Easter Egg Ideas

Easter is a very meaningful time for my family and I am lucky to have an employer that grants a floating holiday to all staff this time of year. This means that our office remains open during regular business hours around Easter but each staff member is able to take one day off with pay. It is then up to us to ensure coverage of office duties during this time.

In the weeks before Easter I will be squeezing in a few activities including Easter Egg hunts, stories, and special church services. I will also be putting together a few activities at home that will help me to teach my kids what our family values as the meaning of Easter. My favorite activity is these resurrection eggs. Instead of candy and stickers, plastic Easter eggs are filled with small meaningful symbols of Easter and quickly facilitate my efforts to teach my children the Easter story.

Easter Symbols:

1. (Bread) Matthew 26:26
2. (Coins) Matthew 26: 14-15
3. (Purple cloth, representing a purple robe) Mark 15:17
4. (Thorns) Matthew 27:29
5. (Scourge-a small piece of rope or thick string) Mark 15:15
6. (Cross) John 19: 17-18a
7. (Nails) John 20:25b
8. (Sign) Luke 23:38
9. (Sponge) Matthew 27:48

10. (Spear) John 19:34

11. (Rock) Matthew 27:59-60

12. (Empty) Matthew 28:6

Daycare Stories

I recently had a bad experience with my daycare which prompted me to investigate what resources of support exist for daycare parents. I Googled "daycare stories" and was disappointed to only find daycare horror stories - from neglect all the way to child deaths in the care of daytime providers.

I am a strong advocate of children being with families as much as possible, but I also recognize that this isn't always possible. My two children are in full-time daycare; my youngest has been in full-time care since six weeks of age. In this time, I've collected a few negative stories (I won't call them horror stories). I've also collected several good, encouraging stories.

1. After nearly a year of my husband and my own attempts to potty train my first son, he spent only one week with a daycare provider before being certifiably potty trained.
2. My boys loved one daycare provider so much that they chose to attend summer camp with her, even though it was a Girl Scout summer camp.
3. Upon moving out of state, our provider and her own children saw us off each crying on my kids' last day.

Being a parent of children in daycare is tough. I struggle emotionally to drop them off each morning and a part of me wonders if their daytime providers are fostering the same manners and habits I would attempt to teach through a daily routine. These are topics that women don't tend to discuss by the water cooler...but maybe we should.