This month, many parents will take their costumed children to parking lots across the Hudson Valley to collect candy. What if I told you this was a terrible mistake?
If you have a kid, you're already familiar with the concept of a trunk or treat. For those of you who aren't, let me get you up to speed. Children dressed in their Halloween costumes gather in a parking lot where cars are parked with their trunks open. The vehicles, sometimes elaborately decorated, are filled with candy. Instead of going door to door, the kids simply walk from car to car and fill up their buckets with treats.
It's unclear who invented the trunk or treat, but I can imagine it went something like this: Parents were complaining to each other about what a hassle it was to drag their kids from door to door on Halloween and someone said, "Instead of walking around a neighborhood, what if we just corral the kids in a parking lot, give them some candy and drive home?" Applause erupted, the person was hoisted on the shoulders of the other parents and a statue was erected in their honor at the local wine bar.
Aside from being a convenience for parents, fans of trunk or treats give many reasons for why they prefer them to traditional trick-or-treating. Many cite safety concerns, saying that they feel better getting candy from people they know instead of strangers. They also worry about bringing their children to strangers' homes and walking through dark neighborhoods at night.
These parents don't realize that they're not actually keeping their kids safer. Even worse, they're destroying Halloween for future generations.
In reality, a trunk or treat isn't less dangerous than traditional trick or treating. In fact, it's more dangerous. Young children being escorted by a parent door-to-door are much safer than a group of unsupervised kids let loose in a parking lot. The false sense of security parents feel at an organized trunk or treat can lead to far more injuries (or worse) than supervised trick-or-treating.
And if "stranger danger" is your fear, statistics clearly show that your child is exponentially more likely to be targeted by someone they know than a neighbor who is handing out Hershey bars at their door. It's a sad but true fact that letting your child run wild at an event hosted by church members or scout leaders has much more potential for danger than taking them from door to door.
Talk to any long-time Hudson Valley homeowner and they will tell you that the number of trick-or-treaters has plummeted over the past years. Streets that used to be filled with costumed kids are now empty. Where did they go? They're at the baseball field getting a Snickers bar out of the back of a Honda Civic.
Halloween used to be a time when neighborhoods would come together. Parents would get to visit people on their street they didn't often talk to and kids would have the opportunity to learn who their trusted neighbors were. If an emergency arises or a child needs the assistance of an adult, it's good to personally know a few of them who live nearby.
Lazy parents who insist on replacing the work of trick or treating with pulling Tootsie Rolls out of a glove compartment are doing their kids an injustice. One day, our sheltered kids will eventually have to go out in the real world on their own. If we don't take these opportunities to show them how to deal with strangers, stay safe and engage in conversations with people they don't know, they will never learn these skills.
I know there are a ton of excuses to not bring your kid trick-or-treating. But may I suggest finding a nice, walkable neighborhood somewhere near where you live, blocking out a couple of hours on October 31 and allowing your kid to make some incredible life-long memories while gaining important life skills? Childhood goes by way too fast. Don't let it disappear before your kids are too old to trick or treat.