AIBU to think WTF were the parents thinking?

[JakeyRolling]

DS (7) had his school Halloween disco last night.

Amongst the usual questionable costumes (Squid Games guards, tiny cheerleaders outfits Etc… The kind I wouldn’t do and I can’t understand why a parent would but not inherently problematic) there was one kid in a Santa outfit with a scary pointy “blood” splattered mask and a stabbing knife. (The mask is similar to the pic)
Quite apart from the fact the school has a “no masks” policy, this was for the P1-3 age group so the oldest kid was no more than 9 and therefore many kids are still believers.

DS is autistic and was a bit upset by it and we had to explain several times it was a costume.

AIBU in being pissed at the parents?

Not appropriate, no.

A lot of little girls that age do cheerleading as an extra curricular so I don’t see why that’s so inappropriate.

If the school has a policy of no masks, why wasn’t it taken off this boy?

YANBU.

I don’t see an issue with it. It’s a costume and Halloween

I understand it clashed with no mask policy but Halloween isn't meant to be cute..

I started laughing when I scrolled down to the mask. It’s not appropriate imo. And it’d scare some kids witless. Fucked if I can work out what the parents were thinking? 😂

Was it run by school or the PTA? We (primary PTA) often run after school discos but don't feel as though we can confiscate anything, so if anyone has anything inappropriate it is the head who removes it. We tell them not to use them, but won't take it away.

My DD is going trick or treating as a zombie cheerleader. It's just a cheerleader type sports jumper, leggings, pom poms and some zombie make up. I don't know what's wrong with that?

It’s the character from an extremely violent series of horror films. Not appropriate at all. This isn’t just a silly witch or ghoul mask.

YANBU

No weapons and no masks is a reasonable request.

This ^

Yanbu. They should of took it off him before he went into the disco, i would be complaining I would imagine younger kids than your ds would of been scared too.

Yeah, I don't think I'd choose it for my child but isn't the issue really that it contradicts the no masks policy?

My 8yo dd is dressing as the doll from Squid Game. I don't see the issue really. She's a girl who likes dresses - last year she was Wednesday. She's never watched Squid Game BTW, she's played it on Roblox and her 15/16 yo brother and cousin like it so she's just following them really.

Lots of autistic children find Halloween triggering, though. Short of stopping them joining in altogether, there's not much you can do to prevent them from reacting to something. An autistic child's grandmother was telling me the other day that her grandchild got freaked out by a large dinosaur roaming around the school disco. My dd is also autistic (another reason she chose the Squid Game doll - it's a much more comfortable costume for her due to sensory processing issues).

They're not inherently scary but a lot of horror films have the 'sexy young cheerleader victim' trope which is what makes it inappropriate for young children to wear.

Quite often the 'sexy young [female] victim' also faces sexual threat along with being killed and many people wouldn't knowingly want to dress their child up in that role.

The children, of course, wouldn't be aware of that (hopefully!)

Haha its a character called Art the Clown from the Terrifier series. I'd find it hilarious seeing a child in that personally but if the rule was no masks, it definitely should have been taken off him. I was at a party on Saturday and there was a child ghostface (scream) a child jack the ripper, a child squid game character and more. None of these kids had seen any of these things they were just fun costumes. My daughter was supposed to be Abigail, the vampire ballerina but changed her mind at the last minute (Kpop Demonhunters won). Its Halloween, its meant to be spooky and scary

What’s so weird about the cheerleader outfits? Zombies is a Disney kids movie series with a cheerleader as a main character. I’d assume it was related to that.

That mask is a bit off, but you seem a bit uptight about costumes in general.

No of course it's not appropriate but who knows what goes on in people's minds eh?! Someone should have told the kid to take it off though.

Agree with the poster who asked who was running it. If the rule was no masks, then why weren't they stopped? Was it an event held at school but run by someone else? I am guessing even the PTA helpers if it was run by them didn't necessarily feel they had the authority to remove it and probably worried if they would get an angry parent shouting at them for ruining for their child's fun at the end of the night.

My kids school do not do anything Halloween related for this reason. They did a disco recently but there was no mention of Halloween in any advertising and very few turned up in a costume. Although run by the PTA, the school leaders along with some staff volunteers were also on hand, so would have been able to assist with any major issue.

Why aren't little kids dressing up as witches cats and ghosts anymore? Honestly what are parents thinking? Halloween doesn't = horror

Not appropriate.

We saw a couple of tiny kids dressed as characters from Wednesday yesterday which led to inevitable "that 6yo has seen Wednesday! Why can't I" from my slightly older kids. I know a 6yo who is dressing as something from squid games. I imagine it all comes from edgelord parents. Insufferable.

Anyway, you aren't wrong. I'd ask why the organisers hadn't taken it away from the child

Agreed. Isn't children's Halloween supposed to be pumpkins, witches, black cats and cartoon ghosts?

I feel like I can beat this. I was at a holiday camp over the weekend, they had a Halloween party and there was a girl of about 8 or 9 dressed as Rose the Hat from the book/film Doctor Sleep - the character who brutally murders children. Firstly, how does the child know this character? And secondly, what the actual fuck?! I was really aghast at that one.

Well there's your answer. If you don't see anything wrong with Santa Claus now being turned into a nightmare serial killer for children aged 6-7 yrs old, then either your too young to be a parent or your kids will have some interesting stories later on in life.

My kid’s primary school had a masks policy and it would have been enforced in this situation. Discos were run by the PTA but I think they’d have just refused admission.

@JakeyRolling

No! I know the film that mask is from and it’s a very sick and violent film series. Far worse than Freddie Kruger, Saw, Leatherface etc.
I think whoever organised it should have stated on the info to start with. No - parents shouldn’t let their children dress up like this. But no one wants to ‘step up’ and enforce boundaries.

Really?

How sad. It's the 21st century and some parents are still happy to teach girls their role in life is to dance around in skimpy costumes and cheer on the guys?
It's really teaching them their place in the pecking order of life isn't it?

And yes the mask is very inappropriate OP..