A long time ago, (1965) and what seems like in a galaxy far, far away, my sister and I would trick or treat around our neighborhood in a little town in New Jersey in our rabbit or princess costumes. We came home with our goodie bags excited to go through our candy. We had a wonderful time walking house to house collecting candy from our neighbors. Except for the scary looking house across the street rumored to house a witch, Halloweens passed by relatively harmless and it was a lot of fun.
Fast forward 45 years and “scary” rules the world from the first of October to Halloween day. TV commercials, movies, store costumes with ghoulish masks, and older teens shock small children out of their minds all in a matter “fun”. Why must we have this be a part of our culture? I have come to despise this part of the fall season. I love getting dressed up and enjoy everything about the fall from decorations to the pumpkin carvings, bobbing for apples, candy corn and corn mazes but the culture of Halloween has gotten way out of hand for children.
Reading scary stories can frighten children as well at bedtime. Granted those Grimm’s fairy tales were written long ago before movies were made but those stories were meant for adults at the time. Children have a difficult time distinguishing between reality and just make-believe. It shouldn’t be acceptable to scare young children as this is certain to cause nightmares.
From an article by Nicholas L. Borzel called “Nightmares and Night Terrors: The Horror Movies of the Mind” it says: “Nightmares occur following significant real events in life that are psychologically painful such as a death in the family or being the victim of an assault.” The author spoke of when he watched Friday the 13th as a child and how it had caused horrible nightmares.
Significant real events in life would include meeting with scary creatures who come to your front door or watching something scary on television. From a segment of Lynn Minton Reports: Fresh Voices from the Sunday Parade Magazine a question asked to teenagers: What was one thing you regret your parents letting you do? The answers were interesting. One particular girl wrote she wished her mother wouldn’t have let her watch horror shows as a child. It caused great trauma for her and she couldn’t get those scenes out of her head. It’s a shame she had to endure such a thing but we should learn from her mother’s mistake. Young children and horror shows just don’t mix.
There are many activities parents can do to have some fun with their children and not get so scared. Many churches have taken Halloween night over and started planning fall festivals in their parking lots or gyms so adults and children can still dress up for fun but not have to trick or treat. The emphasis is not on scary but on getting into a costume. This is a good substitute for mischief making and worrying whether your candy is safe to eat. I’ve even heard of neighborhoods getting together to make sure there are no scary episodes in their community and make it safe for children to go out from door to door. Other communities have “haunted houses” in town for their teens to attend and schools use them as fund raisers.
Scaring small children beyond their understanding would not be considered a fun time for the celebration of the dead. I used to turn the TV off at night during October when my children were young just because I couldn’t trust prime time TV to not run scary commercials during children’s viewing hours. It has become a party for adults. The children are only tagging along for the ride. But it’s not a very good one.
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Most importantly to remember for parents is to get involved in what their children are doing for the scariest night of the year and not get carried away with the spooky stuff. It’s more fun to look back on fond memories of the fall season instead of regret for watching something horrifying which never should have happened.
Valerie Steimle has been writing as a family advocate for over 25 years. As a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she promotes Christian living in her writings and is the mother of nine children and grandmother to twelve. Mrs. Steimle authored six books and is a contributing writer to several online websites. To her, time is the most precious commodity we have and knows we should spend it wisely.
To read more of Valerie's work, visit her at her website, The Blessings of Family Life.
I honestly think it depends on the kid. Some kids like to be scared. It makes them feel grown up. I think it depends on the type of scare. For instance, Disney’s Ichabod story is pretty scary but it is relatively brief and it doesn’t present any kind of threat to a child. It’s a ghost story. Or the recent Goosebumps I think is fine for older kids. Everything is so obviously silly that I think kids have fun with it. Would I show it to kids under 6? No but even something like Pinocchio has some good scares in it but it is all part of the story and eventual lesson being learned. Same with Wizard of Oz. Learning to appreciate scares and have fun with them is part of learning to appreciate different kinds of stories.
I think you have to look at each individual child when it comes to scares and not make a hard and fast rule they are bad. But that’s just me. Interesting post.