Are your kids going door-to-door this year? Credit: NBAE/Getty Images
For most kids, Halloween rates second only to Christmas as the most eagerly anticipated holiday of the year. What could be more fun than dressing up in a costume and roaming the streets with your friends collecting candy? How about politely sipping punch while playing a board game at church? Or watching a family-friendly Halloween-themed movie at the community center?
Sadly, for many children that -- or some equally boring variation thereof -- is exactly what they will be doing come October 31st. Frightened by media-induced hysteria about tainted candy and psychopathic strangers, many parents will refuse to allow their children to participate in the trick-or-treating fun.
I feel sorry for those kids. They are missing out on a childhood experience unlike any other. For a kid, trick-or-treating offers more than a chance to fill a plastic pumpkin full of free candy. It's a once-a-year opportunity to experience a special kind of child-like freedom and be part of something big and exciting.
It's feeling all grown-up and independent ringing door bells all by yourself. It's being told how wonderful you look in your costume and knowing that it's true. It's seeing the smiles on the faces of your neighbors, coming together for no other reason than to make little kids like you happy. It's a warm feeling of belonging -- with your family, your friends and your community.
And then there's the candy. There's tons of it and it's all yours! You can examine it, sort it, trade it and, best of all, eat it. Even if you are allowed to enjoy only one piece a day, choosing that piece from your vast collection is an exercise in pure joy.
The world can be scary and dangerous and our kids will learn that soon enough. But for one night of the year, shouldn't we let them experience the world as it can also be: A happy place where people are generous and kind and children are free to be children?
