Easter Bunny Anxiety?

Post Reply New Topic

Is anyone elses child having major anxiety about Easter?

My son seemed fine most of the day but shortly after dinner he was acting out and when it was time to get ready for bed he was being very difficult. I related it to Easter but couldn't get him to tell me anything. Then after he finaly calmed down he started talking about the movie Hop, which he saw a few weeks ago. Now I feel I made a big mistake in taking him to that movie. Firstly he has a major phobia of people in costumes, like mascots and clows, and he couldn;t stop asking me who the easter bunny was, if it was a man or a super smart bunny that can talk.
I know he will be fine in the morning, but I am begining to wonder if I should just tell him there is no easter bunny. But then I think I don't want him to ruine things for his little sister and soon enough he will know the Easter Bunny is not real, but then I am thinking he will probably think it is real until we tell him otherwise.

Well I dare say that even the most typical of children take issue with mascots. You could take a look at anyone's family photo albums and see at least one picture of a child sitting on Santa or the Easter Bunny's lap screaming in terror. LOL!!

Is this his first time really paying much attention to Easter? My son(5 yrs old) is still oblivious to any of the holidays. The up side of this is that I can buy him clothes and furniture for Christmas and he could care less.

My daughter had extreme anxiety about the Easter Bunny and Santa, etc coming into the house while she was sleeping. Now she is old enough that she has figured out the Easter Bunny, etc cannot be real and the anxiety has gone away. Telling him, while it would take away the magic of these characters, will alleviate his anxiety and also possibly prevent him from developing mistrust when he learns he has been lied to later on. My daughter is very fact based, and she has a hard time with these "stories" that everyone pretends are real for no apparent reason to her.

How did your son make out last night? Was he okay at bedtime? Happy Easter by the way.

Happy Zombie Jesus Day.

And I never understood the whole telling kids Santa Claus/Easter Bunny/Boogeyman etc. is real until they figured out they weren't, b.s.

Why does everyone do this stupid crap?

Just tell them at an early age they don't exist. There done.

He does know that holidays excist. He has been counting the days away till Easter for over a month now.

He was quite excited this morning doing his egg hunt and did mention to me again that he thinks the Easter Bunny is a man. My son is very factual as well, but combine that with being very nieve he believes anything I tell him. I never really made up much of a story about Easter except that there is a "bunny" that hides eggs, it was that movie that made things much worse for him then they should be. I have learned my lesson though and although I thought we were very selective in our movies already I will have to stay away from Holiday themed ones.

Mama-to-Grace and CockneyRebel, I think that is my sons issue as well. He did mention he was scared he was going to see him when he was sleeping, and I already know he has so many sleep issues as it is. Once I got him to sleep he was fine, but he did wake up befre 6a.m. which is not abnormal on a Holiday morning or any other morning if he has something on his mind.

I agree with you. My son asked me when he was three if I was Santa, I told him the truth, just like with every question he's ever asked me. I never once played the game of pretend a fat guy is breaking and entering into our home and putting presents under a tree for you. I think it's horrible that lying to children is considered part of "the magic of childhood."

P.S. We didn't "do" Easter this year. I think it's a religious holiday and best left to religious people. I think Capitalism has totally destroyed the idea of quite a few "holidays" inclusive of Christmas and Easter. Since we aren't Christian (or religious), I talked to my son about what Easter really means and we decided to opt out by celebrating a happy chocolate day where he got to eat a hideous amount of chocolate without Mum saying slow it down. He was quite pleased with that.

I'd been struggling with this topic for several years. When my son was little, it just seemed natural to continue the myth of Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Happy Birthday gnome (j/k) Then as he got older, I worried about what revealing the truth would do to him. He was a very staunch believer and became indignant and angry with the kids who didn't. I was terrified that he was going to hate me for having lied to him. As I continued the lie, I decided how to respond based on his indicators.... For the longest time he'd say, "Mom, Santa's real, right?" And taking that as an indicator that he still wanted to believe, I let him.

About 2 weeks ago, he said, "Mom, you're the Easter Bunny, aren't you?" And I sucked it up and said, "Yes," and waited for the fallout. There was none. He went over really cool Easter gifts and said, "So, that was you?... ok, will I still get Easter stuff?" and when I said of course, he was fine with it. To be honest, I was a lot surprised. A little bit later he asked, "So you're Santa too?" and I said yes... Again, he asked about the cool Santa gifts he'd gotten over the years, then asked if he was still going to get presents. That seemed to be his biggest concern. LOL I'd really been sweating this for years as it's the only outright lie I've ever told my son. And, apparently, it was no big deal. Maybe that's cuz I waited til the right time, maybe it would have always been that way. I don't know.

His biggest outrage seemed to be in the area of the Tooth Fairy... "How come sometimes I get a dollar and sometimes I only get a quarter?" LOL.. I had to explain to him that no, sometimes he gets a dollar coin and sometimes he gets a $2 bill.... but pointed out that if he gets a dollar coin he gets 2 packs of sugarfree gum, not one. *shrug*,"Hmmm true." and we were over it.

As for men in suits.. yeah, my son was never a fan. But then, 6 foot bunnies are not normal.
(BTW, he says this was the bestest Easter ever..... so I guess it truly was no big deal.)

I've had 2 completely different reactions to my boys finding out the truth about Santa and the Easter bunny. My oldest was older (Seriously I thought he knew and was playing along) He was furious. Furious that he'd been lied to, and furious that I'd now wrecked it for him. He cried for so long. My youngest just took it all in his stride.

My oldest would count down the weeks, the days and then the hours until one of the "special holiday characters" showed up.
My youngest, had no idea that it was Easter Sunday the following day until I told him, then he was suddenly very excited. He knew Easter was coming but obviously had no clue as to what day it would get here. He does the same thing with Christmas and his Birthday.

My youngest has a bit of a fear of people in costumes.

I guess when I look at things I think how I felt about it when I was little. I never ended up hating my mother or being mad at her for "lieing" to me about the holidays. I guess I will deal with that part of parenting when the time comes, but I know he will understand my reasoning as to why we never told him. I honestly think he already knows from the way he talks but I also think he really wants to beleive in the magic of the holidays as well.

LOL, we must have the same kid! We don't do Easter as we're not Christian, so he's not worried about the bunny. But he's very anxious about the tooth fairy. Yesterday he had to have a baby tooth pulled and when we got home the first thing he did was make a sign for our front door for the tooth fairy "Please do not enter this house." I've told him that I'm the tooth fairy and I *think* he believes me but he stays awake until the exchange is made just to make sure. He also used to be terrified of "characters" but has gotten much better about that.

I mentioned this to the dentist and she didn't think it was strange at all. I guess a lot of kids these days have fears about strangers.