Every parent has experienced the ‘Teenage Blind Spot’—that mystical scientific phenomenon where a child can spot a notification on a silent phone from across the room, or candy buried in your office, yet remains completely unable to see a literal jug of milk directly behind the orange juice. This Easter, I decided to stop nagging and start documenting. I transformed our egg hunt into a high-stakes investigation of ‘Selective Sight,’ hiding treats in every spot my kids claimed to have checked ‘five times’ and under every item they’d ‘forgotten’ to put away.
What followed was a Shakespearean tragedy of missed chocolate, fridge-induced despair, and the startling discovery that sometimes, the only thing standing between a teenager and their prize is the Herculean effort required to actually bend their knees.
The play-by-play wasn’t for them—it was for my own sanity. Parenting teens requires a healthy dose of “if I don’t laugh, I’ll cry,” and finding the comedic timing in their search patterns is just good self-care.
“This year I hid eggs and chocolate in every single place where something has been that the kids haven’t been able to “find” without my help – as well as under everything they haven’t put away yet. And you thought the Easter egg hunt was just about candy…
I enjoyed the efforts they were making, for sure, and there was some kind of vindication seeing them find things. Some things. Because they were actually challenged. Despite living with these teens, despite knowing better, I was also still somewhat baffled. I really was under the illusion that chocolate was the great temptation that conquers all. It does not.
Play-by-play:
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After finding an egg “I swear, I already checked here!!” The other one says, “I just checked there!”
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Funny how the last place they think to look is the fridge.
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After they think they’re all done – “I found three eggs just by bending over!”
Might explain a few things.
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I’m enjoying the fact the they are finding things in places that they admit they already checked “five times”.
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So. This was after they decided they absolutely found everything. The most amusing thing about this besides the fact it’s in plain sight is the fact I ‘hide’ eggs here EVERY YEAR!
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But the fridge though. Seriously.
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She’s already looked in the fridge twice. It must be very frustrating to her. After seven minutes she had to take a texting break.
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I can hear the fridge open now. That must be three times.
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She gave up after 11 minutes. So I gave her a hint. It’s in the kitchen.
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Poor girl just retreated to her room. She’s hiding her despair rather well.
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Says she’s just taking a break. Ok
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The other daughter thinks the other hiding spot in the fridge is really hard. ‘Hers’ was really easy.
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She’s never going to find it. She’s going to have to bend her legs and look. Never gonna happen. Now I’m feeling bad.
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Couldn’t figure out how to get her out of her room. Had to threaten her by suggesting her sister was eating all her candy. I did hear a door squeak open.
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Finally we showed her what it was that she should be looking for. Gave her a time limit of one minute to find it in the kitchen before I would show her where it was. “It’s so stressful”, she says.
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Ok, as I was opening the fridge: “I looked there,” she says.
“Squat,” I say.
Apparently that’s all she needed to find it on her own.
I think she’s stress eating her chocolate now.
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Other daughter is in a GREAT mood, lol. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the superiority she’s feeling right now.
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Daughter one was such a good sport despite her need to retreat to her room for the rest of the day. She will be rewarded. 
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But for those wondering why I found this so amusing, here is the “Parent Logic” behind the madness:
- The Fridge Mystery: There is a scientific phenomenon where, if an item is not at eye level right in front of you, it effectively ceases to exist in the teenage dimension.
- The “I Checked There”: We’ve all heard it. “I looked everywhere!” This hunt was a gentle (and delicious) way of proving that “everywhere” usually means “the 4-inch radius directly in front of my nose.”
- The Stakes Were Sweet: I wasn’t making them do chores; I was making them find treasure. If you can’t find a giant chocolate box in the kitchen because you refuse to bend your knees, that’s not a “mean mom” problem—that’s a “physics and effort” problem.
The Truth: I didn’t hide the easter treats to be mean. I hid them because, in the real world, your keys, your homework, and your future boss aren’t always going to be sitting at eye level, waiting for you to notice them without effort.
Sometimes, to get the prize, you just have to squat.