It's Evil!

Bone Daddy's - Dallas, TX

This is normally the time of the year when kids dress up and trek up and down their neighborhood streets for treats. However, this year, things are going to be a little different in some neighborhoods thanks to Jesus Ween.

Disclaimer: if you choose to not celebrate Halloween because you think it doesn't represent your beliefs, then so be it. If you think I'm an evil person because I do celebrate it, then you're an idiot.

Halloween? But, it's evil! Yes, there are some costumes of some downright evil characters that show up on Halloween. You can rarely go a Halloween without seeing known killers such as Satan, Freddy Kreuger or O.J. Simpson. I get that. My first Halloween costume was Darth Vader, but it never influenced me to try and use The Force to choke anyone. It did not make me want to grow up to be a Sith.

I wish people would stop demonizing (for lack of a better word) things that they choose not to participate in regularly or just don't understand. Rather than trying to shield your children from it, which is next to impossible, why not sit down with them and teach them about it? That's exactly what my parents did.

- They didn't prevent me from watching horror movies because they were afraid that I'd want to be a murderer. They watched it with me and made sure that I realized that it was just entertainment.

- They didn't keep me at home on 10/31 because they thought it would deter me from worshiping Satan, practicing witchcraft or becoming a politician. They allowed me to participate and taught me that Halloween was about getting candy. It wasn't about celebrating dead souls or anything like that. It was about getting down on some M&Ms, Twix and Payday bars.

- They didn't have to say, "Quincy, don't grow up to be a goblin, demon or warlock just because you dress like one for Halloween." They took me home, sorted through my treats to make sure that it was safe and Halloween was never mentioned again until the same time the following year.

They simply led by example and put me on the path in which they wanted me to travel and left it up to me to decide what to do when I came to a fork in the road. They gave me the blueprint to success and allowed me to grow into my decision making. They didn't hide me in the closet and then release me into the world at the age of 18 and let it all hit me in the face.

Now some things are age appropriate and should not be available to kids before they're mature enough to understand. This post is not saying to take your 10 year old daughter to the strip club and say, "Honey, Daddy doesn't want you to have to make money like that girl does."

I'm asking that you that exert the same effort you're using to shield your kid from something and use it to teach them about it and why you may advise against it. If you do that, then you've done your job as a parent.

So, if your child wants to dress up and collect snacks, then don't fear that it will change them into something. Being Harry Potter won't change him into a warlock. Being Edward Cullen won't change him into a blood-thirsty vampire. Being Dora the Explorer doesn't mean that the Tea Party will try to deport her out of the country.

Okay, that last one was poor in taste, even for me. :)