Halloween 2006

[Munkay]

Ugh. Gives the the heeby-jeebies just looking at it.

[Ashock]

You have it backwards. :rolleyes:

Teens are there for the LOOT. Little kids are there for the whole shivery scary (but not really because they are there with their parents) ride.

If your child got scared by my witch costume at the door, then you didn't prep them for the evening. Blame yourself, but don't blame me.

And don't be risking jail time over your inabilty to be an effective parent.

No, it is you who has it backwards. Teens don't care about crap candy since they eat lots of it if they want anyway. They love running around in customes and scaring people. OTOH, little kids get to eat stuff that is usually forbidden to them... by as you put it "effective" parents. Also, and this is very important, it is virtually impossible to prepare a 5 or 6 year old for some of the scarier stuff. They simply can't understand it unless they see it. A kid that age is not capable of being prepared for this sort of "thrill", period. An older child of say 10-11 might have seen some Horror movies and might have an idea, but a normal younger child should not be seeing those sorts of movies at all! If you're a parent, then you should know that. If you're not, then why are we talking? Maybe you're a parent of much older children and you already forgot.

-A

[ShadowHM]

No, it is you who has it backwards. Teens don't care about crap candy since they eat lots of it if they want anyway. They love running around in customes and scaring people. OTOH, little kids get to eat stuff that is usually forbidden to them... by as you put it "effective" parents. Also, and this is very important, it is virtually impossible to prepare a 5 or 6 year old for some of the scarier stuff. They simply can't understand it unless they see it. A kid that age is not capable of being prepared for this sort of "thrill", period. An older child of say 10-11 might have seen some Horror movies and might have an idea, but a normal younger child should not be seeing those sorts of movies at all! If you're a parent, then you should know that. If you're not, then why are we talking? Maybe you're a parent of much older children and you already forgot.

-A

Maybe our neighbourhoods and cultures differ. :whistling: However, in this neck of the woods, teenagers don't 'run around in costumes scaring people'. They hulk around in minimal costumes towards the end of the trick-or-treating hours attempting to get some free loot. <_< They are perfectly aware of the cost of candy and would rather get the freebies. Later, they may or may not head out to costume parties of their own age groups.

You are quite mistaken about the ability of a 5 to 6 year old to comprehend a pretend scary atmosphere. Hallowe'en is an evening of pretend, and children understand pretend very well. They travel in the company of a parent or other trusted adult, and enjoy the shivers because they know that it is pretend and have the support of that parent to retreat back to after each venture to a jack'o'lantern-adorned doorstep. At the end of the evening, they have a bag of loot that they may or may not be allowed to eat (and some of which mysteriously disappears shortly after Hallowe'en is over ;)). But they had an evening of fun that they get to remember and enjoy the memory of until the next year.

Again, if you don't prepare them for that atmosphere and your child gets hysterical because they perceive a 'real threat' then you didn't do your job in the first place.

My children span the ages of 10 to 21 right now. Hallowe'en has been part of my culture and neighbourhoods my entire life. I do know how it works. ;)

[Ashock]

You are quite mistaken about the ability of a 5 to 6 year old to comprehend a pretend scary atmosphere. Hallowe'en is an evening of pretend, and children understand pretend very well.

Tell it to my daughter.

Again, if you don't prepare them for that atmosphere and your child gets hysterical because they perceive a 'real threat' then you didn't do your job in the first place.

Why is it that I am getting a feeling according to a couple of your posts in reply to mine in this thread, that you are trying to get a dig in to my abilities as a parent? You got a problem?

-A

[Doc]

It is good for a child to be scared. It is even better for them to face that fear.

Earlier this year my Goddaughter developed a fear of monsters under the bed. So over to the grandparents house I went, armed with a set of snorkles. That's right, snorkles.

We put on the snorkles and braved the dust bunnies, and armed with flashlights, we made sure there were no monsters under the bed.

Now she can safely crawl in to the bed with out sprinting down the hall and taking a running leap from the doorway.

Grandma said that was the most idiotic and inane thing she had ever seen a grown man do, and it was even a stretch for me. Over a cup of cofffee I asked her if she remembered how she felt when she was a little girl and no adults took her seriously, and if she was ever scared of the monster under the bed.

Plan B (If Plan A failed) was to fire a couple of blank revolver shots under the bed to destroy the monster.

[Rhydderch Hael]

Tell it to my daughter.
Why is it that I am getting a feeling according to a couple of your posts in reply to mine in this thread, that you are trying to get a dig in to my abilities as a parent? You got a problem?

-A

The only problem here is that you plan to take a child out on Halloween night with the expectation that they shouldn't be scared by anyone, and then threaten to inflict physical violence upon anyone who fails that expectation.

[ShadowHM]

The only problem here is that you plan to take a child out on Halloween night with the expectation that they shouldn't be scared by anyone, and then threaten to inflict physical violence upon anyone who fails that expectation.

What he said. :)

Your threats were what concerned me. You suggested that it was reasonable for you to do so. I wanted to make it clear that it is not.

If your daughter is not ready for Hallowe'en, then don't take her trick or treating. Don't let it come as a complete surprise to her that it is a 'scary atmosphere'. Don't blame someone else if you do proceed and she does get hysterical.

[Roland]

The monsters under my bed didn't scare me nearly as much as the ones in my head.

To this day, they still don't.

At least now that I'm older, I know I can handle them. When I was a child, I didn't have the capacity to ward them off. Not the confidence, not the strength, not the ability. As I got older, I got all three. So now, when I know there's a monster under the bed, I give it two choices: leave me be and I'll leave you be, or I'll kill you, 'cause I sure as hell ain't dying.

It's worked so far. Except for the one... but that's another story.

As for scaring kids at Halloween, I purposefully didn't wear a costume this year (and, mine needed to be washed and it was incomplete). I spent the last two years scaring the piss out of a few tiny little kids, without doing anything threatening. My costume was the "Angel of Death". It was very simple: a black cloak / robe type attire, very lightweight thin material, a red sash to tie around my waste to hold the cloak to my body, and a black hood with red trim, and a black screen in front to cover the face. That was it. I made no scary gestures, noises, or anything. I just handed out candy and acted my usual polite, kind self. Most kids were merely a little leery of me, or didn't seem to care much. A few, however, and I noted both girls and boys, were pretty darn scared, cowering behind their parents' legs. I got into the habit of taking the mask off when I saw warning signs, but it usually didn't help things much. So, this year, in addition to utter laziness, I decided it would be best to simply avoid anything that could be perceived as scary.

Aside from the first people I saw (that mother must have been a nut-case, although she certainly thought _I_ was the crazy one; damn woman looked at me like some kind of predator...), it worked out beautifully. No scared kids, although a few awe-struck babies in carriages not used to seeing someone tower over them quite so much.:)I have retained my nick-name as "The Candyman", and I'm very happy to say it's entirely a positive connotation.

I'm hoping next year to have enough saved up to do something a bit more... theatrical. Comical Jack-O-Lantern lightpoles, for example ($50 apiece at BJ's when I got the candy). Something to dress the place up. I'd love to do a real haunted house, outdoors, but I'd rather start small and work my way up. Besides, I have enough trouble getting people to come to my place, despite it being right at the end of the road. Hence why I have to stand at the end of my short walkway and call to people to hand out the candy. Otherwise, I'd never give any out.:P(It doesn't help that a row of hedges on my neighbor's yard blocks the entire view of my front porch from 90% of angles where the people tend to come from, so simply "turning the lights on" doesn't work.)

Hope everyone had a good Halloween this year. My Halloween is made when my little sister comes to visit me from across town. This year was no different, and it warmed my heart to no end to see her, and get almost bowled over when she ran up to hug me (I didn't know such a scrawny 14-year-old could almost knock over someone as tall as me, even if I'm not very heavy:P).

[Rhydderch Hael]

My linky-fu is lamentable, but I hope it gets the point across...
http://forums.swordforum.com/attachment.ph...98&d=1162437838
http://forums.swordforum.com/attachment.ph...99&d=1162438289

The porch at my apartment. I pretty sure the trick-or-treaters enjoyed the sight— all two of them, as it turned out.

Three bags of candy. Two trick-or-treaters. Didn't quite turn out as well as I expected. The families at my apartment complex either are too wary about trick-or-treating in their own quad, or they were too tired and bothered to spend a schoolnight walking their kids around— opting to shuttle them off to the mall for two hours and call it a night. :angry:

Next year I'll leave the bowl outside the door and go back to my traditional Halloween activites: swimming in Bombay gimlets and hitting on white-haired twentysomethings in schoolgirl outfits (and by the gods, they will be women this time!).

[Doc]

Dealing with monsters under the bed I feel is something I think more adults / parents should do. Taking a child seriously builds trust. Just because somebody says there is no monster under the bed does not make it any less real in the child's mind. Adults all to often deal with children in patronising tones, do not take them seriously, do not deal with them with the measure of respect that a child is due. Children are not stupid. They know when they are being given the brush off. I believe that this only leads to trust issues later. When a child grows up, and looks back on the memory of a loving adult breaking out some snorkles and flashlights for an excursion under the bed, they will know that they were loved. It will be a positive memory. They will know, with an adult mind, that you took real time and effort out of your busy day to take them seriously and address what they considered a very real and pressing issue.

Children can be reasoned with. But not if you reason with them as adults. Thinking at their level isn't as hard as people try to make it out to be.

I must be getting all philosophical seeing as how I am going to be a dad and all that.

[Ashock]

What he said. :)

Your threats were what concerned me. You suggested that it was reasonable for you to do so. I wanted to make it clear that it is not.

If your daughter is not ready for Hallowe'en, then don't take her trick or treating. Don't let it come as a complete surprise to her that it is a 'scary atmosphere'. Don't blame someone else if you do proceed and she does get hysterical.

My daughter is ready for Halloween because she wants candy and she wants to dress up in a Princess outfit AND because her big 8 y.o. brother is going. Get it? Princess outfit, not Freddy outfit. She is not and should not be expected to put up with semi-retarded teens and secretly psychologically disturbed adults scaring the crap out of her. Don't worry though, if you were the one scaring her, I'd not be the one putting you in a hospital. My 5 foot 100 pound wife would. For RH, that would be me.

Just because it's Halloween does not mean that you have to stop using your brain.... well, if you have one in the first place that is. Of course for some people that's a big "if".

Oh and take your PC concerns for physical violence and shove 'em. Some people need to be hurt.... so they don't do stupid s..t like the one described towards those that can't handle it. If you don't understand that little kids and very old people should always be treated with.... kid gloves, then you got a lot to learn about being a human being.


-A

[ShadowHM]

My daughter is ready for Halloween because she wants candy and she wants to dress up in a Princess outfit AND because her big 8 y.o. brother is going. Get it? Princess outfit, not Freddy outfit. She is not and should not be expected to put up with semi-retarded teens and secretly psychologically disturbed adults scaring the crap out of her. Don't worry though, if you were the one scaring her, I'd not be the one putting you in a hospital. My 5 foot 100 pound wife would. For RH, that would be me.

Just because it's Halloween does not mean that you have to stop using your brain.... well, if you have one in the first place that is. Of course for some people that's a big "if".

Oh and take your PC concerns for physical violence and shove 'em. Some people need to be hurt.... so they don't do stupid s..t like the one described towards those that can't handle it. If you don't understand that little kids and very old people should always be treated with.... kid gloves, then you got a lot to learn about being a human being.
-A

*considers taking umbrage at the (usual) descent to petty insults* :angry:

*considers the source* :wacko:

Feh, you are not worth it. :P

However, I do recommend a re-think of your attitude, if only for the sake of your children. :whistling: If your daughter gets hysterical over normal Hallowe'en activities, just imagine how she would take the sight of her parents marching off in handcuffs for an extended stay in jail for assault. ;)

[Rhydderch Hael]

I'm sorry— I'm having a little trouble making sense out of your conveniently selective views: a man who imposes everyone to conform to his incongruently sugar-coated vision of Halloween is berating folks for being 'PC' about the senseless violence he'd inflict on anyone who isn't rehearsed nor compliant to his vision.

You plan on telling the rest of the world to stop dressing up like witches and vampires because you are too oblivious a parent to find a venue whose level of thrills best fits your daughter? Want to call those folks stupid or deranged because you weigh the net gain of sweets more important than seeking out those better-suited functions instead?

"I want it all, I want it brought to me without thought nor effort on my part— and I will hurt you if you don't do it with a smile!" Yes. Responsible parenting.

And do you honestly think that you'd improve your childrens' experience of Halloween by blindly trudging up to a haunted manor and bringing them face-to-face with a ghoul, then start a fight with a stranger because of your stunning lack of reason and observation?

And since you seem to relish the thought of putting an unsuspecting homeowner to the hospital, let me remind you of this— the person at the door may be entertaining his own somewhat pessimistic scenarios for Halloween night: namely, being accosted at his door by full-grown hooligans in masks who will beat him up and storm his home. He may not take to your assault too well— nor futily, for that matter.

[Occhidiangela]

And since you seem to relish the thought of putting an unsuspecting homeowner to the hospital, let me remind you of this— the person at the door may be entertaining his own somewhat pessimistic scenarios for Halloween night: namely, being accosted at his door by full-grown hooligans in masks who will beat him up and storm his home. He may not take to your assault too well— nor futily, for that matter.

Might have a gun, if it ain't in San Francisco.

Occhi

[Rhydderch Hael]

... Don't worry though, if you were the one scaring her, I'd not be the one putting you in a hospital. My 5 foot 100 pound wife would. For RH, that would be me.

I will not take this open threat upon my person too seriously. It was born from your pride, nurtured by your savagery, and encouraged by your ignorance. Petty as the sources of this boast may be, they are not the reasons why I will not take the bait and fluff my mane as you have done.

Unlike you, I do not see violence as a tool to be casually applied as the first option to any confrontation.

Unlike you, I would have the caution to realize that the actions I take have consequences beyond the transient satisfaction of success (the first consequence, of course, being the possibility that I may fail).

And unlike you, I have the maturity to weigh just when 'actions and consequences' should balance out in order to survive (and better still, to live within) this world of ours.

...then you got a lot to learn about being a human being.
-A

[Rhydderch Hael]

Might have a gun, if it ain't in San Francisco.

Occhi

Was thinking more along the lines of a fellow dweller watching Sleepy Hollow on the plasma TV in the living room coming to their companion's aid and restraining the frothing madman who came up to the doorstep and picked a fight— right after calling the police, of course.

And that being the most optimistic outcome that I envision. Contrary to popular belief, I'm actually a bright ball of sunshine who isn't thirsting for the blood of the innocent.

Not that I have to defend my Halloween decor (since it was never directly attacked) but I did apply some rules on the understanding that little kids would be the ones showing up: No blood. No guts. No loud, sudden sounds nor animations. And big, honkin' handfuls of candy to reward those who endure the thrill.

Hell— look at the lower right-hand corner of my patio photo. There was a sign propped just out of frame that read "Join the Dark Side! We Have Kittens!"

[Griselda]

I think that it's time for us to lock the thread.