Aggressive Egg Hunts - JFF (Or Maybe Not)

Most I have been to, have been nice. They split it up in age groups so its evened out. However, there are still those parents who push their way in that bother me. I actually saw a parent dive on the grass last weekend. I also saw another parent completely picking up the candy in mass quantities. (Also while waiting for it to start had a parent confess its the candy she uses for her Easter baskets, I suppose that is why some parents pick it up) I had one daughter in the 1-4 category and one in the 5-7 year olds. I stayed with my daughter in the 1-4 category as it can get overwhelming and crowded and scary. She is actually 4. I allowed her to pick up her own candy, but helped when she needed help spotting them. I saw many parents doing the same but there was a few that didn't. I also noticed some parents helping in the 5-7 category. Crazy! My kids got a small handful and were happy for the most part. The whole thing took under 10 minutes. The hunt started at noon and we were back to the car by 12:09pm.

My experience with public hunts were just like what you described. I was horrified, we did 2 about 2 years apart, never again. We'll stay at home and do our own. I will say that we have participated in a hunt at my mother's church, but my children were told that they were to make sure those smaller than them were finding eggs and having a good time. My children are not being taught to behave in such a selfish manner.

M

Updated

My experience with public hunts were just like what you described. I was horrified, we did 2 about 2 years apart, never again. We'll stay at home and do our own. I will say that we have participated in a hunt at my mother's church, but my children were told that they were to make sure those smaller than them were finding eggs and having a good time. My children are not being taught to behave in such a selfish manner.

M

It depends, I have been to good and bad ones. The first one we went too was awful. She was in the age group 1-3 yr old and I told her to be careful since she was supposed to be one of the older ones. HAH!!!!! She got trampled by the parents and didn't get a single egg and it was over in 2 min.

We found a different hunt that was better organized and not as aggressive and our church does one that is really nice that we have been too. I think you need to look for some good ones in your area, and they can be fun, but also not so much.

The only egg hunt we've been to was last year at my son's pre-school. The kids were arranged by age and all given the same sized basket. The parents behaved themselves and all the kids got at least 8 eggs.
Thing was, it only took about 3 minuted for the kids to clear the field of eggs. This was the culmination of weeks of parents bringing in donations, sorting and stuffing. It seemed like too much work for what it was.
We had planned to attend a public egg hunt this year, but after reading that article I'll be investigating it further before deciding to go.

ha ive been to a few like that. you should go again. I'm sure they learned. They did around here and now they seperate into age and also some put limits and some did away with the egg hunt and do games to win eggs.

My SIL is in charge of the egg hunt here and she makes sure the older kids know that the "obvious" ones are for the little ones (my son) and they are to HELP him also. His first egg hunt with them, he was 4 and he "found" half the eggs. The cousins got all the money divided evenly between them and he kept a few of the candies and the rest went into a candy bowl at grandma's house. I think the crazy egg hunts are nuts and I honestly never did the egg hunt thing (I do not understand it) until moving here because the rest of the family does it and it's their tradition here.

The city egg hunts we went to and enjoyed were divided by ages, and roped off for each age group. It'd be like ages 1-2, 3-5, 6-8 (something like that). They'd do oldest kids first (over in like 2 minutes), then the middle group, then the youngest. I was really glad they did that because my son was a little 2 year old and I saw the bigger age groups just tearing through there....I was thinking my son would have been stampeded!
We do egg hunts in our backyard and in the house. I would probably do one at our church (if I could remember the thing is on Saturday, not Sunday) because it's a pretty small church and everyone seems pretty mellow. But that's about it. The public egg hunts do get rushed through and over very quickly, so it's a bit of a disappointment. Gather some friends over for a brunch and do an egg hunt with their kids? That's more my speed.

In our town the major easter egg hunt is separated by ages... little kids under 2 have their own sectioned off area, then there is 3-5 year olds and then 6-8 and 9+ ... I like it that way. Last year we drovew to the egg hunt, saw that it was completely snowy and frozen and decided we would opt out rather than have our toddler suffer. Knowing the whether was iffy we didn't even tell her we were going to an egg hunt... so when we just went to breakfast she didn't think much of it. we did an egg hunt in the house at home anyways.

This year, weather permitting we will go, and she'll be with the bigger kids. I think staying close by the kids when they are little is very important to make sure things don't get out of hand- it should be fun after all. (I also have known parents who bring a few eggs to "plant" for their kids just in case the more eager kids scoop up all the eggs before theirs get to them, which I honestly think might be a good idea if your kids are hesitant. I would NOT take my kids to a free for all - all ages- trample the toddlers egg hunt... thankfully ours is pretty civil!

-M.

We have never done them b/c from what I heard from other friends of ours it is exactly as you said.

We enjoy our own backyard (sometimes indoors depending on weather) yearly.

I remember when I was a kid they used to hold an Easter show followed by an Easter egg hunt up at our high school. I don't think I ever got an egg at those things - too many older kids.

The couple egg hunts we have attended around here are separated by ages. Not sure we will attend this year since my son would now be in the crazy mass of older kids. We'll probably just stick to the church Easter egg hunt and one in our backyard.

I saw that report on CNN about the parents rushing to pick up the eggs for their kids last year - yikes! I can understand if the kid is a toddler, but otherwise...

That sounds pretty much EXACTLY our experience last year. My son was the same age as your daughter and there were many older children who where screaming and jumping on eggs.Plus the parents were snatching them just as fast! My son got 3 eggs (which I grabbed for him) since the older kids went nuts and were much faster. I will go again this year but will find an area away from the older children with only younger ones around. It was not a positive experience. I don't understand why any kid over the age of 9 or 10 would want to grab Easter Eggs. It wasn't even a hunt! They were just laying there!

Wow, I'm not a big fan of public egg hunts either but at least here ours are broken up into age groups, and no teenagers do it!
Sorry it was such a disaster. Oh well, lesson learned, and like you said, the backyard family ones with all the cousins are more fun anyway :)

My experiences were the public easter egg hunt were too aggressive too for my 3 year old son at the time. We went to the our churches easter egg hunts because they split the younger children and older children in two differnt areas which was easier for the little kids from 1-4 years old.