Feel like I screwed up Halloween for my kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our county sent emails asking people not to ToT. Most everyone realized how stupid that was. It’s an outside activity that is easy to make precautions. Wear a mask, only go with your family, and don’t knock on doors. Every, and I mean EVERY, house had a table or bowl set up at the end of driveways. It was a ton fun. I am no COVID denier, quiet the opposite, thankfully most people used common sense on this one.

+1

+ 1. My kids are old enough to remember last Halloween and staying home and baking cupcakes, or whatever, wasn’t going to cut it. All activities have risk but this one we could do with very little risk and big mental payout for the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our county sent emails asking people not to ToT. Most everyone realized how stupid that was. It’s an outside activity that is easy to make precautions. Wear a mask, only go with your family, and don’t knock on doors. Every, and I mean EVERY, house had a table or bowl set up at the end of driveways. It was a ton fun. I am no COVID denier, quiet the opposite, thankfully most people used common sense on this one.

+1

+ 1. My kids are old enough to remember last Halloween and staying home and baking cupcakes, or whatever, wasn’t going to cut it. All activities have risk but this one we could do with very little risk and big mental payout for the kids.

+2

[Anonymous]

My kids are older so I could have hid in a dark house and not participated. Instead, I set up a table at the end of my driveway wearing a mask and gloves ( it was cold). I placed all candy in the kid’s bags and feel my actions were safe. This one holiday encourages masks and is outside. Is riding a bike safer? What about a hike? Are the complainers the same people who are all over the travel forum wondering where they should visit for Christmas vacation? Please look at the individual situation.

[Anonymous]

No one is complaining. This is clearly not a right/wrong situation here. Everyone does what they think is best.

Anonymous wrote:My kids are older so I could have hid in a dark house and not participated. Instead, I set up a table at the end of my driveway wearing a mask and gloves ( it was cold). I placed all candy in the kid’s bags and feel my actions were safe. This one holiday encourages masks and is outside. Is riding a bike safer? What about a hike? Are the complainers the same n people who are all over the travel forum wondering where they should visit for Christmas vacation? Please look at the individual situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You didn’t use common sense. Masks, distance, outdoors = FINE.

People will scare you into anything, but we must hold on to our logic.

This. Sorry OP. There was one family in our neighborhood who did go out either. I felt terrible when I saw one of their kids watching out the window.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You didn’t use common sense. Masks, distance, outdoors = FINE.

People will scare you into anything, but we must hold on to our logic.

I agree with this, except I would say low risk rather than fine - but OP - we all make parenting mistakes. My mom always says - and the kids give you plenty of opportunities to correct your mistakes and make it up. I agree with that. In the scheme of things your decision won’t be a huge deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Except if everyone thought masks, distance, outdoors = fine, then it would have been crowded in a lot of neighborhoods, social distancing would not be possible, and it wouldn't be fine at all.

Depends on your neighborhood. My neighborhood is low crowds even before coronavirus so I had no concerns about crowds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except if everyone thought masks, distance, outdoors = fine, then it would have been crowded in a lot of neighborhoods, social distancing would not be possible, and it wouldn't be fine at all.

+1

Wrong. Because they’d be wearing masks and they WORK. Masks work. 🙄

Masks help, but they don't always work or we wouldn't be increasing numbers so quickly.

The closest comparison we have to crowded outdoor ToT & masks would be the outdoor protests and all signs point to low spread at the protests I believe.

[Anonymous]

Not crowded in our neighborhood but I would say 40% of houses had candy out on a table, and usually a parent to monitor from a distance and to say happy Halloween

Was a gigantic haul for the kids and very efficient, and never came close to anyone

[Anonymous]

Trick or treating in my neighborhood involved running to tables and bowls safely outside people’s homes. I had a feeling people would have enough sense to do this—and they did.

That said I’m sure they’ll love Halloween even more next year. Kids make it through worse all over the world.

[Anonymous]

It's Halloween, not the end of the world. My kid didn't go trick or treating, both because of COVID and a broken ankle (too much trouble on crutches regardless). We watched a movie together and I let him eat junk food. It wasn't ideal, but not a big deal either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except if everyone thought masks, distance, outdoors = fine, then it would have been crowded in a lot of neighborhoods, social distancing would not be possible, and it wouldn't be fine at all.

+1

Wrong. Because they’d be wearing masks and they WORK. Masks work. 🙄

+1. Masks work. Masks + distancing + outdoors is very safe. When people refuse to recognize there are safe ways of interacting, it doesn't make people stay in -- it makes people throw up their hands and say "F it." Especially when the narrative that nothing is safe doesn't match their lived experience, eg, knowing no one with covid symptoms.

- somebody who trusts science and takes covid seriously

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except if everyone thought masks, distance, outdoors = fine, then it would have been crowded in a lot of neighborhoods, social distancing would not be possible, and it wouldn't be fine at all.

+1

Wrong. Because they’d be wearing masks and they WORK. Masks work. 🙄

Masks help, but they don't always work or we wouldn't be increasing numbers so quickly.

It's true that no single measure works 100% -- that's true of everything, including seat belts. But our numbers are going up because people aren't wearing masks. They are eating at restaurants, removing masks on airplanes, chatting unmasked with less distance than they should, or just flat out refusing to wear them at all.

[Anonymous]

The people in my neighborhood (who are better at parenting than I am) put together a whole party for the kids. Parade around the block with marks on the sidewalk for safely queueing at the beginning. Tables at the end of every driveway with separate bags of candy and marks on the sidewalk for queueing. Masks on everyone. Giant movie screen in the middle of the street with marks on the street for safe seating. It was super impressive and I never got within 10 feet of anyone. The kids thought it was their favorite Halloween ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The past 7+ months I've heard the phrase "our kids have already lost so much" countless times. And, my friends, I'm over it. It's a bit pathetic, in my opinion, that as adults we are perpetuating the victim mentality for our kids instead of teaching them the art of grit and pivoting in unexpected or challenging times. Using a current issue as an example, are kids really going to "suffer" if they don't trick or treat? No. Only if WE (the adults) model a "loss" mindset. What if, instead, families looked at it as a way to plan a really fun evening? Maybe doing a family art project, bobbing for apples in mixing bowls, packaging up sweet treats to door drop for neighbors, creating a spooky themed meal together. I assure you, if WE (the adults) started finding the OPPORTUNITY instead of inflating the perceived losses, we may actually find that we have opportunities to create lasting memories for our children. They'll remember that year they had a SPECIAL Halloween instead of trick or treating like every other year. Shift your OWN perspective so we can look back at this time and remember how much our kids (and ourselves) LEARNED during the pandemic, not lost.

My aunt posted this recently, and I mostly agree. People acting devastated that their kids can't do what they do in normal years is overly dramatic - if you have a good attitude, the kids won't think it's a big deal. Shield them from seeing social media postings of kids going out trick or treating, and do fun things at home. We had a "candy hunt" yesterday - Dh and I hid 40 pieces of candy around the house and let our 4 kids go nuts finding them. That was right before lunch. Then they could eat candy after lunch while we roasted pumpkin seeds. No, it wasn't as exciting as going out to different houses and seeing everyones costumes, but everything is a bit different this year. And that's okay - we're staying safe and keeping others safe by staying home.

The point you're missing is people are saying kids have lost so much because the kids have eyes and can see that adults, if they so choose, have gotten back to life. They go to restaurants and bars, go shopping in stores, go to parties at houses, etc. But the kids can be controlled, and so people place all their anxiety in controlling the one population that has no choice. There was nothing unsafe about trick or treating. The people that forced their kids to watch other kids outside from the window need to get their anxiety in check.