Holloween has changed!

[Mariner Fan]

Just feeling like talking about how things have changed in our society.

 

Kids used to run through the neighborhood ringing doorbells unescorted trick or treating. None of these kids had their parents with them. Seems we all made it home safely.

 

Now days, the few kids that come to my door has an escort but most don't even do the trick or treat thing. Not blaming parents for doing this but was just observing how things have changed.

[massey130]

i believe it is because our neighborhoods have changed. I say that on the grounds that just about everyone i know says they barely know the people who live next door to them much less anyone 3 houses or more either direction. with that way of living, this is what you get. with technology comes knowledge and knowing all the bad stuff that goes on, parents want to protect their children and so goes escorted tricker treating.

 

as a side note, someone has a tagline stating something like "once you idiot proof things, the world will be full of idiots". well i see that happening more and more in the area where i live and work.

 

it seems to tie in there somewhere.

[kenw]

It seems more and more churches have parties for Autumn fest, and say Haloween is praising the devil ( my church also). I don't know where they were brought up, but in the city where I was, all we thought about was how much candy we could get! Ghost or devil costumes, so what where's the candy? I think that we take ourselves way to seriously today, feeling we have to protect evryone from everything, and forget about what it should be like to be a kid!

P.S.

took my 2 Grandkids out because their parents wouldn't!!!

[Brake Pad]

Geez, I my neighborhood, half the kids, can't speak English, But there folks are trying their best, to fit into the American Life style.

Now, If they'd learn how to drive

[Red Rider]

I'm glad I live in a neighborhood we all know each other 10 houses down. All the kids are out running around and having fun..

[mraf]

Protecting your offspring is on everyones mind what with some of the things that some people with twisted minds do. That being said what I miss is the mischievous things that the grownups used to do that never hurt anyone or anything. This is not done anymore because of the strict police state that we have allowed ourselves to become. I can remember how an outhouse would magically appear under the red light in town. If nothing else it was good for a few laughs the next day. That and smashed pumpkins littering the streets, toilet paper trees, shaving cream. I have a friend who when we were younger, built a shaving cream pinnacle on top of our local police car while he was talking to him in his car. When he drove off we all had a good laugh out of that one. He had to know who did it but being that it was Halloween and no damage was done it was forgotten. Thats the way it was but not now the same prank would get you slammed,bammed and fined. Oh the good ol days.

[Leadwolf56]

i believe it is because our neighborhoods have changed. I say that on the grounds that just about everyone i know says they barely know the people who live next door to them much less anyone 3 houses or more either direction. with that way of living, this is what you get. with technology comes knowledge and knowing all the bad stuff that goes on, parents want to protect their children and so goes escorted tricker treating.

 

as a side note, someone has a tagline stating something like "once you idiot proof things, the world will be full of idiots". well i see that happening more and more in the area where i live and work.

 

it seems to tie in there somewhere.

 

 

This is all true. We live in a small subdivision and a lot of the people are very unsociable. No one seems to want to get to know their neighbors. I know a few of them as I'm on the Home Association board. Most of them do not come to our annual meeting or picnic. We can't even get anyone to just comeover and BS around a fire or anything.

[maindog]

In my neighborhood, half of the goblins drive in and park , and take the kids / adults / infants in strollers, you know the whole family , cuzs, brothers, sisters, uncles, seems like 10 or 12 in a small car, no costumes and they all have a candy bag, trick or treat, ya right, more like feed the hungry. its a sad state of affairs up here in the Detroit area. . I now notice only about 1 in 7 houses even take part any more . its all kinda sad.

[Snaggletooth]

My daughter and I have lived in a townhome community for the last 8 years. When we first moved here we met and got to know almost everybody on the block. Over time most those folks have moved on and the new folks don't want to be bothered. In the last 5 years we haven't had a single kid show up on Halloween. Not one.

 

And when I'd take my daughter out trick or treating no one will even answer the door.

 

I got in the habit of taking her and a few of her friends out to a high end neighborhood out west. The 1/2 million dollar and up homes. In half an hour they could all fill their pillow cases with 1/4 pound candy bars and cash. Yes CASH! More than a few times they found $5 and $10 bills in their bags.

 

I mean they folks reallly did it up. Houses decorated to the max. Spooky sounds piped clear out to the street and theatical costumes worthy of a broadway show. I got to admit......it's a pretty good show. And you had to feel safe with all the private security patrol cars prowling the streets.

 

But somehow all that was lacking in the fun and excitement of my young years. Walking the neighborhood with a few good friends and knowing everybody you met. Spending the night trading candy bars and popcorn balls back and forth and working on a bellyache from too much surgar. Then laying revenge on the folks that didn't come across with the goods. Whipped cream, toilet paper, bars of soap were the standard weapons of choice but I always reserved the burning bag of dog poo for the old biddy that gave me green stamps!

 

There is no sense of community any more. Nobody seems to care. I miss that a lot.

[Yamaman]

Just feeling like talking about how things have changed in our society.

 

Kids used to run through the neighborhood ringing doorbells unescorted trick or treating. None of these kids had their parents with them. Seems we all made it home safely.

 

Now days, the few kids that come to my door has an escort but most don't even do the trick or treat thing. Not blaming parents for doing this but was just observing how things have changed.

 

Halloween changed when the makeup of this country changed. It changed when the real monsters started putting needles and poisons in candy and preying on children in unspeakable ways. I would question the sanity today of any parent who allowed their kids to roam free on Halloween the way my friends and I did 40 years ago.

 

On the lighter side, we had a blast in our neighborhood last night. I live in a golf course community and many of the parents dressed up and decorated their golf carts to ride around with the kids. They traveled in big packs and the kids AND the parents all had a great time together.

[Gray Ghost]

We were talking with some friends about this yesterday. I grew up in a rural area of west Texas. The school I went to did a carnival with each class sponsoring an activity, cake walk, etc. Had a lot of fun with that, never went trick or treating so I can't say whether it was better or worse. We also commented about the carloads coming to the subdivision. But then it dawned on us that there are a lot of kids who live along the main roads who don't have a safe place to go house to house. So I have to put my grinch attitude aside and remember that I had it a lot better than these young ones while I hand out candy.

[naturbar]

"This is all true. We live in a small subdivision and a lot of the people are very unsociable. No one seems to want to get to know their neighbors. I know a few of them as I'm on the Home Association board. Most of them do not come to our annual meeting or picnic. We can't even get anyone to just come over and BS around a fire or anything."........

 

maybe you being on the home owners board has something to do with no visits. i've heard a lot of horror stories about these boards and they strict letter of the law approach and yes i realize those who live in those communities have agreed to the rules and regs. i've lived in that type of community and needed permission to paint my house and get the color approved .... i don't see both sides of the coin..

"We can't even get anyone to just come over and BS around a fire or anything."...... have you checked with the board to see if open fires are approved....lol

i am certainly happy and feel blessed to have grown up in the late 40's and 50's....halloween was one of my favorite events

[KarlS]

Baby boomers all grown up. Growing up in my neighborhood every house had 2 or more kids and we all knew each other and the parents all knew each other. Where I live now just as many homes but can't be 10 kids total. Had ZERO trick or treeters last night. Also 1 parent isn't at home all day anymore with kids playing from house to house. Everyone just seams to be to busy to get to know each other anymore. Times have changed my friends.

[First_N_Last]

I has just 2 trick r treaters....

[Sailor]

We don't get trick or treaters in our neighborhood but that is due to the steep road and distance. The parents drive them to a small 2 block subdivision nearby and they get hit hard. Each year a bunch of us contribute candy to the homes in that area.

It sure used to be fun as a kid going out in costume and as a teen doing harmless mischief .

These days mischief usually involves spray cans or guns.

[Nemo]

We were young when we built our home in this neighborhood and about everyone had young kids, including us. It was not unusual to have over a hundred trick or treaters. Then, for a while a few years back the crowd started to grow smaller and then in the last few years they're coming back again. We had 45 kids come around last night. Some parents had small ones in strollers, so within a few years those small ones will be walking and with their friends and it won't be long before the hundred count will happen again. The old folks are either moving out or dying off and younger families are moving in. And it was b beautiful night! I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

[davecb]

Applies to all of the above...Another great tradition gone to poo due to all the wierdos and parents afraid to let their kids out the door alone...

[Venturous Randy]

I remember when I was a kid in the late 50's, early 60's and it was a different world. Kids had a blast and I mean that. Real Cherry Bombs and M80's were legal then and sometimes mailboxes were left as only a smoking stump. l also remember there were some serious injuries that some of those kids are still living with.

We live in the city limits and did not have one single kid, so now I have all this candy I have to get rid of.

RandyA

[rsstar]

We had our first trick r treater at a little after 7pm and our last a little after 8pm. I bought 3 bags of candy which was in a bowl by the door and then 3 more in the pantry. The bowl is still over half full and we were very generous. My daughter came over to give out the candy as my wife was working. We talked between door bell rings and I told her how when I was a kid in Portland Oregon we would start at dusk and ring doorbells until close to 10pm. Sometime I would go home twice to take the full bag home and get an empty one. And yes, we soaped windows on cars and houses but we never did anything destructive. Those, to me, were the good old days and things will never be like that again. Thanks to idiots who put razor blades in apples and pins in candy bars, and the overall lack of concern fo one another, no one trusts anyone anymore. Now everyone goes to the mall or to church parties. Since we've lived in our present house we have had our share of damage on Halloween and this has also made more people turn off their porch lights and refrain from participating. It's a shame because I like to see the little ones in their costumes and will continue to participate as long as I can. Heck, I watch all the Charlie Brown shows every year and just recently stopped trick r treating myself. We have become a society ofscared-d-cats and overly protective parents because of some very bad and disturbed people who have done some terrible things to kids. But bad things happened back in our day...we just didn't hear so much about it. . No, being cautious is good but it sure would be nice if things could go back to the way they were when I was a kid. Anyway, now I have all this candy and I can't eat it. Guess the guys at work will have to !!!!

[Sideoftheroad]

Was just talking about this to a co-worker today

 

I had 2 older brothers and by older I mean 8 & 10 yrs older. So no need for a parental unit to escort us. I am sure some kids did have parents walk with them but stood at the end of the driveway waiting for them. If I am standing in the middle of my parents driveway I knew all the neigbhors (at least 20 houses at least if not more) to the left of our house and very few to the right other than my brother's friends. Overall we have several subdivisions all connected together. We could be out for hours trick or treating. Neighbors parents would dress up and to a little kid scare the bejesus out of ya. Also seems like trick or treating started when it was dark. Now they do it in daylight and stop when it gets dark. Parents (and of course kids) never had a worry about predators, including individuals in professions that thought would never have to worry about them. They are the good guys. You name it, doesn't matter what the profession.

 

I myself was a latchkey kid in elementary school. Used to walk home from school. Parents would tell stories of us kids as babies crawling out the front door to the middle of the street or running away to us was going to the end of the street.

 

I will fully admit that in today's society I want my children to be safe. I am trying to find that balance of them having fun as much as possible w/out her feel like we are smothering them. No way would I let them walk out the front door by themselves unless we can see them. All good in the back yard since it is fenced in. I may be inside and them out but don't expect me to go something that would take a couple hours while they play alone outside (besides I want to play too). I will try and keep them out of situations that would promote being harmed by another individual And the harsh reality is, if someone wants to harm a child, they will find a way no matter what.

 

Goes along w/ another favorite kid past time flashlight tag. Loved playing that.