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This is a topic I've seen debated on some of the other Halloween forums I've been to over the years.
Some would argue that since they get less and less Trick or Treaters every year, and therefore it must be a dying custom. I don't think that at all, I just think it's evolved a little since we all did it as children.
Some communities now sponsor daylight Trick or Treating hours, having the event run from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. I think that alot of people may not be home from work yet and thus don't see as many kids coming to their doors.
There's also a new trend that seems to be getting more and more popular with each passing year. It's the trend of parents taking their kids to "better" or wealthier neighborhoods to get candy. This is the result of a baseless paranoia that someone out there is going to try and hurt your children in some way by tampering with their candy.
The rationalization is that the people in the wealthier neighborhoods are less likely to harm your children because they're cut from a finer cloth. Personally, I find the exact opposite to be true. Why would you take your kids away from your neighborhood, away from the people around you that you are more likely to know, and bring them to a foreign place whose inhabitants you know absolutely nothing?
Wouldn't a complete stranger be more likely to harm your child than the people next door? I would think so.
I think the paranoia all stems from a few isolated cases of candy tampering that were not in fact random poisonings. One such case (the case of Ronald Clark O'Bryan) turned out to be a father poisoned his own children's candy in an attempt to get some insurance money to dig himself out of debt. He tried to blame it on the faceless "halloween poisoner", but in the end, all evidence pointed to O'Bryan and he was tried, found guilty, and executed.
So, do you think Trick or Treating is a dissolving practice or one that's just evolving?
Some would argue that since they get less and less Trick or Treaters every year, and therefore it must be a dying custom. I don't think that at all, I just think it's evolved a little since we all did it as children.
Some communities now sponsor daylight Trick or Treating hours, having the event run from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. I think that alot of people may not be home from work yet and thus don't see as many kids coming to their doors.
There's also a new trend that seems to be getting more and more popular with each passing year. It's the trend of parents taking their kids to "better" or wealthier neighborhoods to get candy. This is the result of a baseless paranoia that someone out there is going to try and hurt your children in some way by tampering with their candy.
The rationalization is that the people in the wealthier neighborhoods are less likely to harm your children because they're cut from a finer cloth. Personally, I find the exact opposite to be true. Why would you take your kids away from your neighborhood, away from the people around you that you are more likely to know, and bring them to a foreign place whose inhabitants you know absolutely nothing?
Wouldn't a complete stranger be more likely to harm your child than the people next door? I would think so.
I think the paranoia all stems from a few isolated cases of candy tampering that were not in fact random poisonings. One such case (the case of Ronald Clark O'Bryan) turned out to be a father poisoned his own children's candy in an attempt to get some insurance money to dig himself out of debt. He tried to blame it on the faceless "halloween poisoner", but in the end, all evidence pointed to O'Bryan and he was tried, found guilty, and executed.
So, do you think Trick or Treating is a dissolving practice or one that's just evolving?