Is this depriving my child?

[redvlagrl]

So tell me if I'm depriving my child.

I didn't grow up in Nth America so Halloween/Trick or Treating is not a tradition for me. In fact I did go one year (I had read about it in a book) and had to explain to every household what it was. Most gave us money, LOL.

Anyway, DD will be 2 at Halloween this year. We have talked about it and are not going to do anything (no costume, not tricke or treating etc) because at this age I feel like it's more for the parent than the child. Plus she certainly doesn't need to eat candy. And neither do we

We would take her when she's old enough to get excited about it (next year at 3?) and when it's for her.

DH grew up on a farm so his Halloween experience was not the typical Canadian one either.

Am i a horrible mother? I think I am the only person I know who will not be doing it with my 2 year old.

[treeoflife3]

Not taking my 18 month old this year. I doubt we'll take her next year either. We'll see. I agree, they don't need the candy and I don't want to eat it all for her. It would be a waste of time and other people's money throwing the candy away.

so nope, you aren't depriving your child. You are not a horrible mother.

[Biscuits & Gravy]

My older DS was about 19 months for his 2nd Halloween. I dressed him up for a party at daycare, and dressed him up while we handed out treats. I ended up walking him to a couple of neighbors' houses because he could see that something was going on and wanted to check it out. I think he got one lollipop, which I ended up taking away. By the next Halloween he was definitely more interested. We went out with some friends, but he and his buddy ended up having more fun rolling down the hills of front yards than collecting candy. They did have fun though. Last year, at almost 4, was the first year that he was really, really into it. He knew what it was all about and was all business.

In short, I think you are more than fine skipping Halloween at this age.

[cdmommie]

I took my girls when the older one was 2 (last year) but only because her older cousin wanted to go. She had fun but we threw most of the candy away and she was totally exhausted from being up too late. And her cousin ended up wandering off with his friends, so it was pretty pointless and she doesn't remember it. So I think it's fine if you wait until she's older.

[tracymom1]

My son just turned 3. I am going to make him a costume and take him to Grandma's house with his cousins for a little get-together. They will probably want to trick-or-treat but we will not participate.

IMO, 3 is still too young to do that - it just seems silly to give a 3 year old so much candy only to take it away from him (which is what we would do because no way in heck is he eating a bag full of candy). We are Jewish and though most secular Jews "celebrate" halloween, it is really more of a christian/pagan thing so I don't feel any pressure to participate.

[GuildJenn]

At that age I definitely don't think she's missing out.

[Picard]

Well, the beauty is that we live in a multi-cultural country, and, frankly, Halloween is not part of our tradition either. So, even though DS will be 2.5 years old, we will not be celebrating this event either. We plan to stay home, and not have our porch light on. Generally, kids will pass by the house. I don't even think that we are going to celebrate it next year.

I don't think that we are depriving our children at all! We do other fun things and have other events that we celebrate at different times of the year. Today, for example, we went to the country fair and DS went for his first pony ride!

[cschick]

At two, I think that most kids really don't get it.

At three, they're starting to get it, but what happens is highly dependent on the kid (my son talked about it all the way up to Halloween then completely freaked out and refused to go trick-or-treating until it was almost too late).

We will see what happens this year at four

[nukuspot]

totally not taking my 17 mo old trick or treating. I hope to not have to for as long as possible. All that gross sugary candy? Yuck. I'll try to take her to a U-pick pumpkin farm or harvest party instead on the day.

PS...I think it was cute that you had to explain to people what trick or treating was when you were a kid. My DH grew up in the UK and they didn't do it there either.

[redvlagrl]

Originally Posted by tracymom1

..We are Jewish and though most secular Jews "celebrate" halloween, it is really more of a christian/pagan thing so I don't feel any pressure to participate.

Huh? It's a Christian thing? I guess I really am missing something here. Can someone please explain this to me because I am clearly an idiot.

i thought it had its roots in pagan stuff but didn't know it was Christian too. I had thought it a secular tradition.

Though, seeing as we are atheists this might give us more fuel to our non-halloween fire, hehehe.

[Stitches]

Last year when DD was 18 months I just did a super simple costume (knit her a viking hat, it was fun, the year before she had a pumpkin hat, again, it's just fun) but that was it, no trick or treating or anything, she was too little. This year she's 2.5 so I'm making her a costume and will take her to a couple houses for fun, including grandma and grandpa. It depends on the kid, my DD likes dressing up and is pretty social, and she's really into pirates right now so I figure if I make here a costume she will get plenty of use out of it playing dress up. At this age it's fun to dress up but any significant amount of trick or treating would be silly...how much chocolate does a 2 year old need? I'd feel like I was using her to get candy for myself.

[kittynurse]

With my older son, I don't think he did any real trick or treating until he was 4. Even then, they just went to a few houses beyond our street and it was mostly so he could go out and see what Halloween is all about and to see the other kids in their costumes.

Last year at age 5 we all had H1N1 (bummer) so, despite the fact that he was actually excited about it we all stayed in with the lights off (and munched on the chocolate bars that over-prepared Mummy had purchased well in advance ). We'll see what he does this year.

Up until 4 we just dressed him up, took him to Grandma and Grandad's for a little parade and photos and then made the rounds of our immediate neighbours so they could ooo and ahh over how cute he is .

With our younger son he has just tagged along with whatever his older brother was doing so he did go trick or treating when he was quite young but had no interest in the very few pieces of candy that he got.

So, all that to say, no I don't think you are depriving your child at all. At that age, if we didn't have grandparents close by and didn't have a good relationship with our neighbours, there's no way we would have done anything. As a PP said, at that age it's just for the parents.

[Devaskyla]

Huh? It's a Christian thing? I guess I really am missing something here. Can someone please explain this to me because I am clearly an idiot.

According to a lot of Christians, Halloween is Satanic & they avoid it.

I'm really surprised that everyone has pretty much the same response. I ADORE Halloween. Always have. I was so sad when I got too old for trick or treating that I even took out the kids I babysat, for free, just so I could go. I took ds1 out to a couple houses when he was 4 months old. We did our whole block the next year. We've never NOT gone trick or treating since we had kids. I wear/stroller them when they're little (generally take both & see how it goes) & we go until the other kids get tired, usually a couple hours. We put the candy from all of them in 1 bag & everyone in the family can have it. Usually lasts until January or so. lol

I just wish I were more creative so they (& I) could have cool costumes! I really find the anti-Halloween sentiment baffling. It's a fun excuse to get out, see lots of people dressed up, walk around your neighbourhood & actually talk to people. And you get candy as a bonus. The only bad thing is I can't both stay home to hand out candy & take the kids out. And I don't know if dh will be physically up to handing out candy by then this year.

[tracymom1]

"Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating "imaginary spooks" and handing out candy. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.[40] In the Roman Catholic Church Halloween is viewed as having a Christian connection,[41] and Halloween celebrations are common in Catholic parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland."
-from Wikipedia

I grew up going to Catholic schools and so I always thought it was part of christian celebrations

[ShyDaisi]

Last year Micah was 2.5. He dressed up like a monster, and we went to a bonfire party where they had a cookout, horse rides, and just generally hung out and had a good time. Afterwards, just so he could experience it, I planned to take time TOTing at a couple of houses on my parent's street. There were 3 houses passing out candy, and he had a BLAST! So, we continued down a couple of other streets until he was too tired. He got one sucker out of the bunch (his first actually) and the rest was given away to friends, relatives, etc.

I really like Halloween. To me, it is just a good excuse to dress up, be silly, and have fun. I keep his costume accessible until it no longer fits so that he can play dress up any time he wants. I think that this year I am going to shop the clearance rack on the 1st and stock up on costumes so that we can have a dress up box.

[Sharlla]

i never did it when my kids were little im the same way about bdys too
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[carmel23]

2 years-old is too young for trick or treating, IMO. My kids never really wanted to go until 5 years +

[choli]

Originally Posted by kittynurse

With my older son, I don't think he did any real trick or treating until he was 4. Even then, they just went to a few houses beyond our street and it was mostly so he could go out and see what Halloween is all about and to see the other kids in their costumes.

Last year at age 5 we all had H1N1 (bummer) so, despite the fact that he was actually excited about it we all stayed in with the lights off (and munched on the chocolate bars that over-prepared Mummy had purchased well in advance ). We'll see what he does this year.

Up until 4 we just dressed him up, took him to Grandma and Grandad's for a little parade and photos and then made the rounds of our immediate neighbours so they could ooo and ahh over how cute he is .

With our younger son he has just tagged along with whatever his older brother was doing so he did go trick or treating when he was quite young but had no interest in the very few pieces of candy that he got.

So, all that to say, no I don't think you are depriving your child at all. At that age, if we didn't have grandparents close by and didn't have a good relationship with our neighbours, there's no way we would have done anything. As a PP said, at that age it's just for the parents.

Pretty much the same in our house. DD1 had her first trick or treat at 5, DD2 at 3.

[mbm]

No, I don't think you are depriving her at all.

We went last year (DD had just turned 1) in order to introduce ourselves to a few of the neighbors. We figured it was a good time to go knocking on people's doors! Now that we have lived here a little while, we will probably only take her to about 5 houses of people that we know, just to say hi.

DD is really into pumpkins and spiders for some odd reason, so I think she will like seeing the neighborhood decorations more than she will care about the costumes or candy.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

no your not depriving your child, a 2 year old doesn't need to go trick or treating.