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Safety ensures fun during trick-or-treating
Published October 31, 2009
It’s a night on which many children can freely ignore safety rules they’ve been taught since birth. They walk around in dark clothing well after the sun slips below the horizon, roam streets beyond their own and solicit candy from people they’re never met.
Their parents are just fine with it, too, as their young ones take to the pavement and drag them excitedly from one home to another, stopping only when their bags or buckets are full or when their parents call it quits.
That doesn’t mean, though, that there are no rules in place for trick-or-treaters. There are plenty of Halloween tips to ensure all the goblins, superheroes and princesses make it home safely and ready to stuff themselves with sugar-laced treats.
And there also are plenty of reasons kids and parents prefer the door-to-door tradition of gathering goodies on All Hallow’s Eve.
CANDY, CANDY, CANDY
While there are several reasons to love trick-or-treating, there’s one that takes the prize for children who know nothing of cavities, but might soon know all about tummy aches.
“It’s the candy,” Brazoria resident Tina Sanders said.
And with four children to raise, she should know.
“We just go in the small neighborhood in Brazoria where we live,” Sanders said. “I try to stay away from the bigger towns. My children love the candy, and they want to go trick-or-treating.”
COSTUME TIME
Boys and girls of many ages love to dress up as their favorite superhero, heroine or cartoon characters, and any excuse to put on a show for someone other than family is one they’ll take.
“In my mom’s neighborhood — we have a 3-year-old and 5-year-old — we go three or four blocks and that’s perfect for us, then we go back to my mom’s home and celebrate,” said Erin Rodriguez, 26, of West Columbia. “They’re boys, but they have a dress up area at home and Halloween is an excuse to wear it in public.”
YEAR AFTER YEAR
For Thresa Norman, taking her 2-year-old trick-or-treating is a way to stick to the known, she said.
“It’s traditional, it’s what I always did and what I do with him,” Norman said of her son.
Dressing up, getting the candy bag or bucket and jetting out the door is exactly how Halloween should be, Rodriguez said.
STAY ALERT
Trick-or-treating seems to be all about dressing up, going out and seeing who can rack up the most candy, but parents need to remember the importance of being careful on Halloween night, Freeport City Manager Jeff Pynes said.
“If you’re enjoying Halloween with your child, if you can’t see them then you can’t protect them,” Pynes said. “I think it’s extremely important to have bright clothes, have a flashlight, travel in groups of more than two with an adult present and pay close attention to the candy received and anything unwrapped.”
Erin McKeon is a reporter for The Facts. Contact her at 979-237-0152.
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