With Halloween quickly approaching, parents are starting to ask themselves whether to let their kids go trick-or-treating this year. Nowadays, there is a debate about whether trick-or-treating is more dangerous than it used to be. With reckless drivers or shifty lurkers, some parents are afraid for their kid’s safety. Parents fearing razor blades in apples or laced candy is a classic concern, but the more likely threat to children’s safety is crossing busy roads.
According to vox.com, Halloween night has three times the likelihood of pedestrians accidentally getting hit than any other night. Because of this an alternative that is becoming increasingly popular is trunk-or-treating, which is normally hosted by a church or community group. Hosts park in a parking lot with the backs of their cars decorated for Halloween and hand out candy to the kids as they make their rounds among the cars. This way parents can always know where their children are and normally know who is giving out the candy.
Ash Haggerty (11) says she tends to go trunk-or-treating. She understands why people find typical trick-or-treating to be unsafe.
“My family usually goes trunk-or-treating which normally happens the weekend before, though we do go trick-or-treating on Halloween sometimes. Many people think that Halloween is unsafe because of how reckless people can be on Halloween, typically because of drugs and/or alcohol,” Haggerty said.
In the recent years of Halloween, another interesting debate has arisen: the date. As the 31st falls on a different day each year, some kids go to collect their candy the weekend before actual Halloween because school limits how late they can be out at night on the actual date. Tinybeans.com makes a fair point stating that multiple holidays don’t have a set date, like Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday in November. Some argue that Halloween should be the last Saturday of October so kids can stay out later trick-or-treating and not have to worry about going to school the next morning. This option can lead to a conflict, however, because some people are not expecting trick-or-treaters this early and are not home or do not have candy yet. Whether or not neighborhoods should be prepared for trick-or-treaters ahead of Halloween is debatable. Some kids may only be able go trick-or-treating on a Saturday, and they do not want to miss the candy and fun of Halloween. But do they then have the right to be angry if houses are not prepared for this unexpected visit?
Olivia Batachio (9) loves celebrating Halloween and dressing up with her friends on this spooky night. She also believes that neighborhoods should not be responsible for buying candy before Halloween for early trick-or treaters.
“I think that some people might think that Halloween is not safe because kids are out late in the dark. I also think that people should wait until Halloween to go trick-or-treating or set out the candy because it ruins the fun of that one night every year,” Batachio said.
Estella Nyawenga (9) takes the side of trick-or-treating before the 31st because she believes that on the night of Halloween there is more chance of paranoia in parents.
“I go trick or treating on the weekend before Halloween because on Halloween all I want to do is sleep and relax. I feel like parents might not want their kids to trick or treat because they are afraid that there might be drugs or razors hidden in the candy,” Nyawenga said.
