Henry: Hey Mom, are we going to church next Sunday?
Me: Yeah.
Henry: No, we can’t!
Me: What? Why not?
Henry: Because it’s Easter!
Me: What are you talking about? That’s precisely why we are going to go. What do you mean?
Henry: Because we have to do that thing where you guys hide eggs and we go look for them in the backyard!!!
GULP.
Really kid???
More like it: Really Mom???
Truth is, I haven’t been very intentional about Easter this year. Actually, I haven’t even really thought about it at all. Terrible, right?
I haven’t decorated or planned a meal or made dresses or anything…not even the silly stuff of egg dying that would generate a conversation and questions. Which is weird, because I typically do. This year seems to be sneaking up on me. Like, I seriously cannot believe it’s almost APRIL. What the heck?!
While my conversation with Henry the other day made me cringe and die inside a little bit, I’m glad. I’m glad he reminded me to talk to him. I’m glad my own lack of focus was put into perspective. Even if it made me feel like a failure.
No sooner had our little chat finished, I ran upstairs to his room…
And pulled these two books from his shelf.
I bought them years ago when he was a baby…in fact, they are board books. But I think that the insides are appropriate for even my almost 6 year old.
Conversations will be happening this week in more depth, but these books were a great place to start.
Each are different, and I love them both.
The Easter Story 
The illustrations are great.
It’s a perfect quick read.
We’ll be re-reading this one at least a couple more times this week.
Ahem.
What Is Easter?
It begins with colorful illustrations and words about the fun “secular” stuff of Easter. The egg dying, the parades, the pretty dresses, the baskets, and the bunny…
Stuff we do too. We will dye eggs. I will wrangle jelly beans into plastic eggs and hide them in our yard. I even bought some cheap toys that will break in ten minutes from the dollar store for baskets. (As an aside, we don’t do the Easter bunny thing here. The kids know that I buy the stuff and we are the ones who hide the eggs. I have no idea why I’m all honest engine about the bunny but we totally play Santa. I make no sense. Reason 596 my kids will need therapy.)
But…that’s all just fun. Not the REAL reason.
I love that this book marries the two in the same way that my family does.
The author has written an entire What is…? series
Unless you have Amazon Prime membership, it’s probably too late to get these in time for Sunday…but at $5-$6 a piece you might want to have them on hand for next year.
You know, in case your kid insists that you can’t go to church on Sunday for fear of missing the stupid bunny.
Grrr….
*NOT a sponsored post. But I did use affiliate links. So feel free to shop. I’m saving up for a new camera lens. Don’t be shy. Your husband said it was totally fine.
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A few years ago we stopped doing the Easter baskets and stuff. I really wanted my girls to focus on what Easter is truly about. I have to say though, we still do an Easter egg hunt, because nothing is more entertaining then watching the tactical maneuvers of my children trying to out do each other.
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My son and I had the Easter talk a few days ago. I noticed he was talking a lot about egg hunting and other things. It made me wonder if we had talked enough about the real reason for Easter. We read a little from his Bible and talked about what happened. Though I don’t think he totally grasps the full concept, he is only 5. We can only continue talking to them about it and they will catch on.
We don’t do the Easter Bunny either. There’s just something about it that freaks me out. I flat out told my son there wasn’t an Easter Bunny and he was cool with that. Though we also do Santa and he’s cool with that too. haha Yeah, maybe my kids will need therapy too.
Isn’t it funny that we both do Santa, but not the Bunny?! I remembered that the first year we did eggs when Henry was old enough, we just flat out said “you can’t go in the backyard right now, because Daddy’s hiding the eggs…” It didn’t even occur to me that I had just ruined the Bunny tradition until the next day…! I just literally didn’t even think about it! So it wasn’t a conscious decision or anything, I just kinda went about the day and ended up “ruining” the whole thing! Ha!
I absolutely love the Patricia Pingry “The Easter Story”. It is such a perfect explanation, completely truthful, but not too “adult” for little ones to comprehend or listen to. Her “The Christmas Story” book is equally fabulous.
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We talk about Easter and I have a new Easter book tucked in Miss A’s basket at home, but it’s a balancing act. I like the bunny, I like Santa. The ideas behind those myths are what starts the conversation.
Cheers,
Caryl
We have the Christmas versionof What Is? but not the Easter. I love the Christmas one, I need to pick this one up as well.
Signed up for a free trial of prime so I could get books in time. Also bought “God gave us Easter” since I love the “God gave us you” book.
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Brilliant!!!
I am with you. Today I realized that I haven’t done one thing for Easter. Guess the kids will get to pick out their Easter candy themselves. We have been talking about the reason for Easter though, so that is good. Serafina is bummed we have to attend all 3 services at Church, I told her it was because she has extra sin that needed to be washed away. LOL
Oh, we love both of those books! The Berenstain Bears have a great Easter book, too! My daughter is almost 4 and we’ve been working on the basics: “Jesus died on the cross, then he came back to life. That means we get to go to Heaven because He loves us!” It’s pretty much the cutest thing ever to hear her say it!
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I have always had a little problem with holidays like Christmas or Easter (or zillion of other – Poland celebrates a lot of religion-related holidays). The problem arouse as I am an atheist and my brother’s family (also the little ones) were raised with Roman Catholic approach to EVERYTHING. So I always get really confused when my nephew or niece ask me about religion. For now I just tell them “go ask your dad” but I know it won’t last for that long. I wish they wrote a book about that, too! :)
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Both of those books are on our shelf – thanks for the reminder. I’ve pulled our board books back out because they are great for early readers with their big type, easily recognizable words and the photos provide that extra incentive.
Slowly but surely, we are doing less of the commercial version of Easter and I honestly don’t miss it. We still get dressed up for church and have a family meal, but the Easter egg hunt is the only remnant that remains. However we have 15 kids under 10 in our extended family, the kids can entertain themselves for HOURS hiding and re-hiding the eggs after the initial hunt. That’s hours of adult fellowship that we’re not ready to give up!
I found resurrection rolls on Pinterest and this is our second year to make them. I really enjoy the instructions that accompany the recipe. (And they are delicious!) But make them at your own risk. If you ask my 3 year old what the meaning of Easter is, he will exclaim “The Mouth is Empty!” (The tomb is empty, Jesus has risen –> The Tooth is Empty –> The Mouth is Empty.) I had a laugh explaining this to my son’s Sunday School teacher last week!