easter chocolate too early and often couldn’t help but dig in before the big day. More than once I’ve had an earless chocolate bunny in my basket.
Every few years I send my mother a small box with nothing but chocolate ears in it, just to let her know I haven’t forgotten. lol.
Even if you do decide to tell her now. Nine is the right age. And one thing that is really nice about once they know: they can be in on creating that magical world for other, younger children. That’s really fun!