I Am a Halloweenie
An alien has got my boy!
Halloween is coming. I will admit to being a little sad that trick or treating doesn’t seem to be getting rained out this year. I am not opposed to Halloween per se. I love helping my kids turn their ideas into wearable costumes. I enjoy wandering around the neighborhood and seeing everyone out and about. I am even willing to help my kids deal with all the candy bars they get that they don’t like (keep those Reese’s cups coming!). But I don’t like the blood and guts costumes and I don’t enjoy the prevalent desire to scare others. And I really dislike having to answer the door to strangers. It isn’t that I am not willing to provide stuff to hand out (although I usually offer crayons or glow sticks instead of candy). I just don’t understand how to explain that it is okay on Halloween to open the door to strangers when we spend all year teaching our children not to open the door to someone they don’t know.
And accepting candy from strangers? Hello!? Could I give any more of a mixed message here?
I don’t want to deprive my children of a chance to participate in these celebrations that they clearly enjoy. Nor do I want to require them to trick or treat only at friends’ or the local merchants. So we will go out trick or treating again this year, our older child with his friends and our younger with a buddy and parents in tow. We will explore the neighborhood haunted house, knock on the doors where the lights are on and those with the pumpkin carvings inviting us to ring the bell. We will fight the urge for this to be a competition to gather the most candy and return home to inspect and sort their booty. My husband and I will siphon off the items which contain peanuts (the Reese’s for me and the Snickers for him) and watch as the kids engage in high level trading negotiations.
We will then bag up their goodies and replace the candy they still have left from last year’s haul.
All in all it will be a fun night, I am sure, but each year leading up to Halloween I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to offer them each $5 to spend on the candy of their choice and all stay home to watch a movie.