Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs, So Why Do Parents Lie to Their Kids?

Easter bunnies laying Easter eggs? It didn’t make sense to me at age 7 or 8, but I didn’t want to tell my mother I didn’t believe her! Is it really harmless to tell such stories to our kids?

I still remember the day that I asked my mother about the Easter bunny. It took courage I didn’t know I could muster.

We were in Levittown, New York, in the 1950s, and it was a warm, sunny spring day. I was 7 or 8 years old and watching my mother plant something.

This had bothered me for some time, this thing about the Easter eggs. I loved animals and was trying to make a connection between the various aspects of that cheerful holiday and what I knew to be true about nature—that rabbits had babies, not eggs. Birds laid eggs. All that led to other questions too—but one thing at a time.

I just couldn’t figure it out, but I didn’t dare reveal the awful truth—that I just might not believe what my parents had told me. How could I ask a question that would disclose my distrust?

A challenge to trust

Hiding behind this doubt was another unfolding mystery. My family flew to Europe every other summer to visit my grandparents. Before the first Boeing jets came into service, some of those trips on the turbo-prop airliners took 13 hours—just to go from New York to Paris! So how did Santa Claus make it around the world in just one day? I lay awake one Christmas Eve just thinking about that.

I dismissed a lot of those thoughts because I didn’t want to know a truth that might disagree with what I’d been taught. It was easier to rationalize my puzzlement and keep trying to come up with the answers on my own—even to the disappearance of cookies and hot chocolate left out on the night of Dec. 24.

What about Christ?

On that spring day, though, I put my doubts to rest, because I asked. And my mother, disappointed that Easter and Christmas—from her perspective—would lose some of the sparkle for me from then on, exposed the charades.

It was on my mind—and almost on my tongue—that day to ask also about Jesus Christ. What about Him? Was He real or also a lie? That really worried me.

Somehow I sensed better and decided that God was different. So I swallowed my disappointment with the truth about the Easter bunny and Santa Claus and ceased questioning. Though I was happy to make some sense out of things, I had just had my first lesson in doubting.

Choosing truth in all circumstances

The Bible reveals a God who loves truth and cannot lie (John 14:6; 17:17; Titus 1:2). He commands us to follow His example and never encourages parents to lie to their children.

It was a few years before I learned that most of these common holidays did not have their roots in Christianity at all, and my parents were only doing what most parents do—copying the traditions they themselves had been taught. They were trying to make it fun for me and my siblings, without knowing where the traditions came from or if they were approved by God.

In the process, something far more important was missed, though. When I think about the new bicycles, the ice skates, the beautiful blue winter coat—all the things I received gift-wrapped from my parents but allegedly from someone I’d never met (and never would)—I wish I could have been expressing my joy and gratitude directly to them, my mother and father. I think we missed a lot of smiles and hugs.

When I had my own children, I loved giving them gifts, but not on one break-the-budget day of the year. I chose never to lie to my children. Gifts came spontaneously throughout the year, often elaborately wrapped or just tucked under the pillow before they went to bed at night. Surprises were always just around the corner (usually tied to good behavior!), and there was no postholiday letdown involved. The joy was all mine—and theirs!

And as for rabbits laying eggs? Why not just tell children the truth?

Nancy Diraison is an East Texas member of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. Writing everything from music to blogs is her favorite occupation!

Related reading:

• Truthfulness: A Key Parenting Tool
• Beware the Bunny
• What Is the Origin of Easter?
• Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?