Trunk or Treat!

[illusion88]

I live in a reasonably nice suburb of Salt Lake City. Sandy, Utah. It's a bit older, I believe me and my roommates are the youngest people on the street by a few decades.

You would expect a neighborhood like this to be crawling with children on Halloween. This place would have been a gold mine when I was a kid. A bunch of recently retired rich people? Hell yeah, I would do a few laps on this block.

When I was a child, we would do one lap with our parents and then be cut loose to trick or treat as we pleased. We would hit up several different neighborhoods and come back with several bags of candy. Good times.

Kids don't get to do that these days. In Salt Lake City they go "trunk or treating". People congregate in church parking lots and kids go from car to car getting candy out the trunk. This doesn't sound nearly as fun. Is it so dangerous that you can't let your kids run free on Halloween? I feel safe enough in my neighborhood I rarely lock my door and usually leave my car unlocked at night.

The "Trunk or Treat" might be SLC specific but I know other cities do similar things. Lame.

Heh, if I told a kid that I had "candy in my trunk" I would probably end up on Dateline or something.

 

[her209]

Just Kidding

 

[Codewiz]

Bringing this thread back to life.

My first child was born last year so this is going to be my first halloween as a parent. I started noticing "trunk or treat" events and I had no clue WTF they were. Now I find out and I am just dumbfounded. This is just another example of helicopter parenting gone even further.

Kids can't even go around their neighborhood trick or treating anymore because it is too dangerous? Absolutely retarded.....

 

[krylon]

And I thought this was going to be a thread about A2M.

0/10

 

[illusion88]

I'm not even buying candy this year as I know there won't be any kids trick or treating. Weak.

 

[PottedMeat]

one theory: the people that set this up are pedos. they are trying to get kids used to getting free candy out of stranger's trunks.

'trunk or treat' is idiocy. if they're not even going house to house just take them to those candy bins in the supermarket.

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: illusion88
I'm not even buying candy this year as I know there won't be any kids trick or treating. Weak.

This is why you should buy the candy you like to eat.

 

[Epic Fail]

100% Safe

 

[Red Squirrel]

Haha this brings back memories of going out to get candy. I used to always do a big section of my neighboorhood, then my parents would drive me up to one of the very rich ones for a last round. Back then we had to check candy, but needles, poisons etc was more or less an urban legend. It never really happened, but it was just something to check for "just in case". But with the way this world has gone crazy it probably happens regularly now. :/

I still say it's safe, just have to be very careful and inspect each individual candy before consuming. Anything suspicious is to be thrown out.

 

[destrekor]

fuck parents like that. While my neighborhood back home is hardly suburban life, it's no inner city neighborhood either.
Problems have always been centered around problem children. Sadly, the neighborhood has quite a few more unruly kids then it used to. The parenting is shit, I grew up with these days (they are actually a few years younger than I am) and they think they are thugs. It certainly isn't a definitive thug-producing neighborhood, but parents let their kids turn into pieces of shit so easily. It's upsetting to see parenting like that. My parents had no problems keeping us in line.
We had friends who were definitely inner-city style, but at that time it was the early 90s culture hitting hard, the start of the hard-life thug culture popularized by Biggie, 2pac (Tupac), WTC, and the like. But they were really normal who they themselves just happened to hang around the wrong types. It didn't influence us at all. We kept it classy.

But seriously. Even with the kids thinking they are shit, and people coming around checking for unlocked cars (the one night my parents left their suv unlocked, the gps got jacked), nothing would stop me from sending future kids through that neighborhood for trick or treating. All depends on the age too. Super young, of course you walk around with them. Once they get a little older, let them go all on their own with their friends or siblings.
We walked all over our neighborhood all by ourselves, even my sister when she was young. Walked to the park, to the carryout, to friends. Or rode our bikes even further away, sometimes of course without the parents knowing.

And I'd fully expect the same thing from my kids. All I'm going to do is lay down the rules, expect straight talk and to give them trust until they lose that privilege, and just have mutual respect. Worked with us, we conned them when it was possible, like typical children do. But I respect them, love them to death, and will definitely model my parenting style on how I was raised. It gave me room to breath as long as we weren't unruly, and then we got our asses whooped. There were times (not at the specific time though) that I wish I had been whooped more or not able to talk my way out of things (i was crafty as hell with words ), and I'll keep that in mind for my potential future kids, especially if he's anything like me.

Oddly enough, I realized I just discussed to no end the exact opposite of the point of this thread.
helicopter parenting... when I was talking about parents who are terrible about even doing their job. :laugh:

But seriously, depending on the neighborhood of course, my kids will have that chance to have room to be themselves on their own.

As a kid, you cannot come into your own until you've been allowed the room to fail. It sucks, but no kid is prepared for life and well-rounded unless they've had the opportunity to try their own methods and lifestyle choices, and experience the ultimate end result. You just have to be there to make them understand the ultimate ultimate failures that'll result from continued lifestyle choices, while giving them room to get a taste of it and hope they understand your guidance in the end. Unless you want your kid living in your house 24/7 and you rule their life, they are going to experience failure. Parents just need to realize a kid won't be prepared for a terrible world when you prevent every little risk from being experienced.

While that doesn't work with say, letting a kid roam around free until they get picked up by some rapist, you have to weigh the odds of certain risks. Hell, a parent can be an insane helicopter parent, and just turn their focus from a kid for 10 seconds and something bad happens.

segue segue segue, yay.
i'm done now.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: krylon
And I thought this was going to be a thread about A2M.

0/10

:laugh:

 

[xanis]

I weep for today's young kids. No real trick-or-treating? What the hell is this shit?

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Xanis
I weep for today's young kids. No real trick-or-treating? What the hell is this shit?

Yea, it pisses me off every time I think of it. I get irritated having kids come to my door also, but that's what it's about; not some sanitized "safe" gathering in a church parking lot. That's about as far as you can possibly get from the spirit of Halloween.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

My neighborhood kids go door to door and it's busy. Lots of kids. My sister lives in a wealthy area, nice houses, safe streets, etc and they do the trunk method. Everybody sets up in the school parking lot, the kids make a lap of the cars and then everyone goes home. That seems wrong to me. I grew up doing it door to door and it was Darwinian. The kids with the most speed and stamina got the most candy, the weak ones got the least. Just how nature intended.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: Xanis
I weep for today's young kids. No real trick-or-treating? What the hell is this shit?

Yea, it pisses me off every time I think of it. I get irritated having kids come to my door also, but that's what it's about; not some sanitized "safe" gathering in a church parking lot. That's about as far as you can possibly get from the spirit of Halloween.

Seriously. I couldn't agree more.

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
I grew up doing it door to door and it was Darwinian. The kids with the most speed and stamina got the most candy, the weak ones got the least. Just how nature intended.

:thumbsup: There was none of this silly trunk shit when I was a kid. Every kid for himself, may the best kid get all the damn candy.

 

[keird]

Ether Bunny

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: Xanis

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
I grew up doing it door to door and it was Darwinian. The kids with the most speed and stamina got the most candy, the weak ones got the least. Just how nature intended.

:thumbsup: There was none of this silly trunk shit when I was a kid. Every kid for himself, may the best kid get all the damn candy.

I remember grabbing two pillow cases and hitting up 3 neighborhoods always. If I was quick enough, this old couple always gave out King-sized bars, not those tiny Halloween sized bars. It was awesome.

 

[Uhtrinity]

It's a Mormon thing, frankly I think it takes the fun out of Halloween. We are far enough from Salt Lake, though still in a Mormon dominated city, that my son can still do traditional trick or treating.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
It's a Mormon thing, frankly I think it takes the fun out of Halloween. We are far enough from Salt Lake, though still in a Mormon dominated city, that my son can still do traditional trick or treating.

I am in the south so it isn't just a mormon thing. I see churches all over mentioning their trunk or tricking event.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
It's a Mormon thing, frankly I think it takes the fun out of Halloween. We are far enough from Salt Lake, though still in a Mormon dominated city, that my son can still do traditional trick or treating.

I am in the south so it isn't just a mormon thing. I see churches all over mentioning their trunk or tricking event.

It would be more accurate to say it's a fundi thing I think. It's popular with the more hardcore churches of all types.

 

[Queasy]

My church has a Trunk or Treat event this Sunday. I just look at it as a fun way for everyone to get together and another excuse for the kids to wear their costumes. By having it this Sunday, the kids can still go trick or treating on Halloween night. Don't understand what the big deal is. <shrug>

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Queasy
My church has a Trunk or Treat event this Sunday. I just look at it as a fun way for everyone to get together and another excuse for the kids to wear their costumes. By having it this Sunday, the kids can still go trick or treating on Halloween night. Don't understand what the big deal is. <shrug>

As an addition to trick or treating it's acceptable. More Halloween is always better :^) I have a problem with it when it replaces trick or treating.

 

[IronWing]

Would make things rather convenient for Devil Night.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
It's a Mormon thing, frankly I think it takes the fun out of Halloween. We are far enough from Salt Lake, though still in a Mormon dominated city, that my son can still do traditional trick or treating.

I am in the south so it isn't just a mormon thing. I see churches all over mentioning their trunk or tricking event.

It would be more accurate to say it's a fundi thing I think. It's popular with the more hardcore churches of all types.

I think it might have started that way but the only reason I looked it up was because my realtor sent me an email inviting me to his real estate agencies Trunk or Treat event.

So I think it is moving out of the fundie movement into the mainstream and that makes me sad.

If enough people do it then trick or treating will disappear with all the super paranoid parents around these days.

 

[FoBoT]

we do both, Trunk or Treat at church on one night, Trunk or Treat at school on another night and then normal door to door trick/treat on halloweenie night

more is better