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?

Witches are such fun costumes aren't they? The systematic oppression of women, turning those who were free thinking, didn't conform to society, were a bit ugly, a bit odd, didn't marry ... those women being murdered and tortured in horrific ways is all just a bit of fun right?

Same with ghosts - the restless spirits of the dead are just hilarious

And vampires - drinking human blood, killing people, hunting maidens is all fun and cute!

Oo and the rotting, reanimated flesh of corpses which then feasts on the brains of the living! Zombies are adorable.

Terrifier isn't child friendly, the films are extreme to the max, but Art the Clown is now a pop culture figure like Jason, Freddie, Chucky etc. Kids will have been exposed to the character without knowing the absolute violence he comes from. Same with Squid Games - pink guards are even in Just Eat adverts!

It wasn't, however, the first "scary Santa" and it won't be the last. There's a whole series of films based on a killer Santa!

If the school has a no mask, no weapons policy then it should have been enforced

But claiming witches and zombies and vampires are somehow cuter and less horrific is ignoring their past and context the same as a child dressing as a character they only know from memes and social media rather than the film

Then I as a parent would have said no you can’t have that particular mask. It is not appropriate for a child. As I said previously some parents don’t see an issue with allowing their children to be exposed to these characters (however the child is exposed to the characters). Those parents might buy the mask for their child. Their choice. I find it depressing and an erosion of childhood innocence. Just my view.

The argument that scary movies make kids violent has literally been going on since the slasher films of the 80s and it's really not the case

Violence is worse now because police officers are stretched to the limit and don't have the manpower to have beat patrols and be visible, growing disregard for the police (which mostly is an American import in ACAB because of racist cops but also because of police actions here like Sarah Everard and lack of action in grooming gangs) meaning kids don't respect them, parents generally not having the same respect either, fear of even trying to discipline children because of being labelled "abusive" (and that's by the parents)....

It's all about the parents! Some who are just generally not very bright and don't have any boundaries, and others who just want to be the centre of attention.
We had 7yr olds in Scream Masks carrying blades here, and also an 11yr old neighbour dressed as a Playboy Bunny, with her dimwit mother proud she looked so "stunning and sexy".

Someone on our local CRAP page has been thing to give away a Pennywise costume for a child size 7. The listing has two photos of her child posing in said costume, so she’s obviously proud of if.
I can’t really see why a 7 year old needs to know who pennywise is, or wear the costume. Assuming others agree with me as she posted a couple of days ago saying it was still available.

Funnily enough, I used to live in the US, when DD was of elementary school age, and American Halloween costumes are usually not scary. It’s just a chance to wear fancy dress. The younger children often dressed up as their favourite Disney/superhero characters, the older ones as a whole variety, from a vending machine to an old lady. There was a school rule that no weapons or masks were allowed.

But claiming witches and zombies and vampires are somehow cuter and less horrific is ignoring their past and context the same as a child dressing as a character they only know from memes and social media rather than the film

not really

witches, zombies and vampires are so deep in our current culture in all forms, including cute versions, Kawaii versions, soft toys version that they cannot be compared for a minute to a current movie where the character only exists in the horror context.

Casper the cartoon carter is just a friendly ghost, it's not that deep, it's just cute.
Primary school kids don't know the context, why should they.

I see go issue with a little “zombie cheerleader” or whatever. But that mask… not ok. These are young kids and imo their costumes should be fun not properly scary.

It's exactly the same

Just because there are "cute" versions doesn't stop them coming from a place of horror, violence, aggression and evil

Pennywise, Art, Freddie, Jason, Chucky... all come from violent, scary films but are also now pop culture icon who do have "cute" versions and parody versions and humorous videos on social media and cuddly toy version and Fortnite skins. It's entirely possible to know these characters without ever having seen the movies they come from

I think you miss my point - it was some girls specifically that were not dressed age appropriately in cheerleader outfits. They were 6/7/8!

As for the no masks policy it’s probably in part due to the SEN unit attached to the school.

Wow really?
You don't want to talk about the history of violence and brutality, and how it goes through the generations. People are not born violent it comes from the way they are brought up. Not the last 20 years of horror. I was brought up watching horror and I never stabbed anyone. There is no statistics for how many people watches horror and enacts it. I've read it all now and that criminal justice degree I completed ain't worth shit it's horror that's the cause of violence now.

The ones without trashy parents with impaired decision making skills still are. Look on the bright side- it’s a rare opportunity to cull some of these families from your social circle. There’s no way I’d be encouraging my child to form or continue a friendship with a child who had parents who thought it was appropriate for them to dress up as a murder victim or a character from 18+ media in primary school.

My guess is that the parents didn't want to spend money/time on a costume and just bought the mask online to go with a Santa costume they had left over from Christmas. It's a desperation/last minute thing, I'd have thought. I doubt it means the child has seen the film it's from, or knows anything about it.

Obviously if there was a rule that specified no masks, he shouldn't have been wearing one and the school should have taken it off him. But other than that, I think you're overthinking really. It's Halloween. It's meant to be scary. That's the whole point of it.

One of my friends dressed her small child as Hannibal Lecter once. The child didn't have a clue who that was, obviously, or what the film was about, but was running around in his boiler suit and hockey mask cheerfully telling us all that he was 'dressed up as a scary monster who wears a mask so he can't eat people'. I personally found it to be the funniest thing ever, particularly because he was such an incredibly cute and cuddly child. (Admittedly that wasn't for a children's party; it was an evening party mostly for adults, but there were quite a few kids present who were playing together.)

The comment above yours explains what I am getting at more eloquently than I can try to. Halloween is meant to be scary, the traditional costumes aren’t much different vampires and zombies are terrifying to some kids and commit violent acts. Witches were real women killed for being spinsters or a little weird etc.

You really don’t see an issue with making young children scared of Father Christmas? And you don’t understand that young children may not necessarily appreciate it’s a costume?

how can it be the same when kids only know the cute version of witches and ghosts, but the only version of a horror character is that horror character.

I still don’t know what you mean by age appropriate cheerleading outfits, girls can go to cheerleading classes at that age and wear the costumes, they are in no way sexual, especially at that age?

There’s nothing wrong with it at all. My daughter (10 at the time) went as a zombie cheerleader last year. The costume wasn’t in the least bit sexy - just a knee length dress with pom poms.

The part where I explained how there are non-horror movie versions of the characters which children may have encountered?

I would assume the op is objecting on the "tiny cheerleaders outfits" maybe being sexualised? and not leggings types

You are not being unreasonable.
But my kids were never at Halloween events, it’s a horrible thing.

You’re incredibly naive and clearly don’t have children.

I have to say that when I was looking at zombie cheerleader costumes for my daughter last year, I didn’t see any that were sexualised. Just skirt and top/dresses with pom poms.

When you have games like grand theft auto being played by young children where you can buy drugs and guns and engage with pimps, etc - I’m not sure how this wouldn’t impact young minds. There are children age 6 playing this. There have been so many studies proving the link, that it’s surprising that anyone would still try to argue against it. Very odd.
Isis use videos of beheadings to desensitise their child soldiers for a reason.

Sure ok. Whatever you say.