This year has been the first so far that Olivia has been able to properly enjoy Halloween. It’s been so exciting! For weeks she has been asking to put her Halloween outfit on, she knew she had Halloween parties to go to and was super excited for those too!
On Saturday, we drove back home from Nanny’s house and arrived back in Aldershot at around 1pm. FOR FIVE WHOLE HOURS SHE WAS ASKING TO GO TO THE GOD DAMN PARTY!!!!!
But that’s another story (look out for ‘What to do when your kids drive you absolutely bloody insane’).
One thing I won’t do, however, is take her trick or treating.
Maybe it’s my job (I’m exposed to people who do truly unthinkable things to their own children, let alone anybody else’s!), or I’m just a horrendous cynic for all things that are actually nice, but the whole premise of trick or treating for children really terrifies me. For now, she is not old enough to understand ‘stranger danger’, and as a baby she was never fussy about who she would go to. She would happily have cuddles from people she didn’t know, and even though now she’s more wary of new people, if I’m there in close proximity (but not necessarily in eyesight) she would still be quite happy to run into the arms of someone she doesn’t really know!
Why, would I then throw into the mix that she can go and knock on strangers’ doors and ask them for sweeties?
You don’t know who is behind those doors. It could be anyone.
You may think I’m being seriously over-protective, but even with me there, I wouldn’t like to send that message to her so early on that this is a normal thing to do… She understands Halloween, she has loved dressing up this year and she has had 3 parties before it’s even ACTUALLY Halloween – She doesn’t understand that it is just one day.
I would love to be able to put aside the horror stories I’ve invented in my mind and take her trick or treating, and, in fact, I most probably will do when she’s older. Truthfully, I’m sure that there are very few cases of knocking on the doors of sex offenders (unbeknownst to you, of course – I’m sure you wouldn’t knowingly go knocking on the door of someone on the register when you’ve got kids with you or not!) but for now I don’t want to run the risk of letting Olivia think that she can do this whenever she likes.
She has no concept of time yet, only ‘now’, ‘soon’, or ‘later’. I’m not able to explain to her that this is okay because Mummy’s here and we only do it once a year.
Even if I could explain that to her, in principle, am I okay with it?
Like I said, maybe I am just a horrendous cynic, but you really do not know who or what is on the other side of the door. There have been times when I took my stepdaughter out before Olivia was born and some houses really do go all out on their ‘tricks’ rather than their ‘treats’! I mean, enough to scare a grown adult let alone a child. I get that Halloween is meant to be scary, but realistically now it’s for kids and adults to dress up and have fun, isn’t it? Like many public holidays, it’s commercialised 1000%.
There are houses on our estate that literally kit out their entire garages with Halloween displays and games etc., but I’ll only admire them from a distance myself!
All in all, it’s a nice idea. But it’s actually quite terrifying, and maybe for the wrong reasons. Maybe I’m better suited to being the nice mummy opening the door and handing out the ‘treats’!
Do you take your kids trick or treating on Halloween? Let us know in the comments!
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Lana Pummill
I see both sides to this. I remember going trick or treating as a kid, but it was a different world when I was growing up. Plus it was a small town so everybody knew everybody. I do not take my kids trick or treating. We usually go to a church carnival or something. They really just love the dressing up part. It is confusing to try to teach kids to be safe and aware of their surroundings, but yet push them to knock on strangers doors for Halloween. #KCACOLS
Becka Roversi
I take my son Trick or treating. My mum didn't let me go as a kid and I hated that I was left out. My rules are: I take him (he's only four currently but that will continue) and we only go to houses we know. Luckily we live in a village were we know quite a lot of people! #KCACOLS
One Frazzled Mum
We take the kids in our family trick or treating. There is usually 2/3 adults and at least 3 kids. A lot of the house in my mums road and surrounding roads love to have the kids knock for trick or treat, my mum included but we always let the kids know it is only those houses we knock at and they must respect the houses that don't want to join in. But I totally get where you are coming from in your reasons to not join in. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time
Carol Cameleon
No, you're not being a cynic. I hate halloween, partly for the trick or treating. Last year was the first time our now 9yo went trick or treating with a friend and her mum. This year I took her and I was on edge the whole time. I took her because she's getting older and we've recently had the stranger danger chat but I didn't enjoy it really. #kcacols
Ruth Hilbrown
It's a pretty strange customs when you think about it! I don't remember ever going trick or treating as a child as my mum didn't like it. I've taken my own daughter trick or treating a few times but only in the gated community where we live – normally they organise something for all the kids to go together, only to the houses that want to participate, and there are no tricks, only sweets! In Mexico, Halloween tends to get mixed together with the Day of the Dead, but going trick or treating is definitely a popular activity. #kcacols
Jo (A Rose Tinted World)
Nope. I probably won't ever subscribe to the going around strangers houses thing. You just never know. I may stick to people who I do know or have a party out. #KCACOLS
Sensational Learning with Penguin
I grew up in Sweden and noone went trick or treating there back then. Nowadays, more people are celebrating Halloween there, but back in the 80’s it was just seen as a ’foreign’ idea, lol. Now we live in the UK, and our son is 11. If he’d been a typically developing child, and would have had friends going trick or treating, I would have liked to allow him to join in. But as it is, he’s not bothered, he’s non-verbal so would have to use his AAC app to say trick or treat (which I bet would mean a lot of questions from people), and we also live in an area where there doesn’t seem to be many kids about. So, until he shows an interest in going, we won’t. And I think your arguments for why you don’t (yet) are perfectly valid x#KCACOLS