fear

Kids all have a different approach to me when I'm in the suit. Some kids are thrilled and cannot wait to come up to me, give me a hug or high five, and hang with me for a photo. Others are terrified and cling to dissapointed and apologetic mommy necks. One mother even bribed her son with a future candy cane - forgetting, I think, what holiday she was celebrating. At the end of the day I'm an 8-foot bunny. The fear makes sense to me.

My thoughts as I watched how each kid (and parent) dealt with the fear wandered between parenting or personality. Do kids who are scared feel like their parents woud put them in harms way? Is it just that some people are scared and others not by their nature?

Certainly my kids were different. My eldest was horrified at the concept of any person dressed as a critter where as the next child was all in. I don't think my parenting was any different. One was filled with fear and the other lacked even the slightest.

No matter what the deal, most parents want the same thing. They want their child to trust them. No matter what the perception...if mom or dad says it's a nice bunny, then it's a nice bunny.

I imagine it was no different during the original lenten journey. Jesus spent his time trying to tell people what they were in line to do and to not be afraid. He, like every suburban parent I saw today, simply wanted to be believed because he knew good things were coming...no matter what it looked like.

And most, like a lot of the kids today, let fear rob them of the experience.