To think kids simulating a violent crime isn’t family fun?

[Greyrocked]

Increasingly I’m seeing young children dressed as if they have been murdered, sexually assaulted or are a violent criminal for Halloween. I don’t see what is good family fun about glorifying violence. One of my children is adopted and increasingly we can’t go anywhere at half term as violent scenes trigger their PTSD. Even family attractions aimed at young children seem to think it’s fine to display really scary images.

AIBU?

Halloween is out of hand

There are houses round here which have been decorated like a murder scene for the entirety of October

You’re not wrong, but see also the number of parents who teach their kids that playing pirates is just good clean fun. Pirates were horrific.

It's certainly veered away from its traditional meaning / presentation and been very influenced by film etc. It does have actual spiritual significance for some us though, and we're often the ones who get scoffed at and ridiculed. Funny old world innit?

At my nine year old DD’s primary school disco, she was the only girl in her class not dressed as a cheerleader.

I agree, op, it’s really grim, and awful for a child like yours. One of my autistic dc (no trauma history but difficulty differentiating between make believe and real) used to be absolutely terrified and it meant no days out in half term.

Well, of course. That’s why people make money selling costumes like this, as it reinforces those exact myths and the whole narrative around rape and sexual assault. These myths are the ones that society (wrongly) continues to feel most comfortable with.

I think you have a point OP- some of the costumes have become pretty graphic even for young children. I had one kid come to my door in a mask and carrying a baseball bat which seemed inappropriate for a boy of 7/8. General trend was the most of the little girls were cats or witches and looking quite cute, boys seemed to go in for masks (to varying degrees of creepiness) or inflatables which seemed much more innocent. And then some of the older girls seemed to be running around in revealing clothes.

Last year we went to a pumpkin picking place that had become quite heavy on the horror. There was a whole room of dismembered limbs and it was all a bit too much for small children in my view. We went to a different place this year which was much more about tractor rides and getting outside than the horror side of things and I much preferred it.

What's wrong with that? It's a classic horror film. I dressed my toddler the same when he was little and it was fab. Horror movie characters are popular Halloween costumes.

news.sky.com/story/childrens-soft-play-centre-apologises-over-body-bag-halloween-decorations-13237681 news.sky.com/story/childrens-soft-play-centre-apologises-over-body-bag-halloween-decorations-13237681]]]]

Some people just don't think before deciding whether something is a good idea or not...

6 year olds friend went as a murdered schoolgirl for trick or treating thought that was weird but when out I noticed loads of other little girls dressed in the same way

Is this from a new film?

I think it's kind of a weird random thing to dress a kid as tbh

Are you seriously asking what is wrong with dressing your toddler as a serial killing doll who tortures and murders people? 😳

I saw a toddler (max 3) dressed as quite a creepy mummy but I didn't think that was too bad as he would have presumably had no idea what it was.
Round here the primary kids were generally witches/wizards etc so I can't say I noticed a difference.

if they’re not old enough to watch it they shouldn’t be old enough to dress up as it- I stopped my 9 yo dressing up as deadpool, it’s just not right! My worst costume this year was seeing a 5/6 yo dressed up as Conor mac Gregor with gold chains and carrying a bottle with whiskey written on it. Just why- totally got the adults

“Children dressed up as serial killers whether based in fact or fiction is distasteful as it's a projection that hopefully they don't have full understanding of, and if they do then it's a legitimate safeguarding concern.” (thank you @MistressoftheDarkSide )

This is my view too - young kids shouldn’t know who these characters are so why are they dressed as them and if they do know that’s massively concerning in itself.

Halloween costumes reflect people's fears and preoccupations; scary Green Men are from the old times of paganism and dangerous forests. The UK has welcomed Ukrainian refugees from a terrible war and the UK is selling arms including arms used to kill children in the Middle East. The new costumes are reflecting our culture which is complicit with traumatising and killing children.

I have never seen this and am feeling quite glad about it!

I think what you get depends on the area. Round here it’s all home bargains skeletons, black cats, witches and eleven princesses.

i think that people are very numb/inured to violence though. So for many it’s not a big deal to portray it.

Thats disgusting

This is all just awful, I can’t imagine dressing my DD up in anything like this especially a ten year old, thats just vile. We had a lot of princesses, witches, superheroes etc, older kids dressed up a bit more seriously pumpkins etc but nothing like this.

Yes, these body bags have been in the news. People, quite rightly imo, are objecting and asking neighbours/venues to take them down. For someone who saw her husband taken away in a body bag, I can assure you that these images should not be used as entertainment. I'm not a grinch (can you say that at Halloween!) but neither children nor adults should be subjected to certain things in the name of "fun".

Someone I follow on instagram put up a photo of her kid trick or treating as a group, one of the girls looked no more than primary age was wearing the classic ‘slutty’ school girl outfit which was popular for nights out 20 years ago (is it still? I’m out of touch) but with added blood. I did think dressing as a murdered school girl was a bit dark for an under 11 personally.

Definitely weird my six year olds friend (also 6) came trick or treating with us and said she was dressed "as a murdered school girl" and i noticed quite a few other girls in similar costumes .

Is it from a film or something? Like how last year everyone went as Wednesday Addams because of the film

Our nearest town is Southport. Two incidences reported on local FB

1. At an event they had a lucky dip bran tub. A 4 year old pulled out his gift, it was a plastic knife with a sping retractable blade.

2 At one house, a teenager was dressed as a zombie with a knife in his hand. This is the town where the horrific knife attack took place just 3 months ago. Unbelievable lack of awareness from both.

What a legend.

I feel like in the 90s/00s you were either a ghost, a vampire, a witch, a skeleton or maybe a werewolf at a push. Traditional ‘spooky’ but not overtly scary costumes.

I keep seeing houses with ‘bodies’ hanging out of windows and stuff like that. It seems a step too far for a tradition which largely centres around small children!

We went to a family farm today for DD’s birthday and there was a really pushy woman dressed as a witch trying to get kids to go in the Halloween barn. The sort with actors jumping out - only shouting ‘boo’ but that scares the crap out of me and I’m 32! It was way too much for small children and I found it mad that they were approaching toddlers for this!

Thanks OP for expressing something I've been trying and failing to put my finger on all week! DD is 6 and we've enthusiastically done Halloween every year so far, but this year I found the whole vibe around it a bit weird and it made me feel a bit uneasy, but I couldn't really put my finger on why.

I'm not really religious and quite like the spooky/pagan/gothic side of Halloween, but the way it's now celebrated does seem to have lost much of that, and increasingly it does feel like a commercialised, high capitalist shock fest of serial killers, 'edgy' costumes for kids and houses outdoing each other to spend the most on Halloween tat (one road on our trick-or-treating route this year had full-on billowing dry ice and lasers).

Something else I noticed this year was that, while all the decorations and trick or treating has exploded massively, there was barely a nod to anything spooky on TV or radio on the day itself - I was really looking forward to a nice Halloween mix on 6Music or even Radio 3 (they did a great Halloween Night Tracks last year) - but the day went almost totally unmarked in that respect.