photo by paparutzi Our kids do not trick or treat. They have in the past, but only because we've been really pressured into letting them. Having recently moved to this town, it's not like we know very many people anyway, so our trick or treating options are pretty slim. I refuse to let my kids trick or treat at a strangers house. Some think this is silly, but bad people live in small towns too, they don't just stay in cities. My children's safety is more important than anything else. Some years we have done the full blown costume thing, but even then we'd only go to church fall festivals and such. I'm all for kids having fun, I just prefer it to be safe fun.
Anyway, this year we'd decided to do our normal family Halloween thing. We order pizza, have popcorn and a big bowl of candy, pile up on the couch and watch Halloween movies together. We all really enjoy it and look forward to it. We don't spend a lot of time together, so this is great for us. It's pretty much our Halloween tradition and the kids have always been happy with it.
Until this morning, when Tristen asked me why I thought they didn't deserve to go trick or treating. My reaction was "What?" Seems a friend had asked him yesterday why they didn't deserve to celebrate Halloween. This mad me upset. First off, we do celebrate Halloween, but I don't like people telling me it's something we have to do. I know plenty of people that consider it just another day. I would be happy doing the same. In my mind Halloween is just a reason to spend money. It's not a holiday. It's just an excuse to spend money on costumes and candy. An excuse for kids to behave badly and eat too much sugar. The reason we celebrate, if you can call it that, is because I hate for my kids to feel left out. We do special family time and they love it. They've celebrated and a good time has been had by all.
I was really upset by the whole "deserve" aspect of the question, because to me it implies we don't do trick or treating because my children have misbehaved or have not earned the privilege. Poor Tris thought he'd caused us not to let them go. So, I explained that it is no one's fault, we just choose to spend Halloween differently than others. As long as we all have fun, who's to say we are doing it wrong?
It just aggravates me that when you deviate from the norm, you and your motives are questioned. What everyone does on October 31 is their personal choice, just like any other day. You do your thing and I'll do mine. Okay, off my soap box now.
Y'all have a safe and happy Halloween!
