A mom-of-two has revealed why she had told her children that the Easter Bunny is female.
Yes, Christmas has Santa Claus, Valentine's has Cupid, and Easter has the beloved Easter Bunny.
But how much do we really tell our kids about the lore surrounding the Easter Bunny? After all, before I hit double digits, I knew that Santa Claus lived in the North Pole, was married to Mrs. Claus, had an army of Elves to make presents, flew around the world in a sleigh attached to his nine reindeer (including Rudolph), and enjoyed milk and cookies.
However, I knew nothing about the Easter Bunny - only that it appeared at Easter to give me chocolate. I didn't know where it lived, its relationship history, employment status, or dietary preferences. In fact, I didn't even know if the Easter Bunny was male or female.
Enter writer and former teacher Shona Hendley, who has revealed in a recent article for Kidspot why she tells her children that the Easter Bunny is female.
Explaining that her two daughters had been writing letters to the Easter Bunny, Hendley says their questions about the mystical creature soon turned to whether or not the creature was male or female.
Then, Hendley writes: "How could she not be a, she?"
"There ain’t no sleigh, or reindeer, no sliding down chimneys with a plate of cookies waiting for her to re-energize and fuel up for the rest of the journey," Hendley says. After writing about how all the Easter Bunny only gets a big basket and some carrots, she determines that this "strength, determination, endurance, and veggies" means the rabbit has to be female.
Hendley then details how her family's Easters are usually "elaborate" occasions complete with a detailed and extravagant Easter egg hunt.
She writes: "Any Easter creativity involves precision planning – from the correct (and equal) number of eggs per child to working out suitable places for these events to take place that don’t involve the wildlife consuming them prior to sunrise (I learnt this the hard way) and not getting caught in the act.
"So, with this, [the Easter Bunny] is a woman."
The matter is also one of fairness for Hendley. She explains that due to the overwhelming popularity of Santa Claus - who is depicted as a male 99.9% of the time - it is only fair for a female to get some of the adoration and appreciation from children throughout the year.
Additionally, as the Smithsonian Magazine explains: "Easter is a celebration of spring and new life. Eggs and flowers are rather obvious symbols of female fertility, but in European traditions, the bunny, with its amazing reproductive potential, is not far behind."
And as Hendley states, it is the "female rabbits who look after their offspring" - and that's what Easter is all about.
So there you have it; girls don't just rule the world, but Easter too!