No, We Don’t Trap Leprechauns at Our House

“Mom, I can’t wait to catch a Leprechaun”. he said from the back seat of the car. “Yeah I can’t wait to catch him and steal his gold. so how do you catch a Leprechaun?”

And my initial gut reaction was, “well you don’t because, catching a Leprechaun is a totally made up thing”.

But I didn’t want to burst his bubble and knowing his pre-k teacher there will definitely be a Leprechaun trap in his future.

Though I couldn’t help but feel that things have gotten out of hand. Easter has become an overblown gift fest, both grandparents got him gifts for Valentine’s Day, and it seems that every week at school is filled with another celebration. Maybe it’s the pregnancy making me extra cranky but I wanted to scream “enough already!” What happened to wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day and maybe making some Irish potatoes. What happened to simple Easter baskets? Since when does everything need a celebration (and a party or a gift or a treat bag)?

And it seems that when parents are more stressed than ever why do we keep adding to our plates more and more things to feel inadequate about? Why do we keep adding to our ever-growing to-do list?

I get that it’s cute and they are only young once and I admit that I can get wrapped up in the joy that all these little events bring to their lives. I love my sons excitement over these things and I definitely believe there should be magic in childhood.

But does all this memory making have to come with more stuff, more work and one more “holiday” to celebrate? One more mythical character that we have to keep up year after year? It’s bad enough we have let that Elf in on the Christmas fun, now we need to remember a Leprechaun trap for a holiday that should be celebrated simply with a green beer and a tee-shirt? And the addition of all these “traditions” makes me wonder if they make the older traditions weaker. If one of these characters is figured out, does that make the rest of them all fall? How much is too much?

So on St. Patrick’s Day there won’t trap Leprechauns at our house. There will be Lucky Charms for breakfast and a green tee-shirt and maybe a special St. Patrick’s Day meal. But Leprechaun’s, no thank you, we have enough visitors throughout the year.