Easter passes and, like at Christmas, I can’t help but wonder how much I am messing with my kids psyche with tales of mysterious beings that can magically appear and disappear inside our house without anyone knowing.
Is it any wonder some kids become afraid of the monsters hiding under the beds or in the closets when we keep telling them that Santa and the Easter Bunny can creep about their house in the middle of the night while they are asleep? I mean, if Santa and the Easter Bunny can come in undetected and leave things, then what’s to stop some nasty thing from coming into the house and taking things?
And don’t even get me started with the Tooth Fairy. It’s bad enough Santa and the Easter Bunny can come into your house without anyone knowing, but to have someone come right into your bedroom, stick their hands under your pillow and get your tooth without you waking up and realizing they were there? Armed with that kind of knowledge is it any wonder that kids don’t want to go to sleep at night?
Why, oh why do we parents subject our kids to this insane torture? It can’t be because our kids laugh with abandon, get giddy with excitement and bubble over with anticipation at the merest hint of the imminent arrival of these beings? It surely couldn’t be the joyful flutter we parents get in our stomach as we faintly hear 6 am footsteps creeping down the stairs, knowing full well that the next few minutes will be filled with nothing but awe struck wonder that there is such a thing as magic in this world. Oh no, it surely couldn’t be that.
I know it is a bit past the holiday season (and with the credit card bills coming in, the last thing you probably want to be is reminded of Christmas), but I couldn’t resist linking to this photo gallery called Scared of Santa. 