When Adults Go Stupid

A simple Easter egg hunt turned into a melee when adults trampled children in an attempt to gather eggs with certificates for free xbox's, ipods, and gift certificates.

My friend, who lives on the Marine Corps base in Yuma, attended this event. She told me about how adults were grabbing up as many eggs as they could. She lost her 5yo son because of the chaos, but he was able to find his dad, Ssgt. Dragonslayer. This was supposed to be for kids, but adults without children joined the fray.

Here are some comments regarding this event.

I have a suggestion for next time have a rope for the parents not to pass when i read the flyers it said kids only. The parents were going out there with the kids 9-to-12yrs olds. Parents with strollers and were pushing there kids to the front on the line did not care if there were other people around they were pushing them to.If there were a boundery for parents the kids would have ran on there own after they were done it would be clear enough to see kids coming back to there parents it was just sad to see little kids lost crying for there parents i lost my kid because i listened and did not go out there with my kid that what i get for listening well maybe next year would be more safer

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My family and I attended this egg hunt, as did thousands of others. It was a wonderful thought the church had for the community and I would really like to thank them for their efforts, it's to bad greedy adults had to ruin it for the children.... The rules were, no one over the age of 12 was to be allowed in the roped off sections except for in the walking to 4 age group, they were allowed to have one parent help them if needed, but the parents were not to touch any eggs. After standing around for nearly two hours for the event to start it was over in minutes. About ten minutes before the event was to start people rushed the lines and headed out onto the fields. hundreds of adults could be seen out on the field as well, and not just in the baby section but in all of them, many were seen smashing and stomping the eggs in search of money and prizes, it's no wonder children were lost or separated from their parents in all the chaos, I'm surprised some of them were not injured as some of the adults bullied their way through the crowds pushing and shoving and knocking children to the ground. The children's who's parents respected the rules and stayed back had little to no chance of coming out of it with an egg. When it was over every direction you looked you could see groups of children standing around crying with empty baskets their parents trying to console them, several of the mom's I talked to were just as shocked as I at the behavior of some of the "grown up's" that were there. I had 3 children in the event myself a friend mine who was there had two, between our 5 children 4 of them came out of it with nothing. As the fields cleared you could see hundreds if not thousands of eggs smashed to pieces, their goodies trampled into the dirt and ruined, some of the littler children were seen trying to put some of the busted eggs back together just so they would have something to put into their baskets. It was really a sad thing to witness. I think for next years event they should plan things out a little better. I'm sure the church had no idea as to what type of Melee the thought of free money and prizes could cause. Maybe next year they can set up little corral type area for the kids to be in before the event starts, no parents allowed on the fields period. When its time to start they could open the gates and let them go, parents can line up outside of the fenced off areas for pictures and to cheer them on. They could even have some volunteers out on the fields to monitor the collection process and help guide the smaller children if needed. If the children don't want to be separated from the parents then maybe they need to wait until they are a little older. A little more planning and little more restraint on the parts of some parents can really make this an annual event the kids could enjoy. I hope what happened today doesn't discourage the church from trying it again, or people from attending future events.

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My family and I also went to the egg drop today. I just don't think they relized how horrible the parents were going to be. My husband took our 2yr old and I had our 5yr old. He said that he was amazed on watching the parents break the eggs just to see what was in them on the walking to 4yr old side. He also saw parents just dragging their little ones behind them so they could get the eggs, not the children. I thought that this was for the kids. It's rediculous on how some parents can act when someone says money and free prizes. Is this what Easter has finally come too? I was just holding my 4 month old son waiting for my 5yr old and was getting pushed by parents. I was a really sad thing to watch today.