Boo Hoo!!

 

With Halloween knocking on our doors, I have recently found out that there are so many great, safe places for kids to do their trick-or-treating!

I used to be in a neighborhood that had more kids than we could handle and buses/vans brought even more kids in, but we didn’t mind. It was festive, it was fun and candy was cheap!

I’m not sure what is really expected on Halloween anymore because it seems activities happen all month long. Halloween used to be the only day to collect candy. But now, there’s so much more, and then, there’s not. Candy is ridiculously expensive too!

Case in point…many schools have stopped the parties due to the abundance of allergies, “healthy food” efforts, stranger danger and those candies that pop up with unsafe materials/drugs in them. It’s been an effort for there to be a happy medium, outside of Halloween. After all, those costumes take a lot of time, energy, and money to just be used one night. With Covid, individually wrapped things were a must.

Now, I love a good Halloween bag full of candy that I try not to buy because I can’t get enough. We always “helped” Katie get rid of her candy…sorting it, counting it, and hiding it for later. It was fun.

Yesterday, I was talking to Katie and I realized just how out-of-control Halloween has gotten since those days of a one night out thing! Gabriel is in pre-school now, and they did the pumpkin patch and have decorated their special pumpkins as their celebration. There will be a little parade of costumes through the school on Friday and that’s it. No overloading of candy, sweet punch, cookies and cupcakes for a party! On Halloween, I’m sure lots of kids will be in orange shirts, but their celebration will have taken place when they have their parade in two days.

That being said, Adrian is still in the daycare at Anthony’s work. Before Covid, they used to have a costume parade throughout the building, cruising on multiple floors where kids could be decked out in their costumes and some of the parents working there could watch the parade in the hallway.

With Covid, things were shut down and once the kids came back, they did not go right back to the parade because they were still doing many of the Covid safety measures. In fact, Gabriel had never experienced the parade because he started in daycare just weeks before the shutdown.

So, evidently, in the communications from the daycare, they mentioned that there would not be a Halloween parade this year. Guess what? Parents went over the top!! NO HALLOWEEN PARADE???

I’m sure many of those parents had never even experienced the parade, but the ones who had older kids (those who were there pre-Covid) were loud and unhappy. This announcement was a follow-up to a daycare company memo saying that each location would determine what kind of celebrations they would have. Makes sense as all locations have a variety of kids and different numbers involved.

The monthly parent update meeting (via Zoom) was moved up from November 7 to this week to accommodate the concerns. For real? Katie told me she did not turn her camera on because she didn’t want anyone to see her making faces…gasping, laughing, and rolling her eyes. It was an hour long debate about how could the daycare deprive the children of the Halloween parade?

The Director politely noted that since Covid, with so many working from home, the building is leasing space to other businesses. So it is not an exclusive space, and they opted to put the safety of the children ahead of this. The parents were having none of that.

The Director also said that they would talk about Halloween (if kids ask) and what are their traditions, what costume will they be wearing, etc…But they would not have a specific celebration. They will probably be reading a couple of Halloween books too.  They will follow suit with the other traditional holidays. She will be letting the kids direct the discussions and how much time they spend on these holidays of ours. Then one parent said, “Oh great, so you are putting the burden on the kids.” What the hell does that mean?

There was a lot of back and forth and Katie said the Director was amazing, keeping the conversation going, trying to validate the parents, but sticking with the decisions for their center.

Now, there are kids from 6 months to 6 years old in this center. I can see that maybe a 4, 5, 6 year old would bring it up, but my Adrian is still working on simple words. If he walked into daycare asking the teacher why they weren’t having a Halloween party, I think I would faint! Please…he’s 2 years old! He has no clue what Halloween is all about, but I will say, he’s picking it up!!! LOL!!

If you want your child to have more of a Halloween experience, how about going to all of the Trunk & Treats that take place prior to October 31? Or how about the Boo at the Zoo? What about having your own Halloween party? Or if it is the candy you want, go buy it on ½ off day at Kroger…geez!

I keep thinking about how grateful I am that Adrian and Gabriel have always had great care. They are there for safe-keeping and to learn a few things along the way…sharing, colors, making friends, listening to stories, making simple crafts all while Katie & Anthony work. It’s not an easy job. Add in putting costumes on kids, taking them all to the bathroom or changing diapers before a parade, carrying multiple kids that get tired or can’t walk that distance…I could never do it. Oh! Don’t even get me started on how the kids are after eating the bowls of candy!! YIKES!!!

Why not work out a date with a local nursing home, where parents and their kids can go and make folks smile? In fact, that is what Katie & Anthony did with their boys. They dressed up as pilots and headed to a nursing home where they were in a group of kids, belonging to Voluntots (volunteer toddlers) and interacting with the senior citizens. The smiles on the adults and the kids were huge and the candy treats and cupcakes were overflowing. I love this idea. Guess what? Gabriel an Adrian have no idea that they are missing anything.

I can’t wait to see what the Voluntots have next on their schedule but I’m with the daycare Director…While your kids are with us, we will do our best to keep them safe and give them lots of things to do. Happy Halloween my friends! See you next week!!!  xoxoxoxxo