When Should You Stop Trick or Treating?

As another Halloween has come and gone, fewer kids have gone trick or treating. This could be from getting older, stress and quite possibly the day Halloween fell on (Wednesday). The spirit at the end of “spooky season” was quite disappointing and many attribute it to the impending doom of the wait for December. But that shouldn’t stop kids from going out and getting candy right?

Well, trick or treating has been in recession for years and it’s no help that all the homework you get and responsibilities pile on as you get older. How can I fit four hours of walking around getting candy when I have pre-calc homework, an impending essay in Comp/Lit and a news brite to write in newspaper?

My problems don’t apply to the masses, so I went around and asked kids about their thoughts on the age for trick or treating. Trey Dickerson, a Senior at FMHS said, “when you’re 12 years old and 6’2” people are too afraid to say no to candy but it’s time to stop”. Interesting situation to be in that most can’t relate to but he has a point. Is your physicality a sign to stop? Or is it mental maturity?

Maddie Clem, a Sophomore here at FMHS has a different view. Stating that “You’re never too old to go trick or treating”.

Back to trick or treating, kids these days are too stressed to go trick or treating. A Forbes article talking about kids going to school in 2018 mentioned that we have a lot more to worry about than generations before us citing bullying, school shootings, social media, and stigmatized mental health issues. Social media doesn’t think your giant bag of candy is cool, and people are just too jealous of your loot to drop a like. Not to mention that candy companies continually produce smaller and smaller candy to stay economical and raise their profits. How are we supposed to get excited about two inches of chocolate after walking in the cold all night, losing precious hours of sleep and falling behind on the homework due in Mr.Herring’s Comp/Lit.?Unfortunately, the condition of aging is irreversible and trick or treating will continue to get less and less appealing. So how old is too old to trick or treat and why do less and less people trick or treat? Unfortunately, when you turn 12 you start to mature and you should stop cold turkey before your precious memories are squandered by associating halloween as a cause of stress and being a burden as opposed to a night to enjoy.