My sister-in-law is usually pretty cool, but she’s made a rule which I don’t like. I know she has every right to raise her child the wasy she wants to, and she really does do a great job, but this one thing bothers me.
Her 3-year-old son, my nephew, is at the age where he can be introduced to Halloween. Last year my SIL announced that she will never let him go out for Halloween. The reason? She’s paranoid that the candy he gets will contain a myriad of poisons, razor blades, etc; so instead of checking candy that he would get on his travels, she’s decided to not let him go around at all.
I think this is just a bit over-protective. I know he’s going to see the other kids out having fun and he will be very upset. I can remember one when I was about 5 or 6, I was sick on Halloween and couldn’t go out. I remember feeling devastated. That sort of thing is a big deal to a kid.
We obviously can’t tell her what to do, but it bothers me to see the little guy sad. My husband is kinda perturbed about this, too. What’s your opinion on her viewpoint?
While I am not one of the types to claim that the downfall of our civilization is imminent due to overprotective parents and the supposed PC movement, things like this do tend to give me pause. When you depend on other people for food of any sort, you’re at their mercy. Does she grow her own vegetables because they’ve been handled by people with less than sanitary hands? Or not order pizza because the delivery boy may have AIDS and spit on it before delivering it?
Caution is necessary for survival but going overboard to this extent is a tad bit ridiculous.
Since the kid is only three, he may not be entirely aware of what is put in his trick-or-treat bag. Would your sister-in-law consider letting the kid go trick-or-treating, and then swapping out his loot for some stuff that she kept for him at home? That way he could still have his fun with costumes, and she would be able to have some control over what he got to eat.
I had the exact same idea as rockle. She could let the kid go trick-or-treating, then surreptitiously swap out his loot for some pre-bought stuff. If he complains, she could come up with some cockamamie excuse.
What we did at about that age was to choose a few friends houses and trick-or-treat there. (Not because we thought it was dangerous, BTW.) At three he doesn’t really need to drag around the neighborhood for hours, but he will enjoy a couple of experiences.
At the age of 3, a parent would want to walk around with the kid as the kid went trick-or-treating, and stand discretely in the background as the kid rings doorbells. A parent might also want to ration the goodies so the kid doesn’t eat all that candy at once: “Just eat a bit of the candy now, and we’ll save the rest of it for later.” But, yes, I think the sister-in-law is over-reacting.
Are you sure “poisoned candy” is the real reason the little one is kept in on Halloween? Could it be that all the little ghosts and goblins are really being introduced to, mmmmmmm, SATAN?
My mom never wanted me to go out Trick or Treating. Not because she was concerned for my safety but she thought going to your neighbors’ houses and begging for sugar was a pretty dumb thing to do.
I did get to go a few times but it wasn’t as fun as advertised.
I can think of some better reasons to not let my child go trick-or-treating, such as (1) it’s a pretty stupid tradition that fosters greed and gluttony and (2) the candy is terrible for them.
Maybe your sister-in-law is being overprotective, but I don’t see how the kid is any worse off.
I agree with cher - let the little lad go to houses of known friends - or better still do what we did. My daughter would go ToTing with a group of maybe half a dozen + a parent, who was armed with a list of “safe addresses” to call at compiled by all the parents.
That way, they were calling at houses of “strangers” who were known to at least one of the kids.
To my knowledge, two pieces of halloween candy/etc. have ever been found with poison/razor blades/etc., and they were planted by relatives. If your SIL is worried about booby-trapped goodies, she should start interviewing next of kin before she goes to random strangers.
However, it does not look as though facts will sway her.
Yep. Satan is going to do away with all that is good and holy. He is going to bring about the fall of man, and enslave the immortal souls of millions. His plan is vile and wicked and unholy.
Phase one of his diabolical plan? Give children tum-tum aches once a year.
Some may think it’s dumb, but I can tell you it was greatest day of my life as a young kid, with the possible exception of Christmas. It even beat my birthday, hands down. I still remember the pure joy I felt being in school that day, knowing the wait was over and the day had finally come. There was a countdown on the chalkboard the teacher updated, saying how many days until Halloween, and it’s burned into my mind the image of there being no days left, from the absolute pleasure it gave me to see that. That was over 25 years ago, and I can see that chalkboard like it was this morning.
Denying your kid this activity could very well be denying him some of the most fun he will have as a child.
