Halloween classroom parties
As I read the Rocky Mountain News article in Wednesday, October 3rd’s paper, I felt so sorry for all the little kids that look forward to the tradition in the United States that has been going on for a very long time. That is, Halloween school parties. They include a classroom party and a parade their costumes. Once again, we seem to be giving in to the minority of people who don’t want to participate, or don’t like Halloween, or think it is a day of devil worshipping. Whatever. I have heard them all. I raised my children in Jefferson County Schools. We fought for Halloween school parties 20 years ago. And we won. The parents that did not want their kids to participate that day could keep their kids at home. And life and the pursuit of happiness went on for the rest of us. I am seriously disappointed in the principal Cindy Kaier. I am not surprised though. This issue has been around for a long time. I am writing this to defend Halloween. It is a fun day in which children get to dress up and be someone else. It is call imagination! And I thought that all parents and teachers want their kids to have imagination. We grow up all to soon.
And it does not take much to throw together hand me down clothes, or just add some make up on faces to create some imaginary person. It is sad to see a few people get away with taking our traditions of Halloween and Christmas. We can’t have Christmas party’s we have to have Winter party’s. Now we can’t have Halloween Party’s we have fall party’s.
Pretty soon there won’t be any traditions left in the United States. Next is Thanksgiving Day, Easter, the 4th of July. You know, not everyone who lives here celebrate those holiday’s either. Parents, stand up for your children. Halloween is a tradition in the United States. If you want your child to have a school Halloween Party, then let you voice be heard. There are many of you and few of them.
This letter has not been edited.
Well stated
Posted by jerry williams on October 19, 2007 02:10 PMWe should strive to develop children that would rather be themselves than imagining they are someone else.
How about this? Every parent that wants their schools to throw a party, has to pool their funds to buy costumes for all of the kids and snacks and party favors, and otherwise completely fund the party.
You can be heard, just put your money where your mouth is.
Posted by NovelConcept on October 19, 2007 02:37 PMNovel,
Part of childhood development is learning early on there are inequities, and learning how to cope with those situations. Not everything in life is fair, and sometimes on things like Halloween parties, that's okay.
Even assuming your scenario, who is to say one child doesn't show up with a costume that is the envy of the class? Should all of the kids where the same costumes too? For the kids lacking funds, can they not be resourceful and creative in developing a cheap costume? What a learning opportunity for them!
It's time to stop fostering an entitlement/victim mentality with this next generation. And it's also time to stop sterilizing their childhood experiences.
Posted by Dan on October 19, 2007 02:49 PMAmen!
and
Amen!
Posted by on October 19, 2007 03:07 PM"We should strive to develop children that would rather be themselves than imagining they are someone else..."
WHAT? You want them to be 6-year-olds their whole lives? What should they say when someone asks them what they want to be when they grow up? If they aren't allowed to imagine they are someone else, all they can say is "Bigger." Jeez.
Posted by Mac on October 19, 2007 03:15 PMA school is different than a neighborhood. Have your house parties. Just don't impose them on kids that are captive in schools, unless you're willing to pay for them. The last time I looked "Halloween" is neither a state nor federal holiday.
Where's the Festivus party?
No wonder kids are failing standardized testing by the time they get to High School. But they sure have great Halloween costumes!
Posted by NovelConcept on October 19, 2007 03:34 PMNovel,
I find it difficult to fathom that a couple of celebrations throughout the year is the reason kids are failing standardized testing. Do you have any data that correlates? You might also need a primer on the benefits of morale building.
Novel says, "A school is different than a neighborhood." --
By strict definition, yes, but often a community rallies around the activities of its schools.
Novel states, "The last time I looked 'Halloween' is neither a state nor federal holiday." --
So what? Since when do kids, teachers, and parents have to wait for the government to tell them when to have fun?
As I recall, "Field Day", Homecoming, and Prom are not government-sanctioned exercises-- should those be eliminated too? Since many teens can't afford prom dresses, dinners, etc., is it fair that these poor kids be excluded from prom? Does prom take away from valuable study time? What about teachers and administrators decorating the school gym, and chaperoning students, on taxpayer expense?
Using your reasoning for eliminating Halloween festivities, we should eliminate activities like Homecoming and Prom too.
Novel says, "But they sure have great Halloween costumes!" --
They used their creativity and resourcefulness to solve what is essentially a problem-solving exercise. Smart educators know how to take an opportunity like Halloween and use it for educational purposes-- not just ban it outright.
If someone is having fun, there is always that person in the room that wants to spoil it for everyone else. These people are usually described in the most kind of words as "liberal", "progressive", "democrat", or to be most fair "blowhard". It is extremely difficult for these kind of people to show any kind of humor in having fun, only denigration of others that do not fall into line with groupthink. Soon you will be instructing your children on how to wear a burqa or perhaps a wiccan headress.
Sorry,
Hillary
Posted by mike h on October 19, 2007 10:16 PMWho needs Holloween?
It's for the Wicca people. That's their day.
novel I agree that the schools are not the place for kids to explore or dream. kids need to sit there and be indoctrinated into what the liberal progressive teachers union says they should be. some schools are so far advanced in this area that there is no running on play grounds, tag is out also, and any competition is really really bad as some little kiddie may feel bad for not winning when they didnt try.
PLEASE LETS TAKE ALL THE FUN OUT OF KIDS LIVES. THEY DONT DESERVE THE FUN TIMES WE HAD IN SCHOOL.
OG - Do you have something to support your claim? I know there are fundalmenalists who would like to see holloween abolished, but those are fringe groups.
I'd like to know which specific fringe group you claim is pushing for this particular party ban. From what I've read, this has more to do with liberal PC'ness than anything else.
Maybe more people should have expressed their outrage when Christmas parties (a non religous celebration) where removed from the schools.
You didn't actually think the PC police would stop there, did you? And believe you me, they're aren't finished abolishing American traditions by any means.
Posted by KW on October 20, 2007 08:42 AMLet's just give up all the traditions and customs, way of life, freedoms and everything that is AMERICA. That's what is happening and if we want to keep the UNITED STATES we know and love, we better start fighting for it.
We are not Mexico, the Middle East, or any other country on earth. We are the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and we better start protecting it.
We are losing our traditions one by one, caving in to political correctness. To hell with all who do not like our ways, we will not become your country or cave in to your demands. If you are not happy with the way things are done here, go to wherever makes you happy.
Halloween has always been innocent fun for kids. Year after year the volumes of kids trick or treating has shrunk. When my parents, myself and my kids were little, Halloween trick-or-treating started at dusk and ended around 10:00, a steady stream of fun at the door, you never had a chance to sit down.
To hell with political correctness, caving in to some people's dislikes, If you don't like something, don't participate. That's the beauty of FREEDOM in this country.
Posted by c on October 20, 2007 09:02 AMNovel Concept-
"We should strive to develop children who would rather be themselves than imagining they are someone else".
That's the problem today. Kids have so much less imagination today than back when there were no Nintendos, computers, Ipods, gadget this and that. They expect to be entertained rather than inventing fun ways to entertain themselves.
Imagination was all they had back before electronics and the internet. Fantasy was fun. They created their own world. Sticks became majic wands, mom and dad's old clothes made you the queen or a pretend grown-up or anything you wanted to be. Kids kept themselves busy all day PRETENDING.
Halloween is a big part of that, fantasy and fun. We need more of that for our kids.
Posted by c on October 20, 2007 09:16 AMKW,
Don't you ever bother to read the ads in the RMN? Or the articles?
I guess not. And, apparently, you do not also surf the religious blogs, and pages, on the internet either. The local anti-everything show has been a fixture out at one of the "mega-frauds" for a number of years now. It has proved to be such good PR, they continuiously offer to set one up elsewhere, for any and all of the rest of the cult groups, as well - just be sure to cut the locals in on the take at the door.
Yes. They are "fringe groups", in one sense of the phrase. But, they are the most vocal of "fringes"; and they have the loudest, and most noisesome of the book-bangers supporting them as well. But then, when it comes to human education, thinking, progress, growth, welfare, and future, the whole Je$u$ Bu$ine$$ is nothing but a fringe of crackpots.
Unless, of course, you are a follower of such as Falwell, Kennedy, Pat Robertson, Dobson, Haggard, et. al, that is; and believe that one, or more, of them has his own private fax line - or phone number - to Heaven, on which "god" tells him everything about the world.
Posted by Old Grouch on October 20, 2007 10:45 AMHas everbody forgot that Halloweeen is a short form of the original holliday, All Saints Day,or Allhallows Eve. Look up hallow in the dictionary and you will find that it means--- to make holy or sacred, sanctify, consecrate.
Where is the harm done to children by that? Only in denying the wonderment, imagination and just plain fun they experience in a group event are they harmed.
It is absurd ignorance to think somehow such a fun time for kids will have a devastating effect on their school work or their future lives. You who agree to this nonsense of banning halloween are nothing more than zealots who want to raise your children to be zealots against anything you taught them was not supporting the personal preferences you indoctrinated into their young minds.
Posted by Allen Campbell on October 20, 2007 10:45 AMThe schools my kids have gone to all allow a party and they have a parade. But the school has stipulated that the kid's imaginations be restricted to non-violent themes which means no blood, guts, gore, or weapons. Nothing wrong with that.
My 8 year old goes to the neighbors who have decorated their house to the hilt with vampires, ghosts, mummies, and whatnot. He asks me why we don't do that too and I say "because the world has enough scary stuff in it without us adding to it". What's to celebrate about scaring people?
I've tried to teach my kids to look for the beauty and good in all situations and things and it's a challenge sometimes because in reality, the world IS a scary place and there is no denying it.
Family traditions are a personal thing. I don't think there is such a thing as an "American tradition" any more and I don't think that's bad.
By the way, my son IS dressing up for the party and parade and WILL be going out in the neighborhood to get as much candy as his bag will hold. He's going as a Boy Scout. He is proud to be one. I can hear the laughter all the way from Boulder. : )
Posted by TEW on October 20, 2007 11:54 AMDear Rosyln: I am sorry to inform you, but the real 'tradition' in America, is NOT in the development of childrens' imaginations, anymore. It is, in fact, the stifling and destroying of same. (think of all the little boys and girls - though, mostly boys) on Ritalin and other drugs to keep them from developing properly.
Good bye, Holloween, we hardly knew ye.
Allen: In case you aren't aware, the Christians took the original holiday from the pagans, in an effort to convert said pagans.
It's origins have nothing to do with the definition in the dictionary. It was a pagan holiday to honor the dead. True. Prior to the Christians, failing with their usual murdering and maiming techniques to convert others, decided to pacify the pagans by 'allowing' them to continue to celebrate thier holidays, but with the caveat that they were to claim them as 'Christian'.
Posted by Sheila on October 20, 2007 12:04 PMTEW doesn't think doing away with American traditions is a bad thing.
That is the problem with todays American hating libs who erase any form of U.S. history,tradition and the notion of American Exceptualism and replace it with a borderless,U.S. hating,we are the world, international socialist mentality.
LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!
Posted by on October 20, 2007 12:18 PM"Allen: In case you aren't aware, the Christians took the original holiday from the pagans, in an effort to convert said pagans..."
I really thought everybody knew that - and that most Christian holiays and traditions are borrowed from the pagans. I guess sometimes I overestimate.
Also, as much as I enjoy traditions, sometimes they die out. Oh freakin' well. It's not the end of the world.
Posted by Mac on October 20, 2007 12:57 PMAnonymous poster of 12:18:
FYI I am very conservative but not a fanatic. I fail to see where the concept of showing consideration to those with different beliefs makes a person unAmerican or unChristian. I love America. It is the country I was born in and my family has served to protect us.
Posted by TEW on October 20, 2007 01:02 PMChristians have fought against Holloween parties in school for years, you all who missed that, were you living in a cave somewhere?
Posted by Sharon B. on October 20, 2007 01:44 PMAllen, different people's perception of scary is their own business. If you wish to subject your kids to tv violence and "harmless" scary stuff, go for it. But don't tell me how to raise my kids!
My two oldest who are adults now, were raised with all the Halloween "fun". One even worked at a haunted house one year.
Over the years, things have changed. We are inundated with violence and I know for a fact that all children do not enjoy being scared even when they know it is not real.
Why can't EVERYBODY have some fun?
Allen, I didn't mean to leave your name in that quote - it was supposed to be generic not pointed at you.
Posted by Mac on October 20, 2007 03:27 PMSharon: Fill me in.
Are Christians behind the anti Christmas campaign also?
CAVE DWELLER
TEW, how did you come to the conclusion that I was trying to tell you how to raise your kids? Surely it was not my generic use of you the parents. By your own admission you make it clear you did not prevent your kids from enjoying the fun of halloween, so what's the problem? And your insinuation that I subjected my son and daughter to TV violence falls flat on it's face. My kids were raised in Northwest Alaska where, at that time, there was no television. Only a evangelical radio station own by one of the many missonary churches who decended on the perfectly sane and good spirited Eskimos with inane garbage they had no clue about trying to convert them to Chistianity when by nature they were more Christian than any of those idiot evangelicals.
Posted by Allen Campbell on October 20, 2007 07:00 PMCave Dweller, Christians made up the war on Christmas bunk. Just because we say "Happy Holidays" all season instead of Merry Christmas.
Christians have written letters to the newspapers for 30 years or so to get Holloween out of schools and prayer back in.
Welcome to the light troglodyte.
Posted by Sharon B. on October 20, 2007 07:13 PMSharon
Please clarify,
It is religious people behind the anti-Christmas movement and not the ACLU, Agnostics ,Atheists and obsessively politically correct people such as yourself?
CAVE DWELLER
Nope, cave dweller, there is no anti-Christmas movement.
There also is no Easter Bunny, or Tooth Fairy either.
some schools have dropped Christmas music and parties because they are"Religious" but they dropped Holloween because the Christians said it worships the devil. Which it does not.
In school, Christmas is a religious party, Holloween is not.
You can`t argue that Christmas celebration in school is anything but religious.
Posted by Sharon B. on October 21, 2007 12:11 AMAu contraire Sharron B, by your own words, it was originally a pagan celebration of life and was a ruling tenet of the people and that served as a guide to acceptable social behavior. As there was no organized government, it can arguabley be said it was a religious system lead by the high priests of the time. The Pagan system, if it can be called that, is always presented as some sort of nirvana like social existence when in truth, it was a society ruled by superstition that was, for all intents and purposes, esentiality a religion unto it's self.
Posted by Allen Campbell on October 21, 2007 05:50 AMSharon B - If there is no "anti-Christian" movement, why have the Christmas parties been removed from schools?
The problems you see now are stemming from this movement. What began as removing any mention of God or Jesus from the public spectrum has gone completely out of control. Liberal PC'ness has led these people to believe they have a right to eliminate another cultures customs. They claim the custom either offends or exposes inequality (God forbid) and poof, they create the need to eliminate it.
As I said to OG earlier, when you stand back and let the PC police take things away from one particular group, be prepared, for next they will come after something you care about.
And believe you me, they aren't finished yet.
Posted by KW on October 21, 2007 09:57 AMAllan the Christmas celebration has always been religious, even to the pagans. But Holloween went from All Hollows Eve to a party and decorate the house event, with kids looting candy from the neighbors. It is hardly a religious event if I dress up as a vampire.
KW, you know that prayer in schools is out. Those Christmas parties celebrated Jesus, not the Winter Solstice.
In life outside schools, where kids are a captive audience, Christmas is the same.
There is no Anti-Christmas movement, except in the public schools and KW you and all the other Christians who make this up each year, know this.
Pretty soon now businesses will put up those "Jesus is the reason for the season" signs. Wrong, Jesus is the reason for ONE day in December, not the whole holiday season. That is why it is called a season.
For those of you who have missed it, here is my list of places where you can put your Christmas slogans and nativity scenes:
Churches
Homes
Church property
Businesses
Cars
Jewelry
Clothing
Tattoos
Church schools
Phone book ads
And there are probably more
Where we would like your religious symbols removed:
Public schools
Public buildings
See the pattern?
I don`t even care if you all have religious floats in parades, but some people do.
Is this enough for you, or do you want the public places also.?
Posted by Sharon B. on October 21, 2007 01:43 PMAllen: yer mom's a witch???? Kewl.
Kisses!!!
Posted by Sheila on October 22, 2007 02:16 PM