The Easter Bunny does not come to our house.

04-06-2007, 10:43 PM

S/he comes to grandma's house, because grandma feels so bad about our daughter not getting an easter basket. We're not Christian, why should we celebrate a Christian holiday?

I post on a parenting/pregnancy board, and am being lambasted because we don't do Easter. They feel that my child is missing out on so much "imagination" and "childhood fun" by not doing the Easter Bunny. We don't do Santa (anymore) either, and haven't since she was around 5 years old (she asked for the truth, so I told her). I dont think we will do Santa for our son either to be honest.

Why do some people think we should be required to have the Easter bunny and Santa for our children?

Thorgrim · 04-06-2007, 10:56 PM

As an atheist liberal who is for restoring our proper pledge back to its pre-"under god" days, I can't imagine not having my kid participate in easter egg hunts or not giving him presents for christmas

Having a kid not attend any religious activities is a pretty heavy indoctrination in non-belief, and it will make him special and unique, however I think it's going too far to exclude a kid from activities that he could end up being teased over..."you don't celebrate christmas, so you're jewish...you don't celebrate anything...so you're...weird?" other kids just don't understand, I wouldn't put my kid through the process of explaining to all the other 8 years why he thinks non-religious christmas activities are not worth celebrating when 99% of the neighborhood is...

04-06-2007, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

As an atheist liberal who is for restoring our proper pledge back to its pre-"under god" days, I can't imagine not having my kid participate in easter egg hunts or not giving him presents for christmas

Having a kid not attend any religious activities is a pretty heavy indoctrination in non-belief, and it will make him special and unique, however I think it's going too far to exclude a kid from activities that he could end up being teased over..."you don't celebrate christmas, so you're jewish...you don't celebrate anything...so you're...weird?" other kids just don't understand, I wouldn't put my kid through the process of explaining to all the other 8 years why he thinks non-religious christmas activities are not worth celebrating when 99% of the neighborhood is...

Where did I say my daughter doesn't participate in easter egg hunts or doesn't get presents for "christmas"?

We "celebrate" Easter and Christmas with our religious families.

Thorgrim · 04-06-2007, 11:36 PM

so, you tell your kids to go on easter egg hunts, but tell them to stay away from the easter bunny and easter baskets...

You give your kids presents on dec 25th but try to limit their exposure to Santa

?

04-06-2007, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

so, you tell your kids to go on easter egg hunts, but tell them to stay away from the easter bunny and easter baskets...

You give your kids presents on dec 25th but try to limit their exposure to Santa

?

We are very open religiously. I am Pagan, my husband is Agnostic. His family is Christian. We expose our daughter to all religions and celebrations. I have absolutely no problems with celebrating my mil's religious holidays WITH HER, but I see no reason to bring them into our own house which is what my rant was about.

We have our own winter holy day, during which presents are given (the winter solstice, which is literally days away from Christmas). We do "Christmas" presents with my Christian mil, and I don't see anything wrong with celebrating all of the holidays our family celebrates. My daughter is 10, and she understands the reasons behind the holidays as well as the symbolism behind the Easter Bunny, Santa etc.

No, I don't personally do Santa nor do I do the Easter Bunny in our house. Hell, we don't even do the tooth fairy.

Scrum · 04-06-2007, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

As an atheist liberal who is for restoring our proper pledge back to its pre-"under god" days, I can't imagine not having my kid participate in easter egg hunts or not giving him presents for christmas

I agree.

My Wife is agnostic and i'm an atheist. There is no way I could take the holidays away from my son.

The kind of celebrating we do is secular anyway.
Christmas is about exchanging gift with friends/family and santa coming.
Easter is about the easter bunny which is really more of a spring festival thing anyway.
St. Patrick's day is is when daddy pees in the hamper.

I was raised in a secular home and that's how we did it.

04-06-2007, 11:59 PM

Where's a banging your head against a brick wall smilie when you need one?

edit:

(bonus points to me for the forum I stole it from!

)

Scrum · 04-07-2007, 12:10 AM

Originally Posted by 03 white zx3

Where's a banging your head against a brick wall smilie when you need one?

edit:

(bonus points to me for the forum I stole it from! )

That was nothing against you, I was just responding the Thor.

04-07-2007, 12:17 AM

Originally Posted by Scrum

That was nothing against you, I was just responding the Thor.

I know!

Roonie · 04-07-2007, 10:29 AM

I think it is important for kids to have some sort of tradition in their lives. That is what Easter and x-mas is for, a yearly tradition that they get very excited about. If you don't want to practice these things for whatever reason then make up your own traditions. Either way it is important to have them and have extended family involved.

Personally I don't think we have enough traditions in the American culture and this contributes to the TV kid. TV is a built in family as the same characters show up every week at the same time and you start caring about what happens to them. Family used to be in that spot but we have grown away from that as we have become more industrialized.

Regardless of the religious orientation it is a way for our kids to feel connected to something bigger then themselves and also to grow closer to family. I have two young boys.

04-07-2007, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by Scrum

That was nothing against you, I was just responding the Thor.

Sorry for quoting you again, but it DOES feel like no one is understanding what I'm saying.

JaJae · 04-07-2007, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by 03 white zx3

Sorry for quoting you again, but it DOES feel like no one is understanding what I'm saying.

I think a lot of us understand we just don't necessarily agree. Easter, Christmas, etc can be celebrated in a secular manner and it allows your children to share in the excitement with the rest of their peers. It's your choice, I'm sure a lot of Muslim families aren't going to break out the easter baskets this year, but if you're got a non-ethnic kid it's almost expected of them and the other children will/do talk about it. I personally don't think your reasons for keeping the celebrations away from the kids are strong enough. But we don't know how strongly you feel towards being a Pagan. To me it's very similar to the Jehova's witness kids who everyone thought was weird. I never saw the point. I would give the kids a wrapped up package labeled from Santa so they can share excitedly what Santa brought them rather than be the kid who feels left out. I think it's something fun that you can do with your children in a secular manner and will bring a lot of excitement to their little world.

04-07-2007, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by JaJae

I think a lot of us understand we just don't necessarily agree. Easter, Christmas, etc can be celebrated in a secular manner and it allows your children to share in the excitement with the rest of their peers. It's your choice, I'm sure a lot of Muslim families aren't going to break out the easter baskets this year, but if you're got a non-ethnic kid it's almost expected of them and the other children will/do talk about it. I personally don't think your reasons for keeping the celebrations away from the kids are strong enough. But we don't know how strongly you feel towards being a Pagan. To me it's very similar to the Jehova's witness kids who everyone thought was weird. I never saw the point. I would give the kids a wrapped up package labeled from Santa so they can share excitedly what Santa brought them rather than be the kid who feels left out. I think it's something fun that you can do with your children in a secular manner and will bring a lot of excitement to their little world.

No, I'm sorry but I still feel like you're not understanding. My daughter still experiences the EAster Bunny and Santa, it just happens with her Christian grandparents. We have our own holidays that we celebrate. It's not as if I'm keeping her from having these childhood experiences of imagination.

It IS expected of me, and that is what I find irritating. The whole world is not the same. Different families have different traditions, shouldn't we accept that?

Dumpy Dooby · 04-07-2007, 03:08 PM

Christmas and Easter have very obvious Pagan history. I'm rather surprised you don't just incorporate the Pagan-"ness" into them. You could teach your kids a little history lesson too, which makes it beneficial.

In the solar mythological interpretation of the Gospel, Jesus is (obviously) Sun. It was a derivative of the Julian sun god, and as such, the Julian calendar was used by those that held these beliefs. The year ended on Winter Solstice, as was common back then. On the Julian calendar, Winter Solstice fell on December 25th. The idea was that the rebirth (new year) of Christ (Sun) marked a new beginning. The days become longer, and Christ begins to spread light over all of the darkness (i.e., the days are no longer getting shorter; they're now getting longer).

Btw, if you're interested in Christianity as a solar myth (i.e., what I have written above), here's an extremely brief breakdown of the Gospels as they were possibly (probably?) interpreted by the Hermeticists of that time...

The Sun is born, or re-born, on December 25th.
[Jesus is born on Christmas day, December 25th. Actually, knowledgable Christians will admit the tradition of celebrating Jesus' birth on December 25 was an attempt to place a Christian significance on a pagan holiday. Pope Julius (350 CE) assigned the birth of Jesus to December 25.3 Pagans of numerous solar religions celebrated the birth of their Sun God on December 25th.]
Sun begins his journey at "age 30" by entering Aquarius.
[Jesus is said to have begun his ministry at age 30 (Luke 3:23). Jesus begins his ministry by visiting John the Baptist (Aquarius), who baptises with water.]
Sun's annual journey around the zodiac takes one year.
[According to the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke), Jesus's ministry is said to have lasted one year.]
Sun visits Aquarius who immerses the land with water.
[Jesus starts his one year ministry by visiting John the Baptist who baptises with water (Mat. 3).]
Sun is temptated to give in to the forces of darkness (winter has just ended), and
[Jesus, after starting his one year mission by visiting John the Baptist (Mat. 3), is tempted by the devil (Mat. 4:1-11)]
resists that temptation.
[but he rebukes the devil's offers (Mat. 4:4,7,10-11)]
Sun leaves Aquarius. Aquarius is figuratively is put in prison.
[John is put "in prison" (Mat. 4:12)]
Sun goes on his way, leaving Aquarius behind.
[Jesus goes on his way. (Mat. 4:13-17)]
Sun visits Pisces, the two fish (theme of fishing).
[Jesus then visits Simon and Peter, two fishermen. (Mat. 4:18-22)]
Sun visits Aries (ram, sheep, lamb, etc.) on the Vernal Equinox, when darkness and cold, the figurative sins of the earth, are overpowered by light and warmth.
["The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)
note:Easter, when we celebrate Jesus as risen from the grave, is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. It is a Spring time celebration of the rebirth of Sun and Sun overpowering the cold and darkness of Winter.)]
Sun in Spring brings an end to stormy weather.
[Matthew 8:23-27 we have the story of how Jesus Calms the Storm.]
The head of Aquarius rises from below the eastern horizon (rises from the dead), and
["This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead!" (Mat. 14:2)]
appears beheaded by the horizon.
["The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison."-Mat. 14:9-10]
Sure enough as the night progresses, we see all of Aquarius rising intact from below the eastern horizon.
["When Herod heard this, he said, 'John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead.'"-Mark 6:16]
Sun "walks on the water" (crosses the Milky Way)
["During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake."-Mat. 14:25]
Sun reaches the Vernal Equinox. (Summer Solstice)
[Here is the Transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus goes up a high mountain, the highest point Jesus reaches in the story, and shines brighter than ever, the brightest he shines in the whole story. "His face shone like the sun."-(Mat. 17:1-13)]
Sun reaches Cancer and rides it into Summer
["They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them."-Mat. 21:7 (emphasis added)
(note:In the Babylonian zodiac the sign for the house of Cancer was the ass and foal. Two bright stars in the constellation of Cancer still bear the names Assellus Boreas (Northern Ass) and Asellus Australis (Southern Ass).)]

And I'm stopping right there because it's time to leave. Maybe I'll break down Easter when I get back.

04-07-2007, 09:29 PM

Dumpy, I am perfectly well aware of that. As I said, we do celebrate the Winter Solstice, but we celebrate our spring holiday during the vernal equinox.

Dumpy Dooby · 04-07-2007, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by 03 white zx3

Dumpy, I am perfectly well aware of that. As I said, we do celebrate the Winter Solstice, but we celebrate our spring holiday during the vernal equinox.

Yeah, I read that after I sent my post. I actually had started my post last night and then I left and forgot about it. I saw it this morning when I woke up, and I just added that last line to it, and then submitted it.

I just left my post there because I had put effort into it, and I didn't want it to go to waste.

04-07-2007, 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by Dumpy Dooby

Yeah, I read that after I sent my post. I actually had started my post last night and then I left and forgot about it. I saw it this morning when I woke up, and I just added that last line to it, and then submitted it.

I just left my post there because I had put effort into it, and I didn't want it to go to waste.

I appreciate your effort

ballz2wallz · 04-08-2007, 11:57 AM

I think it would be good for your kid to enjoy the traditions of our culture, even if they don't believe in the real meaning behind it. Do you also sit around while all the other kids are celebrating Christmas?

If not, why not have the Easter bunny? If you don't celebrate any of our holidays, I kinda feel bad for your kid

motivez · 04-08-2007, 12:34 PM

"our" holidays is based on the presumption that everyone believes in the same things.

They don't.

I think it's perfectly fine that you are teaching your kids your values and your own traditions, I don't see any reason you should have to implement holidays or traditions in your home that you don't believe in.

That said, I wonder if your kid is the one that goes around telling the other kids that Santa and the Easter Bunny aren't real? The only issue I see with telling them at such a young age is them ruining it for other kids, which I do agree is a shame, because it is a lot of fun for the other kids and their parents.

ballz2wallz · 04-08-2007, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

"our" holidays is based on the presumption that everyone believes in the same things.

Good God man, you really have to argue with every word written, don't you?

'Our holidays' refers to American holidays. They are holidays whether you like it or not, and they are celebarted by nearly everyone, even those without Christian beliefs. Why do you think Santa and the Easter bunny were created? The answer is obvious, so that people who aren't Christian don't have to tie a Christian meaning to the holiday.

There are no presumptions.