Please, Don't Scare The Kids

[MacPhantom]

Speaking of dressing as evil people, I have ten different masks of popular Republican political figures. That is one terrifying party, let me tell you.

[Belladonna]

Speaking of dressing as evil people, I have ten different masks of popular Republican political figures. That is one terrifying party, let me tell you.

Hehe I bet!

[Murfreesboro]

Ah, just found this thread. I am not surprised that a church would stipulate something about "not scaring kids" at its Halloween celebration. Most churches around here wouldn't even call what they do a Halloween party. Many (including ours) have Trunk-or-Treat in the parking lot, and one or two have "Harvest Festivals." But I don't think any of the churches around here would tolerate, say, demonic costumes, or a gory display. I would never go to a church for that.

I do genuinely enjoy the scary, eerie aspect of Halloween, but there are other places to get that. Our Parks & Recreation Department always puts on a haunted hay ride every Halloween, and they make it as scary as they can. And of course there are the seasonal commercial attractions, the haunted houses, and haunted corn mazes, etc. Yard haunts are entirely at the discretion of the homeowner. As a kid and as an adult, I have always loved the spooky ones.

I think, in general, older kids enjoy being scared in the controlled environment of Halloween (rather like a roller coaster, you know--thrills within limits). The little ones can be scared by anything. When my teenage daughter was a preschooler, she was frightened by the Abominable Snow Man in Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, for gosh sakes! Parents have to use their discretion about taking young children into scary attractions.

[MacPhantom]

Hey now. That was one scary bumble!

[Andybev01]

I concur, I used to dive behind a sofa whenever he appeared on screen.

I'm almost over that.

[Pumpkin_Man]

How could ANY ONE be afraid of the Bumble from "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer?" Even as a little kid, I found that character laughable. I loved that Christmas special, but I thought the Aboninabal Snow Monster of the North was more funny then scary.

And the poor guy lost all of his teeth.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Well, I thought it was pretty funny, too--not just the character, but the fact that my daughter was scared of it when she was little.

[MacPhantom]

That Bumble had crazy eyes!

[sheenahellen]

Maybe they were just pointing out to dress up something that is not too scary for the kids... What do you think?

[Pumpkin56]

I can see why your daughter would be scared of the snow monster. Didn't he have sharp teeth? And he did have those creepy eyes...

As far as 'don't scare the kids', please. Halloween is the one night of the year where anything goes and there is not another day or holiday like it. Everyone, EVERYONE knows that Halloween is meant to be eerie and when you try to take that out, you gut the holiday and ruin it for everyone else. I think it is ultimately up to the parent to judge whether or not their child can handle some of the more ghoulish aspects of the night. On the other hand, as a haunter, I want everyone who comes to see me to have fun. It's easy to kick it up a notch or tone it down depending on who my visitors are. If I see a little one who is a wee bit timid about coming up to the house, I have no problem coming out to them with a smile on my face and a bowl full of candy and letting them know that even if my yard is a little scary, it's fun too and they're going to be just fine checking it out

[EstesCara]

hmmm...we can not find a balance between child and people's fun easy! it's hard to pretect the children when people have such fun !

[Lillith]

It is hard sometimes. My friends have just taken to having a haunt for the kiddies and a scarier one for the adults.

[Murfreesboro]

Most of the commercial haunts I know about recommend an age limit. Our city's annual Halloween carnival always has two hayrides, one haunted, the other, "not-so-haunted," for the little ones.

[Pumpkin_Man]

The think you have to remember is that a really young child, like a 3 or 4 year old, often don't know what is real and what isn't. I remember I took my nieces and nephew to a spook house. My oldest niece, who was about 12 at the time, wanted to go into the "real scary" spook house, and I obliged her. My younger niece, however, who was only 4 at the time, freaked out when she saw what looked like a vampire rise out of a coffin and bare his fangs. She went off like the Tuesday Morning Air Raid Sirens," and I had to rush her out of there. The older girl thought it was great, My nephew, come to think of it, was only about a year old, and was not with us on this trip.

Mike

[killem2]

What I find the funniest of all these type of events is, Churches usually look down on Halloween, which is actually a Christian Holiday.