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?

Is it Silent Night, Deadly Night? DH and I are keen on watching terrible B movies and are always on the lookout for festive treats (Santa with Muscles and Elves being particular favourites).

This is crazy for a gathering of 7 year olds and I am really shocked that any parent would think otherwise.

The school can't be expected to provide an exhaustive list of adult TV show characters that kids are not allowed to dress up as because too scaaawwwy. As other pp have said, Halloween isn't supposed to be all cutesy - that's not the point. But if they had a no masks, no fake weapons policy, they should have enforced that, spoken to the parents and made the kid take it off.

Tbf, my daughter does cheerleading and its not that at all anymore. Its a demanding athletic discipline and gymnastics and they don't go anywhere near the boys football games.

But that is not the type of cheerleader portrayed in horror films, granted.

Wellll my son is going as a plague doctor this year and he's 9. When he was 6 he went as IT.

Even with my 13 yo (ASD) son I have a rule that he doesn’t wear anything that’s from an 18 film or that’s inherently terrifying where small children will be. He can’t watch those films so why dress as a character from them?

In my opinion adults can choose how scary they want to be in an adult environment but Halloween for kids is supposed to be spooky fun, not terrifying or upsetting.

I think there’s a bit of both though, I agree cheer is fabulous and fascinating, but it was depressing to watch DCC and realise the PRESSURE on those girls to keep sweet, be good girls, work their asses off and earn sweet fuck all. No one is telling the footballers earning literal hundreds of millions that they should be grateful and feel privileged to be there. I understand that football is the actual draw and that’s why they will always earn the biggest bucks, but absolutely every male in that business from a line marker to security on the door was probably making more than those outstanding girls.

Most cheerleading is not really like that anymore. It’s a mixture of gymnastics and dance and it has its own competitions. They don’t go anywhere near a sports field and the only guys they cheer on are the ones in their cheerleading squad.

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

How is Jack the Ripper a "fun" costume for a child? How do you go about explainig to them who they are pretending to be?

I am very much not looking forward to DC being old enough to want to participate without understanding.

Cheerleading is a competitive dance gymnastics hybrid and it all centres around competitions. No one is ‘cheering on the guys’ in the UK at least and certainly not when it’s kids. Many teams are also mixed sex. It’s a great activity for kids that enjoy gymnastics but don’t want the strictness of it, or like dance but aren’t into ballet. The attire is positively covered up compared to a gymnastics leotard so I don’t get that objection either…

OP that mask was absolutely inappropriate and I don’t understand why it wasn’t taken off him. Cheerleader is fine- maybe they do it as a hobby or it’s a nod to the Disney Channel Zombies movie. Wednesday also fine because they may have seen the 90s films that are very family friendly as opposed to the new series. But serial killers from horror movies absolutely not. And no masks should have been enforced.

This is the sort of Halloween shit I absolutely hate. Don’t people want to preserve their kids innocence and childlike wonder it’s absolutely horrible.

World Book Day a decade or so ago when Fifty Shades was popular we had a 7yo Christian Gray. Complete with handcuffs tucked into the belt of his three piece suit. Some parents just love to shock …

I remember when a bit of toilet roll was wrapped round children and they were a ‘mummy’ for Halloween. Halloween like Christmas has become competitive now. Its driven I suspect largely by the parents not their children. Those sort of parents will want their children to be dressed a certain way for social media purposes. The mask was inappropriate and chosen probably by the parents.

Genuine question: If it's an athletic and gymnastic discipline why is it called " cheerleading"?

And do boys also participate in it?

The name in itself is so totally demeaning. If they are talented in their own right why imply they are secondary to the " main act"?

This is awful. When DD was 5 or so, she went (with me, fortunately) to a classmate's Halloween party. Party giver was American and had really gone to town. Witches, masks, cobwebs- DD was terrified. There was no blood though, fortunately.
This mask should have been removed, pronto. Halloween is weird though. I had hard time explaining why I wouldn't buy a 5/6yr old DD an imitation chainsaw. She just thought it was a cool noisy toy. In Halloween context, I thought it was entirely inappropriate.

Horror films and their characters should not be something children are made aware of by parents.
People never fail to disappoint.

Halloween shouldn't be horror for kids .the Americanisation of Halloween is marching on seemingly, quite sad.

I should be clear some of the cheer leaders were age appropriate.

others were “sexy cheerleaders”. Not appropriate at 6/7 years old IMO but not nearly as problematic as the scary Santa thing.

I know Halloween isn’t meant to be cute - my kids were vampires and ghosts. But when so many kids that age think Santa is a real thing…

How sad to be so narrow minded to look down at a sport and so up yourself to call it "dance around in skimpy costume?"

You try a routine, see how far you go fitness and skill wise 😂

It's the 21st century and you can't think further than "teaching them their place in the pecking order of life", think harder maybe?

Yes, at my DD's school, boys absolutely do participate in cheerleading.

@PracticalPixie my 8yo is going as a Squid games contestant, he's never seen Squid games but has watched the Challenge game show version and loved it. Does that make me an insufferable edge lord? It's literally just a blue tracksuit.
We had a couple of mini skirted police officers with hand cuffs at our P6/7 disco this week which did make me raise an eyebrow.

Halloween is full of bad taste costumes and for many it is about celebrating mixing the world of the living and the dead. This does include a lot of dark humour. I totally get why people don’t like but it is not a festival that is easily controlled and sanitised. For some parents scary inappropriate masks at children’s parties are bang on theme. For some children the shock they get from seeing terrifying masks is part of the fun. My mother never let me take part in any Halloween activities because she disapproved of the whole thing. That was a simple solution to the problem.

Well I think most people's perception of Cheerleading is very much defined by the American model of attractive young women in sexy outfits whose role is to cheer on the guys.

If it is a totally different, and multi sex, dance discipline in the UK then I think it would behove it to find a different name. Because Cheerleading obviously doesn't describe what you sayithe children do and it certainly makes it sound a dated, sexist pastime. And it's sad that it's name is doing it a total disservice if that is the case.

Does that make me an insufferable edge lord?

Possibly...but hard to tell based on our brief interaction on here.

No, that's not appropriate for children aged 7 and under. At all. Especially not at a school disco.