By Renee Martinez, Founder of Raising Boys World
The morning of Easter was a lovely sunny day. The air was crisp, with the sound of birds chirping, buds on the trees and the smell of spring filled the air. What a perfect day to share a holiday with family and friends.
“No!! It’s mine!!!”
“No, mine!”
“No, I want it!”
Then the giant sound of BOOM, followed by “Mommy!!!!”
Not the way I intended to start what I thought would be a nice day. Fortunately, we were able to get started with our day injury-free. So we proceeded downstairs to the Easter egg hunt that the Easter bunny had left the night before.
The Easter bunny was a little stingy with chocolate this year. No need to make the crazies crazier. Plus, we all knew that the relatives will give the children chocolate, not-to-mention the homemade desserts.
Easter is a Holy spring sugar-fest without costumes. Parents could be in for serious sugar-ingested behavior problems if they are not careful. Our society seems to have forgotten about the Holy aspect of the holiday and focused more on the commercial portion. I’m not a super religious person, but I think it’s important that the children are aware of the true meaning of the holiday and that the focus is not entirely on sugar and bunnies.
After the egg hunt, we reviewed (and consumed some of) the contents of the baskets. This was followed by the traditional pink and purple pancakes (yippee – more sugar) and a showing of the classic claymation movie Peter Cottontail.
I don’t know if it was the clear bright sky that screamed to the kids “get wild and come out and play”, or the sugar, or lack of sleep from a late night. Let me tell you, my blood pressure was really high and so too was the noise level. I seriously thought about locking everyone in their rooms – for a week.
Son #3 is at a VERY challenging age. He ‘s constantly arguing with son #2 (who likes to instigate). He has this high-pitched whine that sends shooting pains from your ears down your back. I know that he’s at an age when he wants to be a baby – but since he’s getting bigger, he wants to be a big boy too. The problem is that his struggle, is also our struggle because he’s driving us a little crazy. He’s at a 40/60 crazy to normal ratio right now. For every wild thing he does, he does or says something really cute too. Somehow I gathered up the strength to go on with the day.
Eventually we made it to my aunt and uncle’s house. On the way, the monsters turned to sleeping angels as we pulled into the driveway. I remembered that the mixture of excitement, lack-of-sleep, sugar and a sunny day makes kids wild. I will remember this next year. By the end of the day, as we left our second party, son #3 (who is almost 3) said, “I had such a nice day today”, then he nodded off in his car seat. I stopped for a moment to appreciate how lucky we are and that we are building memories with our children.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK, on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in the internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
