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Life is short. Halloween is fun. I guess I can get if you think it's too scary for your 3yr old, that's pretty little to get it anyway.
But being a little frightened in a safe environment is FUN for most kids, eating candy until you absolutely can't look at it anymore never killed anyone, and wandering around at night dressed up like an idiot is hysterical for kids. It's also a good way to meet your neighbors.
One of my children is in Catholic school and they have a huge parade and carnival for Halloween. All the elderly parish members come and cheer during the parade, they love to see the kids all dressed up.
I'm not even going to bother reading all this.
All I have to say is yes, Halloween is definitely for kids. It's ONE day a year, to dress up, have some fun, spend time with family and friends and eat some candy.
Why is everyone starting to be so opposed to Halloween?
Some schools even call it "Character Day", so stupid.
All you have to do is let your kid dress as something appropriate and not skanky, go out for a little, get some candy and go home. Let them pig out a little Halloween night and then put the rest away as treats.
But I guess we're all just going to have to start accepting this weird PC crap we do where everything in the world has to be ok for EVERYONE or its not allowed....
My 6 year-olds love Halloween. I dressed up to while giving out candy to over 1000 trick-or-treaters.
I know candy isn't good for anyone, but my kids eat healthy otherwise, are on the skinny side, and I want them to have fun holiday memories. We let them have two pieces or so per night until it's gone. I help a little too
My family made it into a huge family event. We'd all go over to my grandmother's neighborhood and spend the evening at her house. My mom and her sisters and my uncles would all bring the kids over. We'd go out in a group and visit each house. The neighbors would ask how our grandmother was doing, what we were up to. Comment on how big we'd gotten. My grandmother would do the same with kids showing up at her place.
We'd get a ton of candy. Then go back to the house and play together, trade candy, divide it up, fend off our parents, etc. We'd hand out candy to the late-showing trick-or-treaters and socialize.
We'd get home really late, but it was always a great time. When I was older and my "second batch" of younger cousins was doing their own trick or treating, we still had a great time at my grandmother's. We'd take turns taking the little ones around, check in with people in the neighborhood we hadn't seen in a while, etc. Order a pizza for the whole family. Etc.
I remember it as a really fun and low-stress holiday. Nothing scary about it, really, unless you count the DIY haunted house two blocks over.
Halloween is for everyone that wants to celebrate it.
You want to bring up your kids without that tradition, with or without others in its place, go for it. Your family. Your kid. Your household.
I love Halloween and my kids do, too. Although this year we didn't really do what we usually do (decorate the house, do pumpkins, make costumes, etc) instead we went to a metal concert up in Denver. Kids had fun, mostly my older son, the boys are 15 and 13 now, the younger doesn't have as long an attention span and the opening bands bored him. Oh, well.
Part of Halloween traditions I love just as much as all the scary or monstrous or macabre stuff, is the harvest festival element where you go out to some farm, and if you're lucky you find one with a corn maze, a cool hayride, where you can go out and select pumpkins, and they have delicious apple cider. One really good year we visited one that had a roasted corn stand and they gave us these huge piping hot ears of corn that you hold by the husks...just to die for. Mmm... All that stuff is just wonderful.
Also I have a way, WAY bigger problem with the corporate nature of Christmas. I shared a blog today that said "Let's Wage War on Christmas" and the point of it was, Christmas was/is/could be a great and beloved holiday but the corporate greed is pushing it wayyyy outside of its boundaries. It's all about fourth quarter sales now. It's stampeded right over Thanksgiving and is encroaching on Halloween, if you go in almost any store, you'll see all the Christmas stuff taking over right now. It's out of control. By the time it rolls around, the corporatization of it has worn me down to the point where it feels like...the opposite of the warm, magical holiday I remember.
OP: I sincerely wish you the best of luck in holding to all of your noble parenting principles as your child(ren) get(s) older. It's hard. Really, really hard.
We don't celebrate Halloween. It isn't necessarily a religious thing, we don't go to a church alternative or anything like that, but I just don't like anything about this day. I think it promotes junk food, candy, the corporate kids media (what I refer those characters and movies kids idolize and that grace a bunch of crap they want parents to buy), not to mention the scary monster part of it. Am I alone in thinking this is not right????? Is Halloween even appropriate for children anymore? We don't show our kids scary movies, so why go trick or treatiing??? I know teens and older kids are different, my kids are young now.
Alone as far as I know. Its fun for kids (and an excuse) to dress up. They like it. .my son went as Batman. I'm a huge fan of "Corporate kids media" as you call it. . or just popular media. . .or being apart of a culture as I call it. Entertainment and Media from a time is the best reflection of the tastes, beliefs, loves, and interests. (though i'm no fan of reality shows, must be creative fiction).
once my kid was scared (last year) by a "monster" but that issue isn't extreme.
Depending on what we are doing, excess candy is stored away and dealt out as treats. . or brought to a troops trade-in-program afterwards (normally at dentists).
Your issues with Halloween have nothing to do with ANYMORE. Nothing has changed about Halloween (thought its gotten more popular).
Also I have a way, WAY bigger problem with the corporate nature of Christmas. I shared a blog today that said "Let's Wage War on Christmas" and the point of it was, Christmas was/is/could be a great and beloved holiday but the corporate greed is pushing it wayyyy outside of its boundaries. It's all about fourth quarter sales now. It's stampeded right over Thanksgiving and is encroaching on Halloween, if you go in almost any store, you'll see all the Christmas stuff taking over right now. It's out of control. By the time it rolls around, the corporatization of it has worn me down to the point where it feels like...the opposite of the warm, magical holiday I remember.
yeah, to this family Halloween and Christmas are in the same exact bucket. They are fun. They are based on odd and outdated festivals or celebrations (like Christmas is just a mixed up Winter Solstice festival).
So I just look at these things to have fun. Halloween is about getting dressed up, and going trick-or-treating. Christmas is about feasts, presents, and looking at lights.
Both are about as "magical" as you put into it for your family. Halloween has gotten more corporate for sure (in the 60s it was home made treats and stuff, but fear of blades. . etc. . caused the change to sealed candies). Christmas. . eh who are we kidding, its always been about buying #@!!. . just the marketing gets better ever year.
But as far as I can tell, these holidays are all genius corporate marketing that I appreciate
Because its not a tradition here. We have our own traditions. I'm not depriving her of any joy because its not a joy here - no more than you are depriving your kids of the joy of dressing up for May Day because its not a tradition where you are.
Actually, there are lots of May Day celebrations here. Not quite on the scale as Halloween, but May Poles are not unheard of at schools (and I can remember dancing around the May Pole when I was in elementary school, in East Texas, and I'm 65 so it's been celebrated for a while).
Because its not a tradition here. We have our own traditions. I'm not depriving her of any joy because its not a joy here - no more than you are depriving your kids of the joy of dressing up for May Day because its not a tradition where you are.
But it is a tradition here.....it would be the same if you forbid your child to take part in May Day because of its pagan roots.....and you would be keeping her from enjoying herself.
Oh.....and many do celebrate May Day....when my daughter was little we would make small baskets of paper flowers and leave them on neighbors doors.
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