Posted on 10/27/2005 4:34:09 PM PDT by Kjobs
It is the adults who should be afraid this Halloween. Not of ghouls and goblins, but of permanently scarring their children.
In a recent study of six- and seven-year-olds in the Philadelphia area, Penn State psychologist Cindy Dell Clark found that most parents underestimate just how terrifying the holiday can be for young kids.
Halloween has been scaring the heck out of kids of all ages for centuries.
Two thousand years ago, Celts living in what is now the United Kingdom celebrated their new year at the end of October. During these days of transition from the end of summer harvest to the beginning of winter, spirits were thought to roam among the living.
The modern customs of candy and costume are rooted in medieval England. To avoid being recognized by the visiting spirits, people would dress up in masks whenever they left home. Bowls of food were placed outside to keep the ghosts happy. The practices have morphed into Halloween as it is known today, with parents encouraging their own little ghosts and goblins to haunt the neighborhood.
There have been few studies to examine how the holiday affects children. Child psychologists generally caution parents that the fright of some aspects of Halloween can be too much for the very young, and advise adults to keep a close eye on children and remind them of what is real and what is not.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I'm still cleaning my pants from last year's scary
experience.
That's what I thought. What they see on the news is way worse.
This exact [load of crap] study has been filed every year for about the last 40.
Always someone trying to find a way to explain why our children are so 'scarred'....its like the others on this thread are saying, just use common sense...if your child is really afraid of some sights or costumes, just steer them past those houses, and go to other more 'friendly' looking homes...dress the little ones in cutesy costumes...or if it is all just too much for some little ones, just stay home...its all common sense...
Heck, if all this hype were true, my younger boy should be scarred for life...the first time he had to sit on Santas lap at Christmastime, when he was 1 1/2yrs old, he cried and screamed the whole time...I guess that big fat man dressed all in red, scared him...the pic I have of him with Santa, shows a crying upset little boy...
Then there was the time a new McDonalds opened near my moms house, and Ronald McDonald was going to make an appearance...so my mom and dad took my two boys to meet Ronald Mcdonald(I was at work at the time)...dad took pics of again, my younger boy, at around age 2...the pic shows my mom holding my terrified 2 yr old, and trying to hand him over for Ronald Mcdonald to hold him...my son is holding onto his grammie for dear life, and the look of terror in his eyes, tells me he greatly feared the big clown, Ronald Mcdonald...
Children have real life problems to worry about....I just dont see Halloween, with its costumes and decorations, as being one of those problems...let your child be your guide...if hes scared, ,stay home...otherwise, enjoy the Halloween nites activities...
"
When some people started to stop score-keeping in kids games I knew 'studies' like this weren't far off."
Exactly we've got some parents who can't separate themselves from the game and treat it like life and death and others who are so afraid of kids competing at all they totally wimp the game out... where is sanity and moderation?
We set up speakers hidden in the shrubbery, and had "monster movie" sounds and music playing through them; we also built a "cave" leading to the house entrance with the usual scary critters, spiders, webs, lizards, bats hanging from the ceilings, and a witch sitting near the front door who was a real person in makeup... Long story short: the number of kids visiting plummeted from an average of around 80-100 to 6.
The smaller kids would actually cross the street rather than approach the house. Too much of a good thing.
This helps explain Barney Franks.
Oh man.... Now you are going to give me nightmares after looking at that face.
Heather Whipps is a "travel reporter"
Post a picture of Looter Man, of Hurricane Katrina fame. He should be the costume of the year.
We must stop it for the sake of our children!!!!!!!!!!
:)
Clowns are scary. Almost as scary as mimes.
I do know that many people find clowns to be very scarey...
I am always reminded of Kramer on 'Seinfeld'...he greatly feared clowns, and Jerry, Elaine, and George could always make Kramer do what they wanted, by threatening to get a clown after him...
they get use to it, almost to the point of ignoring it
Suicide Mistaken for Halloween Decoration
Oct 27 3:43 PM US/Eastern
FREDERICA, Del.
The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.
The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.
The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.
State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.
"They thought it was a Halloween decoration," Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.
"It looked like something somebody would have rigged up," she said.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/27/D8DGIS500.html
When I was five, this guy, skeletons and tarantulas literally left me with wet drawers. Traumatic?
I never had more fun having the beegeebuz scared out of me than during Halloween.
If stuff like this "ruins" a kid for life, they have more serious issues than things that go "bump" in the night.
Lots of anti-halloween madness from idiots this year.
GREAT Uruk Hai!
Yeah! So scary that kids keep asking their parents "how many days til Halloween?" and can't wait to show off their costumes to friends. Yeah. Real scary.
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