Halloween is almost here and what fun this one day brings. Children get the opportunity to dress up and enjoy parties at school and then race through their neighbourhoods/towns in an effort to fill pillowcases and Halloween bags with treats that will last throughout the year. As a child, Halloween was one of those fun days I always looked forward to. My mum was masterful at pulling together costumes that would be sure to place us in the running at the school contests.
In our day, homemade was the way to go. From memory, there were no store bought costumes that came complete with every thread that made the costume picture perfect. Rather, we had to dig through boxes in the attic, use our imagination and pull together costumes that took work and effort on all parts.
I remember the year my sister and her friend went dressed as Charlie Brown and Linus. Their costumes were pulled together with the help of two creative mothers and some great papier mâché heads that resembled the characters in a most incredible way. I once dressed as a female RCMP officer complete with the perfect yellow-striped pants and a crisp red coat. It was a great costume. Needless to say, pulling our costumes together was fun and challenging.
As a mother of three I still enjoy Halloween and helping my children pull together creative costumes. We prefer to create and make rather than buy a costume in a bag.
I'm challenged by Halloween costumes that I see in the stores. Actually, challenged isn't the right word. I'm disgusted. Why? Because there is a lot of conversation surrounding the over sexualization of our children right now, through advertising and television shows, music videos, etc. Soft porn seems to be dominating and as a society we are becoming desensitized. Girls and boys are being objectified and it appears that our value system is shifting.
How do Halloween and the costumes fit into this equation? Well, when a costume called "Naughty Nurse" or "Racy Red Riding Hood" or "The Pimp" comes in Size 5 to accommodate a child in kindergarten, I see a problem. It just isn't right.
Surely Halloween should be about children dressing up in age-appropriate costumes. What happened to dressing up as a fireman or the tasteful pretty princess or the respectful nurse? What about dressing up as a cat or even a pumpkin? Is there a reason to dress children in a way that compromises their childhood?
Maybe I'm alone in thinking this. Whatever the case, I think we need to remember that growing up too fast isn't necessary, that children deserve their innocence to be protected and given to them.
I, for one, am so excited about my children's costumes this year. Thus far we have had to make our own Red Riding Hood cape because the only ones we could find in the store were for "Racy Red Riding Hood" and my 13-year-old found those costumes to be revealing and distasteful. My 10-year-old is going as a '70s disco guy (very funny) and my six-year-old as a chocolate chip cookie. All of these costumes have taken time to develop and create and as I read yesterday, "the most expensive gift you can give kids is your time."
I'm so glad we have spent this time together and I can't wait to take photos as they head off to school on Friday for their Halloween parties.
Enjoy your Halloween.
Susan J Sohn
susanjsohn.com/thefamily
[email protected]
