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So I'm not a kid so I guess I can't really say but I'm pretty sure its the same as it always was.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...s_opinion_main
By LENORE SKENAZY
Halloween is the day when America market-tests parental paranoia. If a new fear flies on Halloween, it's probably going to catch on the rest of the year, too.
Take "stranger danger," the classic Halloween horror. Even when I was a kid, back in the "Bewitched" and "Brady Bunch" costume era, parents were already worried about neighbors poisoning candy. Sure, the folks down the street might smile and wave the rest of the year, but apparently they were just biding their time before stuffing us silly with strychnine-laced Smarties.
That was a wacky idea, but we bought it. We still buy it, even though Joel Best, a sociologist at the University of Delaware, has researched the topic and spends every October telling the press that there has never been a single case of any child being killed by a stranger's Halloween candy. (Oh, yes, he concedes, there was once a Texas boy poisoned by a Pixie Stix. But his dad did it for the insurance money. He was executed.)
Anyway, you'd think that word would get out: poisoned candy not happening. But instead, most Halloween articles to this day tell parents to feed children a big meal before they go trick-or-treating, so they won't be tempted to eat any candy before bringing it home for inspection. As if being full has ever stopped any kid from eating free candy!
So stranger danger is still going strong, and it's even spread beyond Halloween to the rest of the year. Now parents consider their neighbors potential killers all year round. That's why they don't let their kids play on the lawn, or wait alone for the school bus: "You never know!" The psycho-next-door fear went viral.
Then along came new fears. Parents are warned annually not to let their children wear costumes that are too tight—those could seriously restrict breathing! But not too loose either—kids could trip! Fall! Die!
Treating parents like idiots who couldn't possibly notice that their kid is turning blue or falling on his face might seem like a losing proposition, but it caught on too.
Halloween taught marketers that parents are willing to be warned about anything, no matter how preposterous, and then they're willing to be sold whatever solutions the market can come up with. Face paint so no mask will obscure a child's vision. Purell, so no child touches a germ. And the biggest boondoggle of all: an adult-supervised party, so no child encounters anything exciting, er, "dangerous."
Think of how Halloween used to be the one day of the year when gaggles of kids took to the streets by themselves—at night even. Big fun! Low cost! But once the party moved inside, to keep kids safe from the nonexistent poisoners, in came all the nonsense. The battery-operated caskets. The hired witch. The Costco veggie trays and plastic everything else. Halloween went from hobo holiday to $6 billion extravaganza.
And it blazed the way for adult-supervised everything else. Let kids make their own fun? Not anymore! Let's sign our toddlers up for "movement" classes! Let's bring on the extracurricular activities, travel soccer and manicure parties for the older kids. Once Halloween got outsourced to adults, no kids-only activity was safe. Goodbye sandlot, o batting coach!
And now comes the latest Halloween terror: Across the country, cities and states are passing waves of laws preventing registered sex offenders from leaving their homes—or sometimes even turning on their lights—on Halloween.
The reason? Same old same old: safety. As a panel of "experts" on the "Today" show warned viewers recently: Don't let your children trick-or-treat without you "any earlier than [age] 13, because people put on masks, they put on disguises, and there are still people who do bad things."
Perhaps there are. But Elizabeth Letourneau, an associate professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, studied crime statistics from 30 states and found, "There is zero evidence to support the idea that Halloween is a dangerous date for children in terms of child molestation."
In fact, she says, "We almost called this paper, 'Halloween: The Safest Day of the Year,' because it was just so incredibly rare to see anything happen on that day."
Why is it so safe? Because despite our mounting fears and apoplectic media, it is still the day that many of us, of all ages, go outside. We knock on doors. We meet each other. And all that giving and taking and trick-or-treating is building the very thing that keeps us safe: community.
We can kill off Halloween, or we can accept that it isn't dangerous and give it back to the kids. Then maybe we can start giving them back the rest of their childhoods, too.
So I'm not a kid so I guess I can't really say but I'm pretty sure its the same as it always was.
I've heard stories about pins and razor blades inside of apples and candy before.
I remember being warned about that back in the late-60s & early 70s when I was a kidI've heard stories about pins and razor blades inside of apples and candy before.
Really?I feel like like it's gone way downhill.
It makes me sad to see neighborhoods dead these days on Halloween night. Hardly any houses decorated or kids trick or treating. Every other house has their lights off so they won't get bothered.
I'm not sure whether it was the safety concern or the religious backlash that killed it, but Halloween just doesn't seem to be like it used to in my opinion. Maybe I was just fantasizing things when I was a kid, but Halloween used to seem like a madhouse in my neighborhood: kids in costumes everywhere.
Definitely.Really?
It makes me sad to see neighborhoods dead these days on Halloween night. Hardly any houses decorated or kids trick or treating. Every other house has their lights off so they won't get bothered.
I'm not sure whether it was the safety concern or the religious backlash that killed it, but Halloween just doesn't seem to be like it used to in my opinion. Maybe I was just fantasizing things when I was a kid, but Halloween used to seem like a madhouse in my neighborhood: kids in costumes everywhere.
In the neighborhood I live in, they have set times when the kids can go trick-or-treating (gated community). It really is re ed. And if Halloween falls on a school day, I think they have the trick-or-treating on a different day. Not positive about that though. I'm sure about the fact that they set time limits.
I'm glad I wasn't a kid growing up in the neighborhood I live in now, even though it is a better one.
We get lots of trick or treaters each year but this year the old lady is giving out "healthy" treats. Maybe next year we won't get as many.
I remember the days of going trick or treating for 5-7 hours, parents weren't looking for us either.It's just not safe anymore.
I think that's the point of the article. Why isn't it safe anymore? What makes neighborhoods more dangerous now than they were 20 years ago?I remember the days of going trick or treating for 5-7 hours, parents weren't looking for us either.
That's just become the common perception. The more people think it isn't safe, the less kids you see running around, and suddenly the less safe it seems. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
My parents sent me out the door with my costume and my bucket and let me go crazy. I'm still alive to tell about it.
I got trash bags full of candy and no razor blades. But I did get some cavities, 2 or 4 I think. Gotta whoop Mr. Tooth Decay.
Great Article, Thanks!
Yep folks are just really paranoid now. The number of kids we get at our door dwindles every year.
Growing up in El Paso, we used to get truckloads of kids from across the border, and I use the term "kids" loosely because half the crowd was adults with a pillow case.
We've been taking our kids trick or treating every year and have never had any problems. There are several neighbors who go all out with their decorations and have mini haunted houses setup in their garages. We only usually go for a couple of hours and they get more than enough treats.
Shoot, I remember when people would turn their lights out and leave their doors open/unlocked and pump out scary music. Kids had to be brave enough to come in the house and get the candy.
Eh the real fun in Halloween is when you grow up and the women make it a contest to see who can wear the least clothes and still technically be in costume.
Trick or treating is just some pussy initiation bull we have go to thru until we're old enough to know beer gets you faced.
And for the record I am partying as Chris Griffin from Family Guy this year. Only because all I had to buy for it was a Kurt Cobain wig. But it's still legit.
6th is insane on Halloween. If women want to use it as an excuse to throw their scruples out the window...well, I'm not gonna be the one to stop them.
I'll be going as The Dude this year.
Last year, we didn't have any trick-or-treaters come to our house at all.
Haha! Me too.
It's Halloween.
Ever hear of scary Halloween stories?
Well that obviously makes it true then.
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