Mommy Moments
Ghostbusting
By Melanie Lewis
Halloween is a holiday that generally ranks highly amongst kids. They love the candy and excitement above all else. It’s become such an event that the holiday now ranks 4th in expenditures for all holidays. Lights, costumes and treats can add up quickly. And if you’re not careful, you’ll have to hire your own team of private ghostbusters to chase the “boogyman” out of your child’s room.
The costume contest has become extremely competitive. Theatrical works of art in store-bought and homemade varieties can be fun projects to pursue. So here’s my advice to parents of infants and toddlers…pace yourself. It’s tempting to run out and buy the cutest costume de jour. Just knowing from experience, it’s worn about once. It might likely never be worn depending on the temperament of your child to withstand the elastic scratchy confining parts. If possible, get a second-hand one.
Here are just a few more tips I’ve found to make it more enjoyable.
It seemed best to have a dress rehearsal inside our house. I went into a room with a door and told them to yell, “Trick or Treat”. I would open the door and prompt them for the next thing to say, along with a big “thank you” after I handed them a little bag of crackers. This is great practice for their manners and saying “thank you” to people in general.
Wear the costume around in small time increments, so they can get used to them. It’s a lot to expect that they’re going to enjoy the whole costume-wearing event at first sight. It can be extremely frustrating if you think it’s going to work for a great picture or race around the neighborhood. To avoid a big meltdown, I had the kids wear their costume to music class on one occasion. The second occasion was an afternoon kiddie parade at the mall. It wasn’t until they were in preschool that we attempted going out, door to door in our neighborhood. And for that introduction, it was for about 15 minutes. We were out and back in before it got dark. And then we handed out candy to the other kids that came to the door.
The little goblins can get quite frightened by the noises, sights and scary stories. I strongly urge avoiding any reference to “the boogyman” or ghosts or such aberrations that visit at night. These little demons create nightmares. You will be hiring your own “ghostbusters” to chase away these sleep stealers. We’ve had to thoroughly examine the closet and under the bed and get rid of any vestige of suspicious activity with a flashlight and yardstick on several occasions following Halloween. This delayed our peace and quite a hefty 10-15 minutes for weeks.
Creating the jack-o-lantern is my favorite part of Halloween. Selecting the best pumpkin is a prelude to selecting the best Christmas tree. It’s got to be “just right” to carve your creation. It’s amazing to see the transformation of an inanimate vegetable to a fascinating luminary.
As the kids get older, I’ll be amassing more Halloween wisdom. Feel free to share your tips for the upper elementary ages and ‘tweens. Have a safe and Happy Halloween. – Melanie