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Parenting
Halloween
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Food
Halloween
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Parenting
Halloween
I don’t typically dress up for Halloween, but this year I’m thinking of renting a juggler’s costume. I think it will fit the theme of the day nicely, which will involve attending two school parades and a "fall festival" before racing home to get the kids dressed and filled up on healthy fare (less room for candy!) and stocking up the help-yourself-treat-bowl (who’s here to hand out the stuff when we’re busy watching our adorably bedecked children schlep through the hood and beg for food?). It’s fun and the kids love it, but it’s also exhausting.
At iVillage, we've already come out in favor of making Halloween an official (no-school, at least) holiday. But now a state lawmaker wants to move Halloween permanently from October 31 to the last Saturday of the month. Connecticut representative Tim Larson says the move would make the holiday less manic for parents and safer for trick-or-treaters, and give the economy a nice boost on top of it all.
As always there are enthusiastic supporters and folks who are wildly opposed to the idea. The pros: Safety and sanity, mostly. The cons: Government has better ways to spend its time and money. It’s tampering with tradition! It will confuse the ghosts, goblins and witches. (This was an actual concern voiced by Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy through his press secretary, who may have been joking, but I sort of hope not.)
I say tradition, schmadition! Did you know that Thanksgiving was celebrated individually by the American colonies for over 200 years until the Civil War? And that back then the meals didn’t even include dessert, which is clearly an argument for reconsidering a custom, at least on occasion and when it makes good sense. Look at it this way: Would you rather remove TP from your trees on a Tuesday or a Sunday? I agree that there are surely more critical causes to champion than this one. But since it’s already out there, I’m in full support.
