trick or treating better in the past or present?

[One Eye'd Jack]

Thanks for the links Cadaverino. All I remember from back then was all the'hype', nothing ever really happened that I knew of.

There was, however, this episode of 'The Mod Squad' (I absolutely loved TMS and I've been watching diligently for it to be released on DVD! FOR YEARS!!!!! ) ...anyway, there was this Halloween episode where this new teacher, an elderly woman was teaching some kind of introdutory <deleted> education class and the parents weren't too sure they liked that. The daughter of one of these parents, thought if she stuck a razor blade into the apple the teacher gave to the TOTer's, everyone would get made and fire the old lady.
Well, it ended up a lot worse then she had planned for the entire neighborhood became this fierce, blood-thirsty mod and went to the old ladies house with torches and signs and they were going to hang the old woman (and her cat) and burn her house down. A REAL Halloween story!!!
Well, Pete, Link and Julie came to the rescue, the little girl confessed and all was right in the groovy world....... "solid!"

The 60's! Pffff What a bunch of freaks!

MOD SQUAD!!!!
MOD SQUAD!!!!
MOD SQUAD!!!!

[Cadaverino]

the entire neighborhood became this fierce, blood-thirsty mod

Is that why they called it The Mod Squad?

[One Eye'd Jack]

Hahahaha.... No way! *laughing at myself* I meant MOB!

And you know that..... that's why it's funny!

And you know what my rules of life are....
Always be true to yourself
Never harm yourself or others (unless they're going to harm you first)
Don't care about what negative people think about you.
And never pass up an opprotunity to be funny!

[Pumpkin_Man]

Let's face it. Now a days, some communities have an all-out ban on ToT, the town I live in has a very strict time limit, and people are more and more afraid to let their kids go door to door, and a lot of people don't want to open their doors. Compared to the way it was when I was a kid, it's pretty much a dieing tradition.

I use to TOT with my friends until after 10:00 at night, and I would often start right after I got home from school. Earlier if Halloween was on a Saturday or Sunday. The bags of candy I would bring home would last into mid December, and thats with giving a lot of it away.

I love giving out the candy as an adult, every bit as much as I loved getting it when I was a kid. Too bad I only get a 4 hour time slot to do that.

Mike

[Andybev01]

Lucky for me I never ate the fruit (yechh) and pixie-stix were dead last on my candy list.

Yup, the delirious fun had resulting from zero parental oversight, no curfew and no-holds-barred sugar consumtion beats te pants off of 'healthy' snacks, and the prison camp style of those obsessively structured 'trick or treating' evets.

Let 'em run wild, it would do todays little rug-rats good to break a few rules and take a rick now and then.

WOW, I was just channeling the spirit of my grumpy old man.

(still though, todays kids appear to be on the slippery slope toward 1984...)

[Pumpkin_Man]

We are on the verge of "1984," no doubt abut it. And it's not just Halloween, but all kinds of other traditions that are being trashed to make way for what some people like to call "progress.'

My nephew bought a concominium a few years back. Since he moved in, the Condominium association of his building voted in all of the following rules.

No charcole grills allowed. Gas only
Only artificial Christmas trees allowed, no real ones.
No outdoor decorations except for those that are voted on and approved by the association.
No pets. (He had to get rid of his cat and dog, both animals beloved byh is children)

My nephew can't stand the place any more, and one of the guys serving on the Condo association is a real jerk about enforcing those rules, too. He even pounded on my nephews frond door and yelled at him about some of the drawings his children did that he taped up to the windows.

I wish he would get rid of that crappy condo and move down to my town. I'm sorry. I know that lots of people live in condos or town homes and love them, but I would rather have to have my apendix taken out then live in a condominium or a town home.

Mike

[JRGaines]

The Name of that Mod Squad Halloween Episode where the people are trying to victimize a teacher, and destroy her home because they thought she had put a razor blade in an apple was...,

"A is for Annie" Season 3 Episode 56' I remember it myself some 35 or so years ago,
and I only saw that particular program one time!

The Episode is about a female teacher who's views on <deleted> and abortion clashed with the
views of the people in her surrounding environment which led to violence and false
accusations during the Halloween season.

That's for you One eyed Jack. I don't know if you can buy season 3 of the
"Mod Squad" Over the internet yet..,but I'll keep looking!

[Undertaker]

Again, I am old school and have good memories as a kid T and T! The past for me!

[ramaries69]

Def, the past! It seems to me, as if, there were, less malicious intent, then.

Nowadays, you have to steer clear of predators, of every kind, check your candy, ect.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Well I have to say, hands down, it was 10000000 times better back in 'the day' then it is today. I can remember ToTing to all hours of the night and bringing home a huge bag of treats that would often last through a good part of November. There were also great parties, and the fear was not there. Now a days, there are time limits, some communities have banned it completely, and a lot of 'new fangled' "traidtions" like "trick or trunk" have taken over.

All I can say is there will allways be ToT candy for anyone who comes to my door in a costume on Halloween and yells "Trick or Treat." But I am often very gratful that I am not a kid today.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I adored TOT as a kid, but my own children have experienced far more elaborate Halloweens than I ever did. When I was growing up in the '60s in Mississippi, no one decorated their houses, and seeing even one jack-o-lantern on Halloween night was cause for commentary. There were years when I never, ever saw one for real. OTOH, my own kids have had the extreme good fortune to TOT in neighborhoods where every single house decorated OTT, pumpkins were elaborately carved and everywhere. It has been quite obvious to me that people my age and younger had loved Halloween as children and refused to give it up as adults, translating their love of the holiday into elaborate home haunts.

I have never heard of these curfews you all are talking about in other parts of the country. I hope that never happens where I live. I do think there is an informal understanding that young kids will be done by 8-ish, and older ones by 9-ish. Although my husband and I haven't been to a costume party in years, I have always felt that the street masquerade ends in time for older people to have a party if they wish.

Our church is doing trunk-or-treat on the Weds. before Halloween. Since Weds. is a night when many people are in church anyway, that works out well. On years when Halloween has fallen on Weds., I have not gone to church.

[Pumpkin56]

I adored TOT as a kid, but my own children have experienced far more elaborate Halloweens than I ever did. When I was growing up in the '60s in Mississippi, no one decorated their houses, and seeing even one jack-o-lantern on Halloween night was cause for commentary. There were years when I never, ever saw one for real. OTOH, my own kids have had the extreme good fortune to TOT in neighborhoods where every single house decorated OTT, pumpkins were elaborately carved and everywhere. It has been quite obvious to me that people my age and younger had loved Halloween as children and refused to give it up as adults, translating their love of the holiday into elaborate home haunts.

I have never heard of these curfews you all are talking about in other parts of the country. I hope that never happens where I live. I do think there is an informal understanding that young kids will be done by 8-ish, and older ones by 9-ish. Although my husband and I haven't been to a costume party in years, I have always felt that the street masquerade ends in time for older people to have a party if they wish.

Our church is doing trunk-or-treat on the Weds. before Halloween. Since Weds. is a night when many people are in church anyway, that works out well. On years when Halloween has fallen on Weds., I have not gone to church.

If you don't mind my asking, Murf, where in MS did you grow up? My sister went to school in Hattiesburg and we've been around the state a few times

TOTing was definitely better when I was younger. It didn't seem so structured. I remember being given the option to wear a costume to school if Halloween happened to fall on a school day and we always made Halloween projects in art class and had Halloween class parties. My niece isn't in school yet and I am very curious to see how the holiday is treated once she does get there (especially since she will more than likely be attending the same elementary school that I did). I am known in my family as the Halloween keeper so I have every intention of making sure that she is well versed in what Halloween is all about and all the classic traditions that go with it. If I ever catch her TOTing in a mall, I think my head will explode!

[Murfreesboro]

I am from Jackson, Pumpkin. I do recall wearing a Halloween costume to school during first or second grade and parading around the school in it, so there was acknowledgement of Halloween when I was a child. But my mother had never TOTed as a child, so I suppose many other parents hadn't, either. That custom didn't even show up in the US before the 1930s, and didn't become commonplace until after WWII. So it is actually a very recent phenomenon. Parents during my childhood weren't "into" it, because they had never done it. It was newfangled to them.

When my own kids were in grade school here in TN, they had a "book parade" every year on or near Halloween. This was to appease those parents who disapproved of Halloween, and to give it a veneer of educational significance. Every child who participated was required to carry the book in which their character appeared. However, they were very liberal in their enforcement. My own daughter twice went as a witch and carried a Harry Potter book, but she never attempted to look like the HP characters. Once she dressed as Juliet and carried Charles Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. I saw little boys dressed as Spiderman and carrying a comic book.

My kids' grade school also taught Spanish throughout the grades, and during October they would teach the kids about the Mexican Day of the Dead. One or two parents raised a fuss about that, because they thought it was Satanic or something. Their kids were dismissed from class during those lessons, but the lessons went on.

[Pumpkin56]

I am from Jackson, Pumpkin. I do recall wearing a Halloween costume to school during first or second grade and parading around the school in it, so there was acknowledgement of Halloween when I was a child. But my mother had never TOTed as a child, so I suppose many other parents hadn't, either. That custom didn't even show up in the US before the 1930s, and didn't become commonplace until after WWII. So it is actually a very recent phenomenon. Parents during my childhood weren't "into" it, because they had never done it. It was newfangled to them.

When my own kids were in grade school here in TN, they had a "book parade" every year on or near Halloween. This was to appease those parents who disapproved of Halloween, and to give it a veneer of educational significance. Every child who participated was required to carry the book in which their character appeared. However, they were very liberal in their enforcement. My own daughter twice went as a witch and carried a Harry Potter book, but she never attempted to look like the HP characters. Once she dressed as Juliet and carried Charles Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. I saw little boys dressed as Spiderman and carrying a comic book.

My kids' grade school also taught Spanish throughout the grades, and during October they would teach the kids about the Mexican Day of the Dead. One or two parents raised a fuss about that, because they thought it was Satanic or something. Their kids were dismissed from class during those lessons, but the lessons went on.

Grr people frustrate me. Since when is it a bad thing to be educated about other cultures?! I wish that I had been taught that in grade school! What I know of the celebration came from the internet and my friend from Mexico.

[Pumpkin_Man]

When I was a kid, ToT was virtualy unlimited. Both the public and Catholic schools celebrated with parties, jack o'lanterns and costimes. There was no 'political correctness,' and no fear of perverts to suck all the fun out of it. Murf does have a point about there being more Halloween displays and decorations put up in October. Infact, I woudl go as far as to say that many of the Halloween displays I have seen can easily rival, and even out shine many Christmas displays that I've seen. But the bad news is, many parents are too afraid to let their kids ToT to stranger's houses any more, and because of all the fear mongering that's been going on over the past 20 years or so, a lot of communities have put time limits on ToT, and some have even out right banned it.

By the way, when I was a kid, every house in my neighborhood had jack o'lanterns and Halloween decoratins up. They were nothing as compared to what you see today, but it was a very much loved and observed holiday where I grew up.

Mike