There comes a time in every parents life, when they have to have an awkward conversation about all imaginary 'seasonal figure heads' with their children. One such conversation arose between Seth and I only two weeks ago, and to be honest I was surprised that we had lasted that long.
Last Christmas Seth had a stream of questions about Santa, and I knew that were not far off the age of disbelieving, but I had clearly misread these early warning signs as readiness for a truthful conversation. Anyway, it went like this:
SETH: So, Easter's coming up.
ME: Uh huh
SETH: And we will have an egg hunt?
ME: Of course
SETH: From the Easter Bunny? (Eyebrows raised here - clearly testing me out)
ME: Well, no.
SETH: What are you saying?
ME: (wondering if I should back out) Well, you now that The Easter Bunny isn't real right?
SETH: WHAT?! No, what the....??
ME: (Slightly panicking inside but trying to act blase) Yeah, I thought you knew, especially since you were asking all those questions about Santa last Christmas, I just figured that you had worked it out.
SETH: WHAT?!! (much louder now) What are you saying, that it's all lies, all of it? That there is no Easter Bunny or Santa? I mean I knew that The Tooth Fairy was all rubbish, but I didn't know that they weren't real!
ME: Calm down, I just thought that you were old enough to know by now, you are in Grade 5. Santa and the Easter Bunny are invented for little kids to get them involved in the magic of the season, but you're old enough now to understand that there is a deeper meaning to these types of holidays. I thought you would want to know.
SETH: Well, I didn't want to know, and thanks for lying to me all of these years, and thanks for ruining my childhood! (Storms out of the room in tears, goes to his room and sobs on the bed).
Jesus, that went well! I let him clam down and again explained that I felt that he was mature enough to handle it (way to pass the buck there - mum of the year!) and eventually he settled into the idea when he realised that our holidays wouldn't be any less magical, just a bit more realistic. He promised not tell the kids who didn't know, but then came up with the best question of all -(asked with a truly concerned voice) "Wait, does Zoe know about all of this?" (For those you that don't know me, Zoe is my seventeen year old daughter, so it was a funny thing to say. Zoe was aware by the age of 10).
Anyway, our Easter did go off without a hitch despite all of the horrifying pre-revelations. We began our day with the obligatory egg hunt - slightly modified of course - no bunny antics, followed by a spot of Easter Egg painting. We had a lovely roast dinner together of seasonal veg and lamb (and I did a salmon too) and of course we had to watch an Easter movie together, our very favourite Easter movie of all time.
Last Christmas Seth had a stream of questions about Santa, and I knew that were not far off the age of disbelieving, but I had clearly misread these early warning signs as readiness for a truthful conversation. Anyway, it went like this:
SETH: So, Easter's coming up.
ME: Uh huh
SETH: And we will have an egg hunt?
ME: Of course
SETH: From the Easter Bunny? (Eyebrows raised here - clearly testing me out)
ME: Well, no.
SETH: What are you saying?
ME: (wondering if I should back out) Well, you now that The Easter Bunny isn't real right?
SETH: WHAT?! No, what the....??
ME: (Slightly panicking inside but trying to act blase) Yeah, I thought you knew, especially since you were asking all those questions about Santa last Christmas, I just figured that you had worked it out.
SETH: WHAT?!! (much louder now) What are you saying, that it's all lies, all of it? That there is no Easter Bunny or Santa? I mean I knew that The Tooth Fairy was all rubbish, but I didn't know that they weren't real!
ME: Calm down, I just thought that you were old enough to know by now, you are in Grade 5. Santa and the Easter Bunny are invented for little kids to get them involved in the magic of the season, but you're old enough now to understand that there is a deeper meaning to these types of holidays. I thought you would want to know.
SETH: Well, I didn't want to know, and thanks for lying to me all of these years, and thanks for ruining my childhood! (Storms out of the room in tears, goes to his room and sobs on the bed).
Jesus, that went well! I let him clam down and again explained that I felt that he was mature enough to handle it (way to pass the buck there - mum of the year!) and eventually he settled into the idea when he realised that our holidays wouldn't be any less magical, just a bit more realistic. He promised not tell the kids who didn't know, but then came up with the best question of all -(asked with a truly concerned voice) "Wait, does Zoe know about all of this?" (For those you that don't know me, Zoe is my seventeen year old daughter, so it was a funny thing to say. Zoe was aware by the age of 10).
Anyway, our Easter did go off without a hitch despite all of the horrifying pre-revelations. We began our day with the obligatory egg hunt - slightly modified of course - no bunny antics, followed by a spot of Easter Egg painting. We had a lovely roast dinner together of seasonal veg and lamb (and I did a salmon too) and of course we had to watch an Easter movie together, our very favourite Easter movie of all time.
WALLACE AND GROMIT - THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
Release Date: 2005
Rating: G
Running Time: 85 mins
I have always been a fan of all things Wallace and Gromit related, and generally all things Aardman related as well. Dreamworks and Aardman actually teamed up on this adventure, and created what I believe to be the best Easter kids flick of all time. It deservingly took out the Academy Award for Best Animation in 2005 for it's fabulous stop motion techniques, but more than that, it's super funny and great exciting viewing that the whole family can enjoy.
Wallace and his trusty dog companion Gromit have started a business as pest controllers called Anti Pesto. A giant rabbit is terrorizing the local neighbourhood and eating all of the prize vegetables that were to be entered in the town fair competitions. Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter) hires the duo to stop the rabbit and save her crops, but they soon discover that this is no ordinary rabbit.
Hilarious antics ensue with a strong voice cast to carry it all home; a cracking way to spend 85 minutes of your time.
FINAL SAY: BEWARE.....THE MOON!
3.5 Chili Peppers
Release Date: 2005
Rating: G
Running Time: 85 mins
I have always been a fan of all things Wallace and Gromit related, and generally all things Aardman related as well. Dreamworks and Aardman actually teamed up on this adventure, and created what I believe to be the best Easter kids flick of all time. It deservingly took out the Academy Award for Best Animation in 2005 for it's fabulous stop motion techniques, but more than that, it's super funny and great exciting viewing that the whole family can enjoy.
Wallace and his trusty dog companion Gromit have started a business as pest controllers called Anti Pesto. A giant rabbit is terrorizing the local neighbourhood and eating all of the prize vegetables that were to be entered in the town fair competitions. Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter) hires the duo to stop the rabbit and save her crops, but they soon discover that this is no ordinary rabbit.
Hilarious antics ensue with a strong voice cast to carry it all home; a cracking way to spend 85 minutes of your time.
FINAL SAY: BEWARE.....THE MOON!
3.5 Chili Peppers
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