Badly behaved children, and their parents.

[dakcp2001]

Well color me shocked! I get that little kids filled with sugar get excited and might behave badly. What I don' t get is the complete lack of parenting I witnessed tonight. I had one kid, about 8 or 9 slap the bowl of candy out of my hand and then try to grab it all. Mom stood their laughing. I had to get between him and tell him this was not acceptable. I asked " are you his mom" she said yes and just kept laughing. I told them to leave, and mom called me a bad word. I heard he did this at several houses, including an elderly lady, and he took her whole bowl all the candy and dumped the empty bowl in the street. A teacher a few doors down knew this child and scolded him and mom pretty badly, but who knows how many times he did this. What is wrong with people? I had another little one run in my house and up my stairs and under the bed chasing my cat. His dad was just on his cell phone letting me wrangle the kid out from under the bed to save my cat. This kid was too small to know any better, but dad was useless. I had several kids grab in the bowl and try to grab all the candy. I had some throw wrappers on my lawn. I had a lot of small children come with no parents. I don't fault the kids. I was just surprised by how many rude and badly behaved children came by. My husband said the same thing. Maybe it is just the neighborhood this year.

I have the utmost respect for teachers. No way could I ever deal with the children and their parents. I also want to give a shout out to all the parents who do parent their children. We had some lovely kids come by with excellent manners. You don't have to say thank you on Halloween. But it is nice to hear when they do. And if your kid does something inappropriate, teach them.

 

[cornflake]

Gah, that sounds awful.

Next year, keep two bowls of candy on a table BEHIND the door. Wait to assess the child.

If it's a nice, well-mannered, normal-acting child, bust out the bowl with the full-size bars and offer it happily.

If it's a brat, grab the bowl full of necco wafers, fun-size boxes of Dots, the chalky gross American Smarties and like, candy dots on paper, three, torn badly. Offer with a smile.

 

[kate_wdw]

If it's a brat, grab the bowl full of necco wafers, fun-size boxes of Dots, the chalky gross American Smarties and like, candy dots on paper, three, torn badly.

Necco wafers are the WORST. Blech.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Gah, that sounds awful.

Next year, keep two bowls of candy on a table BEHIND the door. Wait to assess the child.

If it's a nice, well-mannered, normal-acting child, bust out the bowl with the full-size bars and offer it happily.

If it's a brat, grab the bowl full of necco wafers, fun-size boxes of Dots, the chalky gross American Smarties and like, candy dots on paper, three, torn badly. Offer with a smile.

Great idea!!

We didn't have any kids tonight because they are to lazy to walk up my long driveway. It sounds like I didn't miss anything though.

 

[cornflake]

Necco wafers are the WORST. Blech.

Excellent for shingling your gingerbread house. Or punishing a misbehaving Halloween brat with an unappetizing treat.

 

[dakcp2001]

On a good note, my kitty has now come out from under the bed.

 

[FlyingDumbo]

We had a lot of kids this year, they we all very polite. If a child smacked a bowl of candy out of my hand, their mom would be getting an earful. And they would be lucky to get Necco wafers, I wouldn't give them anything.

 

[maslex]

That is horrible.

Thankfully, all the trick or treaters (youngsters, teenages & adults) were all very pleasant and I would have to say that probably 75% of them said thank you. Like you said, you don't need to say thank you on Halloween but it is nice to hear.

Sorry to hear about your night.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Gah, that sounds awful.

Next year, keep two bowls of candy on a table BEHIND the door. Wait to assess the child.

If it's a nice, well-mannered, normal-acting child, bust out the bowl with the full-size bars and offer it happily.

If it's a brat, grab the bowl full of necco wafers, fun-size boxes of Dots, the chalky gross American Smarties and like, candy dots on paper, three, torn badly. Offer with a smile.

That is great.

OP, all I can say is WOW....

 

[Ceila]

Well color me shocked! I get that little kids filled with sugar get excited and might behave badly. What I don' t get is the complete lack of parenting I witnessed tonight. I had one kid, about 8 or 9 slap the bowl of candy out of my hand and then try to grab it all. Mom stood their laughing. I had to get between him and tell him this was not acceptable. I asked " are you his mom" she said yes and just kept laughing. I told them to leave, and mom called me a bad word. I heard he did this at several houses, including an elderly lady, and he took her whole bowl all the candy and dumped the empty bowl in the street. A teacher a few doors down knew this child and scolded him and mom pretty badly, but who knows how many times he did this. What is wrong with people? I had another little one run in my house and up my stairs and under the bed chasing my cat. His dad was just on his cell phone letting me wrangle the kid out from under the bed to save my cat. This kid was too small to know any better, but dad was useless. I had several kids grab in the bowl and try to grab all the candy. I had some throw wrappers on my lawn. I had a lot of small children come with no parents. I don't fault the kids. I was just surprised by how many rude and badly behaved children came by. My husband said the same thing. Maybe it is just the neighborhood this year.

I have the utmost respect for teachers. No way could I ever deal with the children and their parents. I also want to give a shout out to all the parents who do parent their children. We had some lovely kids come by with excellent manners. You don't have to say thank you on Halloween. But it is nice to hear when they do. And if your kid does something inappropriate, teach them.

Wow, I've never seen anything even close to that happen in our neighborhood or anywhere I've ever lived. Even those "awful" teens around here have always said "thank you" and even let the little kids go in front of them when they come up to the door at the same time. Looking forward to Monday when NJ finally gets to do trick-or-treating!

 

[punkin]

Wow, I've never seen anything even close to that happen in our neighborhood or anywhere I've ever lived. Even those "awful" teens around here have always said "thank you" and even let the little kids go in front of them when they come up to the door at the same time. Looking forward to Monday when NJ finally gets to do trick-or-treating!

I have never seen such behavior either. Everyone who came to my door was friendly, polite, and well behaved. They are like that every year. In fact, though I have seen some bad behavior over the years (never from trick or treaters), those cases are so few and far between the constitute a miniscule part of children.

 

[mombrontrent]

Wow that's crazy! Thankfully I have never seen such rude behaviour firsthand. I happen to think that you do have to say thank-you on Halloween. Even the older teens always say thank-you and let the younger ones ahead of them. The really little ones I give a pass on the thank-you think but usually their parent is trying to make them say it anyways. I simply cannot believe someone would try to steal all your candy. Some houses around here will leave a big bowl of candy on their step with a note to take one or two if their cannot pass it out. Even at the end of the night their is usually some left in the bowl. Once I had to leave boxes of chips out on my porch as I had to take my little ones out and DH was working late. When we got back home half the chips were still there.

 

[packofjedis]

2 years ago on Halloween night we were packing to leave on vacation first thing the next morning. Our original flight had been Halloween afternoon but we had to reschedule to the next morning. So I decided not to pass out candy so we could get our packing done.

We made sure no lights were visible from the front of the house and it looked like we weren't home. A couple kids rang the doorbell as expected.

Then the doorbell rang twice pretty close together and someone started banging on the door with their fist. I looked out the peephole and it was an ADULT doing this. Seriously - you need the candy that badly?!!?!??! Their kid stood beside them laughing and the adult pounded away for several minutes.

 

[mombrontrent]

2 years ago on Halloween night we were packing to leave on vacation first thing the next morning. Our original flight had been Halloween afternoon but we had to reschedule to the next morning. So I decided not to pass out candy so we could get our packing done.

We made sure no lights were visible from the front of the house and it looked like we weren't home. A couple kids rang the doorbell as expected.

Then the doorbell rang twice pretty close together and someone started banging on the door with their fist. I looked out the peephole and it was an ADULT doing this. Seriously - you need the candy that badly?!!?!??! Their kid stood beside them laughing and the adult pounded away for several minutes.

How incredibly rude! Handing out candy is NOT an obligation. People can either choose to participate or not, their home, their choice. My kids know not to knock on doors where the lights are out, it's a wste of time anyways. We live in a fairly mutli-cultural area and alot of people do not celebrate Halloween. I would say 75% participate and 25% do not. My kids are friends with quite a few kids from India and Pakistan where they do not celebrate Halloween there. Since coming here to Canada though most have embraced Halloween. They LOVE it! In fact one of my sons friends was going to miss Halloween this year as he is in Pakistan visiting relatives. He was quite dissapointed that he would not be trick or treating because as a 13 year old it was going to be his last year.

 

[bedillamouse]

I was shocked at parents too!! I had a family of 3 kids last night that rang the door bell...as I was walking to the door with candy bowl in hand (they could see me through the glass) the boy, who was old enough to know better, opened my door. I said, "I'm coming hang on"...he then proceeded to walk into my house. I was so shocked! I told him...nooo please don't come in and I will meet you on the porch! His mom said NOTHING!!!!!

They then proceeded to grab half of the candy from my bowl.

I had some other kids go crazy grabbing...which I can understand, but its when the parents see this and say NOTHING!! That is what bothers me....not the kids so much. How are they to know differently if the parents say nothing.

 

[YoYoAurora]

dakcp2001, that sounds like some parents need to be put in time out, or worse. Thankfully, we had excited, but very polite, children who all said thank you. But then, I live in a small town and am known in town as a "Miss Manners". The little angels are probably afraid not to say thank you as I give out some good candy in my candy bags!

I would like to know when it became acceptable to be rude to someone who is showing you kindness and hospitality.

Gah, that sounds awful. Next year, keep two bowls of candy on a table BEHIND the door. Wait to assess the child. If it's a nice, well-mannered, normal-acting child, bust out the bowl with the full-size bars and offer it happily. If it's a brat, grab the bowl full of necco wafers, fun-size boxes of Dots, the chalky gross American Smarties and like, candy dots on paper, three, torn badly. Offer with a smile.

Oh, I like this idea! Reward the good and not the bad.

On a good note, my kitty has now come out from under the bed.

Hugs to your poor kitty! Mine warned me as soon as they heard the trick or treaters coming up the walk. My cats hate the doorbell!

2 years ago on Halloween night we were packing to leave on vacation first thing the next morning. Our original flight had been Halloween afternoon but we had to reschedule to the next morning. So I decided not to pass out candy so we could get our packing done.

We made sure no lights were visible from the front of the house and it looked like we weren't home. A couple kids rang the doorbell as expected.

Then the doorbell rang twice pretty close together and someone started banging on the door with their fist. I looked out the peephole and it was an ADULT doing this. Seriously - you need the candy that badly?!!?!??! Their kid stood beside them laughing and the adult pounded away for several minutes.

Oh my stars! How rude and what a poor example he set for his child.

I do not recall hearing that it is required to give out candy on Hallowe'en. It is your choice to participate or not. I have many friends who do not participate in Hallowe'en festivities and leave their porch lights off. They are left alone on 31 October each year.

 

[cornflake]

I was shocked at parents too!! I had a family of 3 kids last night that rang the door bell...as I was walking to the door with candy bowl in hand (they could see me through the glass) the boy, who was old enough to know better, opened my door. I said, "I'm coming hang on"...he then proceeded to walk into my house. I was so shocked! I told him...nooo please don't come in and I will meet you on the porch! His mom said NOTHING!!!!!

They then proceeded to grab half of the candy from my bowl.

I had some other kids go crazy grabbing...which I can understand, but its when the parents see this and say NOTHING!! That is what bothers me....not the kids so much. How are they to know differently if the parents say nothing.

That's crazy rude.

I'm lucky it's just neighbours, and usually they say 'just take one' preemptively to the tiny kids who just reach a hand in, though I mean them to actually take a bunch, heh. I have to specify and reoffer and most look to their parents to make sure it's ok to take more.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Wow!!

I was actually pleasantly surprised last night - only two kids grabbed big handfuls. Most had obviously been coached to take one piece and to say thank you.

 

[goofyintoronto]

In all my years, I have NEVER had a kid put his hand in my bowl and help himself. I find that insanely rude, beyond words. I dont even know how i'd react to that type of behaviour. Wow. I cant believe the parents stand there and do nothing. Are you kidding me? I even scold my son if he forgets to say thank you! Some ppl should NOT be parents.

 

[cornflake]

In all my years, I have NEVER had a kid put his hand in my bowl and help himself. I find that insanely rude, beyond words. I dont even know how i'd react to that type of behaviour. Wow. I cant believe the parents stand there and do nothing. Are you kidding me? I even scold my son if he forgets to say thank you! Some ppl should NOT be parents.

That's funny, maybe that's a regional difference or something?

Not rudely grabbing handfuls - rude is rude. But if I'm reading your post correctly, for you, reaching into the bowl the kid's self is perceived as rude itself.

Here, at least in all my experience, both as a trick or treater and as a candy distributor, heh, a kid reaching in him or herself is totally normal. Some people do hand out themselves and you just hold open your bag or hold out your pumpkin, but plenty of people stand there with a big bowl in their hand talking to the parents or saying 'ooh, what a scary costume!' and kids are meant to rummage for themselves.

They're meant to take one item unless otherwise instructed, but lots of people have a variety of stuff in their bowls so kids take what they'd prefer. I usually have bags made up with non-candy and a bowl of various candies. I dunno what each kid likes, I hold the bowl, they take a bag and peer at the candy choices and pick.