Halloween..who is at your door?

[AGDLynn]

Copied from my niece's FB page (she copied from a friend):

Tomorrow night, a lot of creatures will visit your door. Be open minded. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy might have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy might have motor planning issues. The child who does not say "trick or treat" or "thank you" might be painfully shy, non-verbal, or selectively mute. If you cannot understand their words, they may struggle with developmental apraxia of speech. They are thankful in their hearts and minds. The child who looks disappointed when he sees your bowl might have a life-threatening allergy. The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have a sensory processing disorder or autism. Be kind, be patient, smile, pretend you understand. It's everyone's Halloween. Make a parent feel good by making a big deal of their special child.

[adpimiz]

This made me smile .

We had Trick or Treating in Greek Town tonight and they were all so adorable!

[christiangirl]

This is awesome. *like*

[kateee]

I love this! I posted it on my facebook too.

[IndianaSigKap]

I love this. I have not handed out candy in my neighborhood for a few years now. I love the neighborhood kids and they're great. I love seeing the little ones all dressed up! However, in our town teenagers (15 years old +) think they need to go trick or treating, too. If you can drive yourself to the house, you are too old to be participating! Also, I am tired of seeing carloads of people coming to our neighborhood because it's a nicer one. I am talking a couple hundred people here, not 5 or 6 cars. Some of the neighborhoods in our area are having neighborhood trick or treat nights/parties on a different night where just the neighborhood kids and their relatives or close friends attend. I wish we did that.

I am not totally a grinch. :-) I bought my students vampire teeth, temporary tattoos, and candy for tomorrow.

[AGDee]

I love seeing the little ones dressed up, but I'm totally fine with high schoolers dressing up and trick and treating. I think we make kids grow up too fast and I think it's totally cool when they embrace being a kid. We also have car loads of kids who come to our subdivision from the "moderate" income housing apartments nearby. I'm cool with that. Trick or treating in an apartment complex takes something out of the experience. I bought enough candy for about 200 this year because I ran out last year.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I'm totally fine with high schoolers dressing up and trick and treating. I think we make kids grow up too fast and I think it's totally cool when they embrace being a kid.

I would be more supportive of it if I felt like it were an embracing of childhood like you're saying. Unfortunately, my experience is that the high schoolers who do it here are throwing a 'costume' together (I'm sorry, but sticking a pacifier in your mouth doesn't make a baby costume) and asking for free candy.

When I was in high school, there was a fairly large group of us - maybe 10 or so girls - who dressed up every year in some kind of theme and went door to door. We didn't ask for candy, though. We sang to the people instead (think Christmas caroling). We got candy from a few people, and that was nice, but the fun of it was getting dressed up with friends and putting on a show.

[GeorgiaGreek]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

I would be more supportive of it if I felt like it were an embracing of childhood like you're saying. Unfortunately, my experience is that the high schoolers who do it here are throwing a 'costume' together (I'm sorry, but sticking a pacifier in your mouth doesn't make a baby costume) and asking for free candy.

When I was in high school, there was a fairly large group of us - maybe 10 or so girls - who dressed up every year in some kind of theme and went door to door. We didn't ask for candy, though. We sang to the people instead (think Christmas caroling). We got candy from a few people, and that was nice, but the fun of it was getting dressed up with friends and putting on a show.

It doesn't bother me to see high schoolers trick-or-treating, even if the costume is a themed assembly of normal clothes (plaid shirt+brown boots = cowgirl) because it means they're choosing to have "good clean fun" instead of another high school halloween tradition, which is getting drunk at some kid's house party. I'm not saying "oh high schoolers shouldn't be drinking rah rah rah" because many of us did party in high school, but I think more adults need to be aware and supportive of the choice that the older trick-or-treaters are making by doing that instead of possibly getting into REAL mischief or TP-ing/egging someone's house.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaGreek

It doesn't bother me to see high schoolers trick-or-treating... I think more adults need to be aware and supportive of the choice that the older trick-or-treaters are making by doing that instead of possibly getting into REAL mischief or TP-ing/egging someone's house.

Maybe I'm judging too harshly, but just because a high schooler is trick-or-treating doesn't mean they won't get into the kind of mischief you're describing later. The activities you've described usually occur way past trick-or-treating hours.

AGDLynn, thanks for sharing the FB post. I think it's spot-on.

[MysticCat]

Son is 15 and a high school freshman. He is also 6'5". He has always loved Halloween, both the candy part and the costume part. I remember last year as he worked on his costume (he has a penchant for choosing costumes from video games, graphic novels or other sources that the average person would never catch on to), he lamented that it would probably be his last year for trick-or-treating. Even if he wasn't technically too old, he reasoned, he would look too old because of his height.

This year he never questioned that he is too old. Even when my wife told him it would be okay, that other high schoolers in the neighborhood would trick-or-treat and that people in the neighborhood know him so they wouldn't think it odd to see him or be mislead by his height, he said "Nope. I'm too old."

I hope I can at least get him to hand out candy tonight.

Originally Posted by SydneyK

AGDLynn, thanks for sharing the FB post. I think it's spot-on.

Co-sign.

[IrishLake]

Our trick or treat got postponed until Friday. Too wet and too cold, stupid bitch Sandy.

[Xidelt]

The neighbor's grandkid. We get 1 or 2 trick or treaters every year. Yet my husband always insists on buying the big ass bag of candy bars.

[MSKKG]

I was thrilled that we got a record high 9 trick-or-treaters this year! I knew only 4 of them, so things are looking up for future Halloweens!!!

[AGDee]

My son was on the fence this year. He felt like he was too old to go out. He was going to help me pass out candy. He had me find the CD of Halloween music and put it in. He put his werewolf costume on. He was very restless. I said "Why don't you just go?" He called his buddy, who was taking his little sister around (she's 6 or 7, the boys are 16). He went and met up with them and trick or treated for a little bit. I'm glad. It already felt weird without his sister around to carve the pumpkin... that was usually her thing.

We had about 100 kids, a little down from last year, but it was pretty chilly and damp. The rain did stop though.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

We haven't had any trick-or-treaters in several years .. no change this year.