Seriously, kids

Thank God I'm such a horrible mom & didn't make my kids Easter baskets. Their behavior was bad enough yesterday without adding in a sugar high.

Don't worry, though. I've already put away for safe keeping devoured all the candy my mom brought for their Easter baskets.

Saturday we took Bear to an Easter egg hunt here in town. Uh, seriously ya'll? I knew other moms could be, well, rude, but c'mon! Several of these women were downright vicious. And I'm talkin' the 0-3 set here. What's it gonna be like in a few years when Bear's running with the big kids?

It was like this: 75-80 tots trying to figure out what the heck was going on. 75-80 moms trying to make sure their kids got some eggs. And then there were those moms. "RUN JANE! GET THOSE EGGS! HURRY! THAT KID MIGHT GET IT FIRST. YOU BETTER NOT LET THAT HAPPEN. JANE YOU GET THAT EGG NOW! THAT ONE. RIGHT THERE." These same moms also encouraged (and participated in) elbowing, shoving, cutting other kids off...you get the picture.

Bear walked away from the hunt with a whopping 3 eggs. One she picked up before it started, one someone handed her (again, before it started) because they'd picked it up to tape it back together, & then we found one while we tried to keep from being attackedran over.

They did save back quite a few eggs, though & when they would see a kid with little or no eggs in their basket, they let them pick out a handful, so Bear ended up with about 10 eggs.

And then to cap off the festivities, on the way back to the car, some little ragamuffin walked by Bear & said "Oohhh. What a pretty dress. We save ours for Sunday. Too bad you'll have to wear yours twice. And it will be dirty tomorrow, too."

Seriously. Did I miss some kind of memo about how I should be raising my daughter now? Is there some kind of unwritten mommy handbook out there that says I should let my daughter talk however she wants to other kids (while I sit back & snicker), encourage her (by words & actions) to shove other kids so she can get what she wants, & let her throw herself on the ground & scream bloody murder until I give her everything her little heart desires?

I know I have a toddler. And I know the above behaviors can be expected as a normal part of her development. But lately it seems like I've seen more & more parents not only encouraging this behavior in their kids, but leading by example.

I know Bear is going to act out, pitch a fit when I don't give in to her every demand, get all territorial on a kid when they want to play with her toys. But apparently, 'ol silly me over here is of a rare breed that believes in teaching my daughter appropriate behavior, how to talk to other people, & how not to generally be the rude, selfish pain in the ass that the other moms want to keep their kids away from.

So if anyone has a copy of this super-secret Mommy Handbook I'm apparently missing out on, can you please let me borrow it? Because I'll be damned if I'm gonna stunt my kid's social development by trying to teach her how to be polite & respectful of other people.