What happened to Halloween?

Question

When i was little, Halloween was a huge deal, we dressed up for school, had a parade and then went trick or treating. It was a blast and my favorite time of year! Now around here, kids aren't allowed to wear costumes to school, there are barley any trick or treaters because their parents only let them go to organized events. Parents have become so paranoid of what could happen that they have taken all the fun away. Some schools aren't even allowed to call it Halloween, its "fall festival." I am so afraid that by the time i have kids that there wont be any Halloween at all. What is wrong with this country that parents have let their own paranoid fears ruin all the fun for their kids?

There have only been 2 documented cases of candy being poisoned. If you inspect the candy, you'll be fine. And if you Watch your child like a responsible parent while taking them trick or treating, nobody will kidnap or molest them. Its not evil, its the only day where kids can be ANYTHING they want to be.

Seriously. If you pay attention to your kids when you take them trick or treating, they are safe! you dont send them out to go door to door alone. You walk them to EVERY house. Its perfectly safe.

And your kids are statistically more likely to get poisened by veggies or meat you buy from the grocery store then Halloween candy. Does that mean your a bad parent for giving your kids vegetables?

I'm sorry...correction: One documented case and his father was found guilty of murder for planting the candy in his bag.

Answer 1

You're not alone. I have the same fond memories. The phenomenon of tampering with candy was in its heyday when I was a kid, and we still went trick-or-treating full force. My mother always inspected my candy afterwards. It turns out that cases of poisoning were practically null and tampering/pranking with razor blades, etc., though documented, were still rare. You have a far greater chance of getting injured by a drunk driver or tripping over face first on your own costume on Halloween then being injured by candy tampering (though the latter is probably not true anymore ever since slutty costumes have become the fad). As I grew older, next to blame were the adults who were accused of hijacking the holiday, stealing it away from kids. Next came the political correctness. For me, it hit its climax of absurdity when a Halloween parade in Washington was canceled in part to avoid offending Wiccans.