where have all the trick-or-treaters gone?
Today is Halloween - my most favorite and sacred day of the year. We threw our mostly-annual Halloween bash over the weekend, and luckily, I have tons of Halloween candy left over because people in LA don’t eat.
So I am all prepared for trick-or-treaters.
The problem is - there have been no trick-or-treaters. Not a one. And no signs of any trick-or-treat activity in the neighborhood. This is the one day all year that I welcome children onto my property and all of the children have disappeared. The weatherman had a special “trick-or-treat forecast” this evening, so I know there must be trick-or-treating going on somewhere.
At least last year, when we were living in Newport Beach, we had 1 trick-or-treater. But that little girl’s mother showed up minutes later to interview my husband to make sure he wasn’t a creep because he gave out candy while “Everyone else always just gives money. No one gives out candy” !?! That was the day I decided to move away from Newport because a person like me cannot live among people like that.
Halloween = candy and trick-or-treating for the candy.
Meanwhile - I love how giving out candy makes someone a possible creepy pervert, but it’s totally FINE to send your child out ALONE to ring the doorbells of strangers who might be creepy perverts, as long as they give her money. That’s okay - but a trick-or-treat Hershey bar has to be investigated immediately! I think Emil should have rung her doorbell a few minutes later to interview her about the fact that she lets her child trick-or-treat alone to shake-down perverts for money. I’m pretty sure that’s a “gateway” activity and prostitution is in this kid’s future.
I am very dismayed that Halloween in California may be as watered-down and dietetic as everything else. I won’t stand for it. It’s just not how I was raised.
I can understand that today’ parents have good reason to be concerned. They’ve raised their kids to be ill equipped for the perils that face them. When I was a kid, we went door-to-door, without adult supervision, to sell crap to raise money for our schools, to sell girl-scout cookies, to collect money for delivering newspapers, and to trick-or-treat. We knew to always go with another kid, to never to go inside, and to avoid shabby houses and the neighborhood weirdos. And if we really wanted to be prepared, we’d carry a tube sock with 2 apples in it, as my friend taught me to do one Halloween in her neighborhood, just in case we “ran into any trouble.”
I think what happened over the years is that as more and more dangers presented themselves, kids needed adults to escort them while trick-or-treating. As I’ve said before, parenting around here seems to be analogous to the British monarchy - they have the title but someone else does the work. So I’m sure after a few years, parents decided it was just easier to GIVE their kids the candy instead of taking the time to walk the neighborhood or pay their nannies overtime. Yet another great lesson for kids - you can get all the loot without working for it.
Without the simple joy of activities like trick-or-treating, what are kids doing for fun these days? They certainly aren’t playing Tag!
September 13th, 2009 at 1:59 am
I had a bad turnout last year- I blame the fearmongering that the media churns out & the parents are all too willing to lap up. There’s this ridiculous thought that taking your kids out ToT-ing makes it more likely that they’ll be abducted or hurt. As if! Kids are way more likely to be hurt or molested at a party than they are if they were to go out ToT-ing with their parents. (Most abductions, assaults & molestations usually come from the hands of someone the kid sees DAILY- like a trusted friend or family member.)
I’m just so angry that now nobody is ToT-ing because they believe the stupid media’s fearmongering.