Posted on 10/31/2016 8:08:29 AM PDT by Borges
Is trick-or-treat over?
Is it a tradition in decline?
Or evolving?
This may sound like a horror story to contemporary parents and helicopter parents, or simply parents, but: When I was 8 years old I went trick-or-treating with a group of friends and no one else came along. We would walk up to strangers' homes. We would ask for candy. We would know some of the neighbors, though we would meet far more. We were 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. It was the late 1970s. Not a single parent tagged behind, or even stood on the sidewalk, waving. We waited until dark, then stayed out until about 8:30 p.m., maybe 9. Maybe there was a parent or two on the periphery, but I don't remember seeing a single chaperone in our neighborhood, which was working-class, more urban than suburban and not without its considerable ghouls.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
A tradition that is bound to decline once you start
aborting tens of millions of children.
Last year, on a Sunday, we had lots of little tricksters so I stocked up this year. I love seeing them although after dark, I loathe seeing sullen teenage boys showing up without costumes, holding out a pillowcase. One of the reasons I keep my door locked.
When I was a kid, we never went out after dinner. So we were in for the night at 6:30pm - not 9:00pm.
It was over for me when “kids” 6” taller than me with voices deeper than mine were ringing my doorbell holding pillow cases and not even wearing a costume..........Oh yeah, and the time the pickup truck parked in front of my house and let off a half dozen kids while the adults sat in the back drinking beer didn’t help either.
Most kids now in our neighborhood go over to somebody’s house in lieu of trick-or-treating.
I didn’t even bother decorating our house this year. I’m just not that into it anymore.
I would to out and trick or treat for Unicef to raise money for the poor chillrun and have some cocoa and cookies in the church basement, then head back out with my buddies to tip over garbage cans and soap windows. Ah, I miss old time Halloween!
I’d guess I first went trick or treating by myself when I was 7 or 8. That would have been 1960 or so. It was just like the author describes. What a wonderful time to be alive.
Mid-sixties: We would start TOT on Oct. 29 and do it for three nights. Most houses had their candy ready. The word was out on the street about which houses were giving away real chocolate candy. We would hit them up multiple times.
I live in a quiet semi-rural neighborhood that’s off the beaten path. There are several families with pre-teen kids so they’re still trick~or~treating. As long as they do I’ll continue to participate. It helps that there are no roving hordes of outsiders. I’ve lived in areas where you literally batten down the hatches, turn out the lights, and ride out the storm.
Now I know, trick-or-treat is about efficiency and safety. It was once a celebration of inversion; for decades, it was about children testing their freedom. "But I wonder if kids even get that now, when they're being bused into better neighborhoods and not standing disguised for the people they live among," said Morton. "Trick-or-treating was a fleeting taste of independence; now I worry it's just another lesson in capitalism."
BTW, the Tribune site has continued sending data to my computer and slowed it down since I closed the window. I have to run my cleanup programs. I hate that.
“I loathe seeing sullen teenage boys showing up without costumes, holding out a pillowcase.”
Thugs. When those types come to my door, I tell them to go put on a costume if they want candy. Sometimes I just shame them for what they’re doing.
This isn’t just about trick-or-treating. There are so many community traditions that just don’t happen anymore. Community parties. Neighborhood block parties. Community Christmas caroling or parties. Halloween trick-or-treating. Neighborhood dinner parties for adults. A lot of the socially cohesive traditions that arose in the Post World War II era (and that were still around when I was a kid growing up in the 1970s) are gradually dying. Its a shame.
Reminds me of the Harvard study the Libs didn’t like. It showed as the diversity of a community increases, the community involvement decreases.
Rule at our house...if you don’t have a costume you don’t get candy...plus we have a sign at our door which days...”no soliciting unless 14 or under”...I think that helps.
Oh, a parental thing. But even today, on Halloween, we almost never get kids past 7pm. Maybe because the candy runs out!
Sounds like a terrorist event waiting to happen. It needs to be halted if we want our kids to be safe.
In our neighborhood, the homeowners participating in Halloween hang out on their driveways with beverages for the adults walking with their kids. It’s a big party. I’ve seen three trucks this morning toting golf carts down the street that parents will trick out with scary music and lights to cart the kids through the large neighborhood. We rented three, six person golf carts, covered them with lights and a music system, and my sons have invited all their friends to join them. Everyone is in costume and it’s a blast. The tradition is alive and well here.
I’m thinking of just slamming the door in their faces if they show up tonight.
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