Organizers of an Easter egg hunt at an Ohio mall had every reason to believe they’d put together a fun event for children. What a shame the poor behavior of adults meant they ended up apologizing for having “an extremely difficult time with crowd control” and the problems that arose due to “several factors.”

A report by the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Greene Town Center in Beavercreek apologized in a social media post that has since been deleted. The second annual Easter egg hunt was supposed to be divided by age group, with more than 2,000 eggs hidden in designated areas set up for 1- and 2-year-olds first; and then 3- and 4-year-olds. After that, all other kids would be able to join in.

But, according to the Enquirer’s report, organizers said participants did not follow instructions, and parents rushed in to collect the eggs.

“Adults were not permitted to pick up eggs, yet we saw so many doing so, which resulted in some children leaving empty handed,” the post is reported to have read.

“Grown adults pushing children out of the way,” egg hunters being knocked over … it is a shame the organizers were the ones who felt the need to apologize. But worse, Greene Town Center assistant manager Jessica Baer told the Dayton Daily News the mall does not plan to hold an Easter egg hunt next year.

“This is absolutely unacceptable behavior, and we apologize to anyone that was affected by these actions,” the social media post is reported to have read.

What are we doing here, folks? How do we feel as though we have any right to complain about the behavior of younger generations if this is the example we are setting for them?

Whether it be adults behaving badly at youth sports events, graduations, pageants and parades or even Easter egg hunts, there are too many incidents that show us we’ve got a lot of growing up to do before we start complaining about anyone else’s behavior.

Rules and instructions are in place for a reason. Even if they are not, one would think common decency and respect would have kept adults from pushing over toddlers to get to Easter eggs. If this is the level to which we have stooped, we can only hope our children are watching us to learn what behavior they should avoid.