Halloween

Ileen Plew October 25, 2010 Halloween With the arrival of autumn comes the annual October 31st observation of Halloween. Haunted houses will suddenly appear out of nowhere, aimed at scaring the daylights out of anyone brave enough to enter them, and every other corn field will have a maze in it. But for many parents as the holiday approaches, their worst nightmares will be brought to the forefront of their minds. The nightmares parents have of crazed sex offenders snatching up their unsuspecting ghosts and goblins while they gleefully beg for candy. The nightmares of poisoned candy, and razor blade laced apples. Although Halloween has changed drastically over the years, for most children this is one of the holidays that they look forward to the most; it ranks right up there with Easter, Fourth of July and Christmas. The prospect of dressing up in whatever costume strikes their fancy, and being allowed to go begging for candy is something that most children would like to do more than just once a year. Parents however, having shed their youthful innocence can find Halloween to be a time of stress and worry, with dangers both real and imagined lurking around every corner. Unfortunately, the days of children running with reckless abandon from house to house without supervision, are gone. Now, you are more likely to see parents tagging along than in years past, although this wasn’t always the case. I remember as a child growing up in the inner city; once I reached the age of eight or nine, I was on my own. My friends and I would roam the neighborhood for hours in the dark while our parents stayed home to hand out candy to the rest of the neighborhood kids. Frankly, we never gave this insanity a second thought, and neither did our parents. But, as the saying goes, “all good things must come to an end.” I remember when Halloween changed in my neighborhood. The date was August 12, 1984, when my fellow class mate and friend Eugene Martin, disappeared from his paper route just a few miles from my home. Suddenly, the “boogie-man” was real, and the dark shadows that lurked around every corner seemed more sinister than ever before. That was the first year I remember seeing as many parents as I did children on Halloween night. Halloween 1984, was also the first year we took our candy to the local emergency room to have it x-rayed. Just in case the boogie-man put razor blades in our Milky Ways. As the years have passed there has been more and more awareness when it comes to crimes against children, and parents tend to take this even more seriously on at least one night a year. Due to this awareness several laws have been passed that are aimed at protecting our children. One example of this would be Megan’s Law, which allows for public access to the addresses of all registered sex offenders. Furthermore, according to Rogene Fisher with ABCnews.com, “… highly publicized cases of brutal child abductions in recent years have heightened citizen activism and put pressure on local authorities to monitor sex offenders more closely” (par. 6).  It was because of this “heightened citizen activism” that prompted Missouri to pass a law in 2008 that restricts the activities of sex offenders on Halloween night. According to Adam Freedman with LegalLad.com, “The typical Halloween Law requires convicted sex offenders to stay in their homes on Halloween night, and prohibits them from answering the door to trick-or-treaters” (par. 6). These laws were designed to help parents feel more at ease while taking their children out into the darkened streets on Halloween night. Nevertheless, parents still talk to their children about “stranger danger” and about safety in numbers more often as the Halloween holiday approaches. As parents we strive to keep our children safe and aware of potential dangers all while trying desperately to keep the spirit of the holiday alive. The only things we want to be scaring the day lights out of our children on Halloween night are the pretend monsters, not the real monsters. This game of weighing safety and awareness with entertainment and fun is a balancing act that parents play every Halloween season. Even with the added restrictions placed on sex offenders, many parents are trying to tip the scales in their favor by forgoing the traditional door to door trick-or-treating for activities that are sponsored by local businesses and churches. As for the children, they don’t seem to care either way. For them it’s all about the candy, costumes, and games; they don’t mind where they go as long as it’s fun, and has a high potential for lots and lots of candy. The coming and going of the Halloween holiday marks the beginning of some things and the ending of others. Halloween rings in the busy holiday season that will make the next three months of stress seem never ending. However as the corn mazes are mowed over and the haunted houses are closed for the season, it also marks the end of the nightmares only a parent can dream up. With the end of Halloween night comes the end of such nightmares for a time at least. We are relieved to know that the only nightmare we have to deal with now is the one that involves us trying to catch our children as they bounce off the walls from eating too much candy.