Tag Archives: Halloween

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Why I Let My Teen Trick or Treat

But Brianne, Wednesday isn’t a blog day according to your schedule. Except, on my favorite and arguably only holiday I don’t complain about celebrating, I have decided to honor it with a lesson in parenting teens. Tomorrow, you’ll get your blog on Question 2. Today, I’ve decided to talk about another hotly debated topic: teenagers who go out trick or treating

I always leave the decision of whether he is “too old to trick or treat” to him. There are a few reasons why I do this and I will defend it forever. The biggest reason why, just shy of his big 16, I let him trick or treat is because there are worse things that he could be doing. He could be vandalizing someone’s house or at a party getting drunk or high. (I’d like to think that he would never do those things, but I’m realistic. I can’t be around him all of the time and you really never know what can happen.) Instead, I know the only thing he is getting high on is sugar. I feel as though that is a much safer option, especially considering he’s an athlete without an ounce of fat on him.

Then, there is the control factor. A major reason why teens lash out is because they feel as though they have no control over anything in their lives. Even though he is a teen, the general rules of child psychology and child development still apply. By giving choices, you are encouraging your child to grow up confident with the ability to make decisions. Even something as small as letting them decide that they want to trick or treat helps encourage healthy mental and emotional development. They feel as though they are in control over areas of their life and you don’t have to worry about everything being a power struggle. It shows them that it’s all a give or take.

Then, there is the point of letting him be a kid. I’m not sure why parents are always in a rush to make their kids grow up. I’m not sure why we put those pressures on them then wonder why kids are always in a hurry to grow up. I have the sobering realization that my child will be going off to college in just 2 years. If he still sticks to his choice of schools, one of them will take him out of state to New Hampshire. I’m not going to already have his bags packed. I’m excited that for at least another year, he’s still my kid. He’s going to grow up fast enough as it is. I’m not going to deny him his childhood while he still has it. I was a mom at 18. I didn’t have that luxury, but I’ll be damned if my kids don’t get that chance.

You may think that last statement means that I have an emotionally immature child that I baby even though he is almost 18. If so, you obviously don’t know him or read this blog closely when I talk about him. My son is the type of kid who goes to the dentist and asks for stickers so that he can bring them home to his little brother, because my youngest loves stickers. He’s the type that is always willing to help his friends or do something to help the world be a better place. He’s excited to help me cook or even prepare supper himself. My child isn’t stunted by my decision to let him still go out on Halloween. I’d like to think that maybe he’s just a little bit better because of it.

Remember these things when you see a teen roll up to your home. Think about how they could be egging your house instead of asking for candy. Think about how they could get alcohol poisoning at a party, or even worse drive home. Think about how quickly our babies become apathetic adults. And smile that for at least 1 day, they can enjoy what’s left of their youth.

Happy Halloween, readers. Be safe and have fun eating your candy tax.

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The Waiting Game and Other Weekend Happenings

Why does it seem this blog is all over the place? Because it is. The tagline does say “random rantings”. That’s not the entire reason. I don’t like being locked into a specific category in my every day life, let alone my career. This is probably why I enjoy freelancing as much as I enjoy my book writing or my blogging. Freelancing allows me to wear as man different hats as I can, with something new daily. Plus, the trick to blogging is to just write something. Anything really. If all I can think of to write about is how I think Asian food is amazing, you will get 300+ words of that. Not because I want to bore you with that but because something needs to be a place holder in case I have a moment of genius. Which leads me to today’s mash-up.
I get to wait anxiously today as we wait to hear if the sellers will fix the more major of the problems in the house. Granted these are fairly inexpensive things as far as home repairs go, but that’s money that can go to a better set of furniture or towards my dream double oven stove. The fact that the most expensive things in the house are brand new and will probably last until we move out makes it hard to walk away over, at most, repairs that will be under a thousand dollars. The only thing will be if the appraisal is affected by those repairs. Either way, we just have to cross our fingers and hope the keys are in our hands at the end of this month.
I’m a fan of television, especially the weirder TLC ones. I have to say that “Sex Sent Me to the ER” is a show that brings me great joy. I know, this makes me look equal parts evil and crazy, but I laugh pretty hard every week during the episode. It’s almost like a comedy show for me. I’m a sick soul. In other television admissions, that episode of “Game of Thrones” was the most disappointing episode I have seen. They made an epic scene into something comedic, and let’s be honest here. The best scene of the show involved a conversation about morons and beetles. This better not be a sign of impending failure of the upcoming last 2 episodes of the season.
The final thing involves a tiny blurb about etiquette at a child’s sports event, whether it be a practice or a game. Coaches volunteer and do not get paid for what they do and you should be grateful to them, not treat them like dirt because you signed them up for a commitment you have difficulties keeping. It’s not only a terrible example to set for your kids, it’s an awful one to set for others. Plus it just makes you look like a sad excuse for a person, because they are their on their own time with our kids. So if you’re “that” parent, just leave and not ruin it for everyone else. /endrant
There is my random mash-up for the day. I hope to see you on Wednesday, where maybe I’ll have a more interesting topic for you.

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Why Halloween,It’s Good To See You.

Last year a freak October “Snowpocalypse” postponed our Halloween. This year, a freak hurricane headed our way. My son’s first reaction was “oh no, I’m going to miss school and my first student council meeting”, causing a pouty nearly 10-year-old walking around the house. It wasn’t until afterward when he heard a local town had already cancelled Halloween that his pout went into an angry face. “Not again!” I pouted on the inside too, the one holiday I look forward to every year was not going to be taken away from me again. It was bad enough all the stores saw fit to put out the Halloween decorations the same time as the Christmas ones. Christmas, you will not take this one away from me. The madness needs to stop.

Back to the point, without those cute little costumes and bonfire and all the candy I never eat this month means nothing. This year would almost mean nothing if it weren’t for the additions to my family without Halloween, that’s how serious I am about this holiday. It brings me more joy than it probably should, but I would find God and stab him if his stupid natural disasters had interrupted my favorite holiday again. He would regret it assuming I make it to Heaven, even assuming I believe in it. Don’t cross me, natural disasters.

All joking aside, (mostly joking) I hope people made it out of the storm alive. Stuff can be replaced, but loved ones are irreplaceable. The damage in other areas are terrible and we’re very fortunate here to walk away with nothing much but some downed branches. It’s times like this you really can sit back and think about how lucky you are, seeing other people lose everything. I’d say it’s times like these where we need to help each other out, but we shouldn’t be helping people only in times of extreme crisis. This is the same principle I hold on Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. You don’t need a day to tell someone you love them or that you’re appreciative of what you have. You should do it every day. My thoughts go out to people who are in need at this time.

Today I can smile while my boys are dressed up in their cute and overpriced costumes. As much as my husband and I love this day, it’s mostly for our kids. The tradition of getting dressed up to eat a ton of candy and get sick is as timeless as leaving cookies for the jolly fat man. Plus, they’re only young enough to do it for so long that you need to live in that short moment. Yes, that short moment where they only wear that overpriced costume once for an hour. It makes them happy though, and that’s the most important thing. Except for our baby, his costume and everything is more for us than him. But they’re both still very adorable. Happy Halloween readers, and donate to the Red Cross to help out. Every bit counts.

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How Christmas Ruined Halloween.

On our way to Great Barrington, I joked with my husband how one side of the road was snow, and the other was fall. He commented back something about Jack Skeleton and we laughed. We went to our favorite getaway, celebrating our anniversary early to avoid the uncertainty of snow in November. We seemingly forgot that we lived in New England. I knew I just got lucky with a 60 degrees wedding day surrounded by beautiful foliage.
The next day snowed. Not a wimpy storm, a storm. In October, I looked outside staring at 2ft of snow. The mountain town wasn’t destroyed, it was nothing to them. I assumed that when I arrived home, if they had 2ft and we only had 8in, it’d be just as inconsequential to us. I was wrong, so very wrong.
We have no internet. (I love my phone.) The good majority of my area has no power. We have no internet, which means no minecraft or WoW or any other amusement I have. (My phone has a minecraft app. Did I mention I love my phone?)
The worst part is how this storm has ruined Halloween, the one holiday I actually like. Trick-or-treating postponed? The horror! You don’t see them ever cancelling Santa. Screw Santa, I want to walk around spooky haunted houses, seeing everyone dressed up and running on a sugar high.
I understand the dangers with the downed powerlines and no power. I would be lying if I said that this doesn’t bother me, especially since we hand made a costume this year for the little one to enjoy. (Minecraft Creeper, can you see what game we enjoy yet?) The excitement of school cancellation gets diminished by the thought of not being able to experience the holiday as intended. Just eating the candy isn’t as fun as the work getting it.
End note: As a result of the storm, this is posted on my phone. Apologies for any errors.