The Socialist Easter Egg Hunt

Last week my little girls had their Easter party and egg hunt at their preschool. I knew there were going to be problems at the egg hunt when they asked parents to only bring 6 eggs per child for the egg hunt.

Every egg hunt I’ve ever been to the goal is to run around and get as many eggs as you can as fast as you can. Some kids get a lot and some don’t get as much. That’s the way it goes. But when there are only 6 eggs per kid out there, some are going to get more and some LESS. And what kid wants to come home from an Easter egg hunt with less than 6 eggs?

I’m all for not overindulging our kids, but 6 per kid is really pointless. So sure enough, some kids got quite a bit more and some had only 1 or 2. It was sad. It was also exactly what I envisioned happening. Nobody wants a preschooler to go home with 1, 2, or even 3 eggs, so instantly some moms starting seeing if some kids who got a bunch could give some. I am actually in agreement with that. Reagan had 8 and Ashley I bet had around 12! I totally thought we should share SOME of our eggs. I even told some of the moms that they had more.

What happened next though was more than I expected. Suddenly it was decided that everyone should end up with exactly 6 eggs and I watched Ashley’s face as a few hands dug into her basket and took HALF her eggs! It saddened me for her. I explained to her that some kids had almost none and had her think about how she would feel if that were her. But I didn’t think reaching into her basket and just taking was fair either. And I didn’t see why we needed to completely even it up.

The perfect story of socialism! Exactly the type of thing you read about in articles. Now, this was not a premeditated act of socialism. The real problem was that they only asked for 6 eggs! What were they thinking? Had it been 12 some might have had 20 and some might have had 8 and surely (hopefully!) that would have been okay. And I know the moms were just panicing and trying to remedy the situation quickly as it was already time to head in.

Still, I didn’t think it was completely right. How about Ashley give 1 egg to each kid who got hardly any? And how about Reagan only give up 1 egg? Same with the other kids who got more. And how about we let them come to that decision on their own and let THEM be the ones who put the eggs in the other kids baskets? But no. It was just taken and divied back out. I have to say it bothered me.

Again, it was just people in the moment trying to do what was right and not leave a child upset. And it’s okay for my child to learn a lesson in sharing to those with less. But making everybody even? I don’t like it. My child was deflated. All that being said, we are going to get WAY more candy than needed in just a few days. It’s all good in the end.