Halloween Traditions: Trick Or Treating And Haunted Houses

Halloween is the time of the year when kids get to dress up and eat as much candy as they want. For most kids, this is all they look forward to from September until November 1st. The town thinks Halloween is too dangerous and therefore should be canceled, but haunted houses would be put in place in the schools. The past three years on what should’ve been a fun night have been spoiled by unacceptable behavior. For example, teens are vandalizing houses and the older kids are beating up younger kids. Due to these discrepancies, the town finds it necessary to cancel trick or treating. People are objecting to this idea, but something has to be done to stop this disruptive behavior. Although Halloween may be dangerous, ultimately trick or treating is an American tradition, there are easy solutions for kids eating too much candy, worried parents and teenagers safety.

Considering the health concerns for eating too much candy, there should be candy drives in all the schools and around town where the candy goes to the less fortunate. Candy is bad for you, especially in large quantities. On Halloween people seem to forget this, including me. One regular Twix bar has 24g of sugar, now multiply that by about 20. These amounts of sugar lead to horrible diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Some kids receive so much candy during Halloween that they need more space to put it. Personally, my mom would have us choose some of the candy we want to keep and then we had to donate the rest. Although at the time I didn’t enjoy my mom taking away my candy, I still had so much for myself and I was enjoying helping others. In the schools and around town there should be a place where you can put all the candy you want to donate. In class the kids could decorate a box or sign for the candy drive so while having fun, they could learn about

Halloween is the time of the year when kids get to dress up and eat as much candy as they want. For most kids, this is all they look forward to from September until November 1st. The town thinks Halloween is too dangerous and therefore should be canceled, but haunted houses would be put in place in the schools. The past three years on what should’ve been a fun night have been spoiled by unacceptable behavior. For example, teens are vandalizing houses and the older kids are beating up younger kids. Due to these discrepancies, the town finds it necessary to cancel trick or treating. People are objecting to this idea, but something has to be done to stop this disruptive behavior. Although Halloween may be dangerous, ultimately trick or treating is an American tradition, there are easy solutions for kids eating too much candy, worried parents and teenagers safety.

Considering the health concerns for eating too much candy, there should be candy drives in all the schools and around town where the candy goes to the less fortunate. Candy is bad for you, especially in large quantities. On Halloween people seem to forget this, including me. One regular Twix bar has 24g of sugar, now multiply that by about 20. These amounts of sugar lead to horrible diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Some kids receive so much candy during Halloween that they need more space to put it. Personally, my mom would have us choose some of the candy we want to keep and then we had to donate the rest. Although at the time I didn’t enjoy my mom taking away my candy, I still had so much for myself and I was enjoying helping others. In the schools and around town there should be a place where you can put all the candy you want to donate. In class the kids could decorate a box or sign for the candy drive so while having fun, they could learn about charities. There are so many charities that would appreciate the candy and the children who most likely wouldn’t be able to trick or treat would appreciate it too.

Instead of canceling trick or treating and offering a fun haunted house, why not have both? The kids who want to go trick or treating should be allowed to and the kids who don’t can go to the haunted house at school. Trick or treating is the best part of Halloween and canceling it wouldn’t only be unfair, but probably impossible. Families will not listen to this rule as they did during Hurricane Sandy when the town gave warnings about trick or treating. Going to school after school hours is also pretty appealing to students. Trick or treating is a tradition that most kids won’t want to give up, but having haunted houses wouldn’t be a bad idea. Kids that are worried about the bigger kids will be safe there because of the parents and maybe even teachers there. Parents are worried about their kids eating too much candy and with the haunted houses, they won’t be eating as much. Parents will also not be worried about where all their kids are because they will be in the same place. Benefits of having both trick or treating and the haunted houses are that both places will be less crowded.

To ensure that teenagers are safe during Halloween there should be an assembly discussing the dangers and consequences of Halloween. Last year there was an assembly about unhealthy relationships and after there was a very insightful discussion in our classes. This could be helpful because although high school students learn about drugs and alcohol in health, we don’t learn about specific Halloween disturbances. For example, egging houses and loud parties. Noise complaints are a major issue when it comes to parties. The solution of no parties is unrealistic, but going to a house that doesn’t have close neighbors and playing the music on a lower volume are solutions. Vandalizing isn’t big in Scarsdale, but making sure kids no how disrespectful it is and asking the parents to check on the teens before they leave the house would help diffuse the problem. I can’t speak for everyone, but assemblies in school have taught me a lot and would be beneficial to other students.

Ultimately, trick or treating and haunted houses will lead to a better Halloween environment because both the children and the parents can be happy. Children’s candy intake should be measured by their parents, and leftovers can voluntarily be donated to the candy drive. Teenagers will be teenagers, but giving an assembly will at least show them the consequences of their actions. With these solutions, Halloween should be a stress-free, fun and unproblematic night again.