Grow Up
I just read a really stupid article that touched a nerve. The topic: At what age should kids stop trick-or-treating?
The comments were actually more poignant than the article itself. Some parents recommended age twelve, the confirmation year. The year that kids are ‘supposed’ to transition into mini-adults. Others suggested the ritual cease at the same time parents disclose that there is…wait for it… no Santa Claus. What???
A few said age fifteen. Some stopped after high school. Some weened their kids off slowly while others quit cold turkey. I kept reading. Waiting for someone to back me up on my answer. Which nobody did.
NEVER.
Yep, I believe that kids should NEVER stop trick-or-treating. Take this silly little custom away from them and you strip them of an opportunity to have (hopefully) good, clean fun for as long as humanly possible. Dressing up. Walking outside. Getting candy. Seriously? I’m almost twice the age of…well, that’s not important. But according to this article, I’m clearly someone who should have stopped trick-or-treating a few decades ago. Instead, I’m downing a mini Snickers and looking online at costumes from Party City for myself. Here’s a coupon. Go ahead, get your own. Waste time much? That’s not the point.
Here’s the point. We spend our entire lives over-programming our kids. We push them to do homework and soccer and piano and drama club and math tutoring and other stuff that’s supposed to make them well-rounded but really just makes them anxious. And then we dare take away the one night when they can toss all of that stuff aside, dress up and eat candy?
Hell’s no!
Life’s too short. We grow up too fast. And then we impose that on our kids. So what would happen if instead of stopping the fun, we actually joined in on it? Dressed up and ate candy instead of dinner? Sat in the pumpkin patch like Linus and waited for The Great Pumpkin?
I've learned there are three things you don't discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin. -Linus
Maybe we’d realize that being a grown up ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe we’d forget our to-do lists for one night. Maybe we’d get the full sized candy bars. Maybe we’d get a rock. Who cares? It’s Halloween! And I’m trick-or-treating ’til I’m 80. Bring on the Krackel.
Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients:
- one pumpkin
- olive oil
- Worcestershire sauce
- kosher salt
- garlic salt
Directions:
- Hack that pumpkin open. Carve it up like you mean it.
- Take out the seeds.
- Wash and dry seeds.
- Put them in a bowl.
- Sprinkle with olive oil, couple of pinches kosher salt, couple sprinkles garlic salt, dash or two of Worcestershire sauce.
- Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Offer as an appetizer with mini cocktails to the adults who chaperone their ‘never too old to trick-or-treat’ kids to your house!
Tags: spiced pumpkin seeds 
I’m with you on this.. Just got my costume today
and can’t wait to take the kids out!
My high schooler only goes with her dad whom she makes dress up with her every year! It’s a really special time for both of them. I’m with you. Never too old for Halloween!
Last year I decided to dress up with my kids and it was hands down the most fun I’ve ever had on Halloween! I can’t wait to get my costume this year.
Excited to try these pumpkin seeds – they look yummy.
Totally with you! So grateful my 7th grader has not reached the ‘too cool’ age yet!
Here here! Of course I prefer staying home and giving out candy with a nice glass of wine in my hand while my husband treks up the hills in neighborhood with the kids. Then I just steal their candy!
I’m making these pumpkin seeds tonight. What a great snack!
And I agree with you too, can’t believe people spend time thinking about when to take this fun thing away from their kids.
btw, your post about poaching babysitters is HYSTERICAL. i shared it with my entire office. We were dying laughing!!
When my daughter was 4 we moved to England. Some people were very anti-Halloween, some didn’t care, some just didn’t get it. The first year we passed out candy to our neighbors and asked them to give it out as our children and their friends came by. Somehow we managed to eek out a little fun and educate many on how special it is to be visited by a very excited Snow White and toddler Buzz Lightyear, and all you have to do is give them a couple of chocolates in return. I don’t care how old your are, if you ring my doorbell in a costume you get candy, and I mean good candy, not that cheap crap.
I’m coming to your house, Karen!