Badly behaved children, and their parents.

[missingFL]

We didn't get any rude trick or treaters, but one of the places we took the kids to was rude!
We were a group of 10 kids (two of my friends have husbands deployed so they came to our house and my husband handed out candy while us moms took the kids out) In our group was my son who was 2, and my friends daughter who was 2 1/2. They are the youngest and want to do everything the big kids do, including trick or treat! I pushed them in the stroller, but we would park on the end of the driveways and they would walk up to the door with us. They were both in costumes too.
At one house when the older kids had been given candy and the two younger ones walked up and said "trick or treat" and held out their little buckets the woman said "No, you're obviously just trick or treating for mom and dad, they can buy their own candy or go trick or treating on their own street and get some" (I was on my own street!!)
What? The older kids immediately gave the younger two a piece of candy from their buckets, so no tears were shed, but holy rude batman!! None of us adults said anything (until we were out of earshot at least), but I kind of wish I had!
I wish my 2 year old didn't know what candy was or eat it, but with older siblings, he does! The little 2 1/2 year old that was with us has 4 older brothers, she knows too!
Another mom in the neighborhood said she wouldn't give her 20 month old candy either and said the same thing (minus the "their own street" part). Yikes!

That's sad. If they are old enough to come up to the door on their own (unless in a wheelchair, etc.), they get candy from us. I have 4 kids and have taken them all trick-or-treating from the time they were babies (well, when I had a baby and older child) but never wanted candy, even from friends. I guess I think it's rude for grown-ups to expect strangers to give them things that they can buy for themselves.

OP - I'm sorry that happened to you, last night! I've been practicing with my 3 year old all week long. Last night, he walked up to doors, gave his best, "Trick or Treat!", waited for the candy to be dropped into his bucket, and then said, "Thank you!" I was so proud of him. After each house, he would turn around and jump up and down saying, "This is the BEST Halloween EVER!"

I was pleasantly surprised with the polite behavior we saw last night, as well. DH was thrilled, as he was handing out the candy. It was such fun to see the kids in their costumes.

We did have a group of teenagers who came around. They weren't trick or treating for candy, though. They were trick or treating for canned goods for the local food pantry for the homeless. They were darling, and so respectful, as well! i was thrilled to load up a couple of grocery bags with macaroni and cheese, and soup for them. It was nice to see teenagers thinking of other people and not themselves! They looked like they were having fun, too. The teacher who was with them had treats for them in his truck, and they would stop every couple of houses for some apple cider from thermoses. It was cool to see!

That's so nice. While I do think that teenagers should outgrow trick-or-treating, I understand that some still do it. DH has been pretty strict with teenagers who've come to our home, asking where their costumes are and waiting for them to say, "Trick or treat." He's gotten some creative answers for the costume questions.

We used to live in a large neighborhood in a town that held trick-or-treating on the Sunday afternoon before Halloween. I actually loved that because it was light and the kids could play outside afterwards. But we always had people "bus" their kids into the neighborhood. The worst was when a group of around 10 people camped out on our stone fence for about 15 minutes. One little girl actually asked if she could have a bottle of water after I gave some to my kids and then they left trash in my yard. They weren't from our neighborhood and I was amazed at how the adults were acting too. We've always taught our children to say "Trick or treat" and "Thank you" no matter if they like what they get or not. Due to power outages, our trick-or-treating will be held on Saturday evening. I'm hoping that kids are polite in this neighborhood.

 

[abdmom]

We have one neighbor, in her 40's and doesn't have kids, who makes kids say thank you before they can leave her porch. She doesn't even give kids a chance to say it themselves before she says, "and what are you supposed to say?"

Maybe that was me - I was trying to get the kids to say "Trick or Treat". They would come to my door and just hold out a bag. They would usually say "Thank you" instead.

 

[Fire14]

I didn't see a single TOTer Our porch light doesn't work, we live in rural area and the weather sucked. I didn't even see any when I was out doing a home vist, I think it may have been because those towns/villages did theirs last weekend. My bff said she ran out of goodie bags 1 hr in. but their neighborhood is the neighborhood I guess.

 

[turkeymama]

Wow! I haven't read all the responses yet, but I felt compelled to share my story. Mostly, our night was uneventful. But there was one little darling who hurled all over my sidewalk and all over my yard. She wasn't very old and both parents were with her. Someone witnessed the incident and tried to help "lighten" the mood. He said, "aww, she's had a bunch of candy already, eh?" Parents said, "No, her brother yacked all last week. She's just got a virus." Seriously? So it was okay to parade this poor baby all over the neighborhood for candy? She was miserable. Grr, some people....

 

[branv]

But there was one little darling who hurled all over my sidewalk and all over my yard. She wasn't very old and both parents were with her. Someone witnessed the incident and tried to help "lighten" the mood. He said, "aww, she's had a bunch of candy already, eh?" Parents said, "No, her brother yacked all last week. She's just got a virus." Seriously? So it was okay to parade this poor baby all over the neighborhood for candy? She was miserable. Grr, some people....

Well, I suppose we should just be grateful they didn't pack her off to WDW like these type of parents really seem to like to do

Our second year in this subdivision, we had a doozy. Our next door neighbors are...welllll, let's just say interesting. On the positive side, they are obviously a tight group as almost daily their garage (aka "open air living room", with 2 large filthy couches) is full of family from toddler on up to granny (who owns the house). The bad news is that they all look and act like they've just rolled off a bar stool, chain smoke all day (from YOUNG, non-legal teen straight up, not always cigarettes if you catch my drift). The women regularly flash the neighborhood bending over in teeny clothing they're about 80 lbs too heavy for. Just...rough.

So, needless to say, one of these women brought their little girl to our door first thing. The little girl, maybe about 2 years old, was just darling, sweet and shy as could be. Her mother, however, stood there smoking away, completely polluting our partially enclosed front porch and stinking up our hallway. A bunch of other kids had come up at the same time, so they got their share of the second-hand smoke. I held the bowl out to the little girl, who very tentatively reached in. At this, her mother shoved her way past the other trick-or-treaters, saying, "No baby, get the good stuff. Mama like chocolate! Oh, d**n, Reese's!" She pushed her daughter back, and reached into the bowl herself, putting her mitts over all the candy, rummaging around for what she liked. She seriously stood there a full minute, and probably hand-picked five pieces for herself. I just stood there with a tight smile on my face, trying not to breathe and/or not offer to adopt that beautiful little girl. When she got done, she just yanked that little girl by the arm and marched off without a thank you. To the credit of the other trick-or-treaters, they patiently waited for her to finish, took 1-2 pieces each and all said, "thank you." Sad when small children know how to behave better than an adult.

I will say that I also learned that Halloween not to offer the bowl for kids to pick through. While most were polite, I had some that slammed their hands into the bowl with such a frenzy it almost knocked the bowl out of my hands. I was pretty amazed at how much candy some of those little hands could hold!

 

[okeydokey]

I must have passed out candy to 300 kids last night. Most were the under 8 set, and were adorable. Even the older kids and teens were polite.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We do a HUGE display and haunted house in our garage! There were many times I could not see the end of the line. It felt like the frenzied walk/run to Toy Story Mania! We live doing it, but now the word is out and we are getting more people then we are comfortable with. Plus my neighbors are starting to not put on their lights. Most kids were very polite. Only a couple of instances where people wanted to push their double wide strollers through or bring their dogs inside. I felt like WDW last night!

 

[meggiebeth]

Some people here have two different treats. Lots of people here have two bowls of treats- one is filled with candy and sweets and one is filled with apples. Some people like to assess kids and then give them candy if they're polite and an apple if they're rude! And some of the kids' faces when they get an apple are just hilarious! Then they learn to either be more courteous next year or just avoid the house!

We've had issues here with trick or treaters being nasty to houses that don't participate in Halloween. It is terrifying for the elderly especially.

The police have issued an official poster telling people not to knock on the door if a household should choose to put it up.

I like the culture in Scotland, where you have to do something to get your treat... Like say a joke, sing a song or do a little dance. Not to mention it gives the adult time to determine whether the child is polite and should get a treat! It feels more like then you are doing something more to get candy.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[diamondpixienc]

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.

O.M.G.! i am so sorry this happened to you. Our house would have been their LAST stop and you would have probably seen us on CNN. Besides isn't there an unwritten "only take 2 pieces" rule when offered candy on hallowen? We can actually leave a large bowl of candy in our driveway on a chair with a sorry we missed you note please only take 2 pieces and no one has ever taken all of it. Even with the half dozen Honey Boo-Boos trick or treating last night. Kuddos to the teacher who told them about themselves. Now, the dad who allowed their kid to run around in your house shame shame on him. I would have been horrified if any if mine had done that. Besides my youngest is 3 and i walked her to the door and held one hand the whole time. (she was able to hold her little pumpkin bucket with one hand)

 

[Andtototoo]

O.M.G.! i am so sorry this happened to you. Our house would have been their LAST stop and you would have probably seen us on CNN. Besides isn't there an unwritten "only take 2 pieces" rule when offered candy on hallowen? We can actually leave a large bowl of candy in our driveway on a chair with a sorry we missed you note please only take 2 pieces and no one has ever taken all of it.

I've only ever heard of the ONE piece rule. One person = one piece.

The fact that we left a bowl of candy out for less than five minutes and we only get our immediate neighbors and came back to find that 50 pieces of candy were gone was the last straw for us for Halloween.

 

[dzorn]

We didn't get any rude trick or treaters, but one of the places we took the kids to was rude!
We were a group of 10 kids (two of my friends have husbands deployed so they came to our house and my husband handed out candy while us moms took the kids out) In our group was my son who was 2, and my friends daughter who was 2 1/2. They are the youngest and want to do everything the big kids do, including trick or treat! I pushed them in the stroller, but we would park on the end of the driveways and they would walk up to the door with us. They were both in costumes too.
At one house when the older kids had been given candy and the two younger ones walked up and said "trick or treat" and held out their little buckets the woman said "No, you're obviously just trick or treating for mom and dad, they can buy their own candy or go trick or treating on their own street and get some" (I was on my own street!!)
What? The older kids immediately gave the younger two a piece of candy from their buckets, so no tears were shed, but holy rude batman!! None of us adults said anything (until we were out of earshot at least), but I kind of wish I had!
I wish my 2 year old didn't know what candy was or eat it, but with older siblings, he does! The little 2 1/2 year old that was with us has 4 older brothers, she knows too!
Another mom in the neighborhood said she wouldn't give her 20 month old candy either and said the same thing (minus the "their own street" part). Yikes!

I don't give candy to the little ones either. I have a special bowl of gold fish packs just for them.. Most of the kids around her were pretty polite.

Denise in MI

 

[msjprincess]

I am in the south, and kids never reach into help themselves. We pass it out. If some kid reached in to my bowl, he would hear about it from me It is ALWAYS rude in our area and kids don't do it. They may ask for a certain kind and if they ask nicely, I am fine with that

I always hold the bowl out and let the kids pick it themselves. I always have an assortment of at least 10 different things I figure let them pick what they like.

 

[Southernmiss]

DD10 told me this story after school. DD was passing out candy before/after she went trick or treating. A lady came up with young children and the lady held out her own bag. DD said "What age?" The lady said, "What?" taken aback and DD replied "I have goldfish for smaller children, I need to know how old the child is." I think the lady was busted by my DD!

 

[englishteacha]

We had good trick or treaters this year, but one year a boy came right up into my enclosed porch and then walked INTO my house! I was shocked. Who on earth walks INTO a stranger's house? I ushered him right back out but it freaked me out, to be honest.

Baby Z came with me to the door for many of the trick or treaters, and she loved seeing the kids. Many of the parents and kids visited for a few minutes and played with Z. Her toes got lots of tickles and there's something about a baby that makes everyone make funny faces!

 

[Parkhopper]

Back home in NJ we mostly got teenagers with no costumes, holding out their backpacks, who would rather die than say "Happy Halloween" or even "Trick of Treat".

:

I had a bunch of teenagers in Maryland who also just rang the doorbell and silently held out their bags. I would stand there with the candy and wait...ane wait...and finally say, "well, does anyone want to say the words?". Eventually I would get a "Trick or Treat" out of them, but I was amazed that it was like pulling teeth with some of the kids.

Suzi

 

[spacemountainmom]

We had a small number, but they were all polite. What drives me batty is the ones that come to the door and don't knock or ring the bell. One group did that early on, but they were noisy when they came up so I heard them and went to the door.

My daughter went to pick up her brother at church and asked me when she got home why I didn't open the door for the cute little princess that was there when she left. I said "what cute little princess?" I guess she came to the door alone and didn't knock or ring. I didn't know she was there. My dd told me that the parents gave her a dirty look as she was backing down the driveway.

Teach your kid to knock, ring or yell "Trick or Treat!" DUH!

 

[ksjayhawks]

OP--sorry you had such bad exPeriences.

I don't offer a bowl of candy. I keep mine in a small pumpkin bucket and drop the candy into their containers. Keeps it moving smoothly so you dont have one kid holding up everyone elae and avoids a kid trying to grab a lot.

 

[momof1princess]

Well, I suppose we should just be grateful they didn't pack her off to WDW like these type of parents really seem to like to do

Our second year in this subdivision, we had a doozy. Our next door neighbors are...welllll, let's just say interesting. On the positive side, they are obviously a tight group as almost daily their garage (aka "open air living room", with 2 large filthy couches) is full of family from toddler on up to granny (who owns the house). The bad news is that they all look and act like they've just rolled off a bar stool, chain smoke all day (from YOUNG, non-legal teen straight up, not always cigarettes if you catch my drift). The women regularly flash the neighborhood bending over in teeny clothing they're about 80 lbs too heavy for. Just...rough.

So, needless to say, one of these women brought their little girl to our door first thing. The little girl, maybe about 2 years old, was just darling, sweet and shy as could be. Her mother, however, stood there smoking away, completely polluting our partially enclosed front porch and stinking up our hallway. A bunch of other kids had come up at the same time, so they got their share of the second-hand smoke. I held the bowl out to the little girl, who very tentatively reached in. At this, her mother shoved her way past the other trick-or-treaters, saying, "No baby, get the good stuff. Mama like chocolate! Oh, d**n, Reese's!" She pushed her daughter back, and reached into the bowl herself, putting her mitts over all the candy, rummaging around for what she liked. She seriously stood there a full minute, and probably hand-picked five pieces for herself. I just stood there with a tight smile on my face, trying not to breathe and/or not offer to adopt that beautiful little girl. When she got done, she just yanked that little girl by the arm and marched off without a thank you. To the credit of the other trick-or-treaters, they patiently waited for her to finish, took 1-2 pieces each and all said, "thank you." Sad when small children know how to behave better than an adult.

I will say that I also learned that Halloween not to offer the bowl for kids to pick through. While most were polite, I had some that slammed their hands into the bowl with such a frenzy it almost knocked the bowl out of my hands. I was pretty amazed at how much candy some of those little hands could hold!

wow. just....wow.

 

[castmemberb4]

Badly behaved children and their parents are one, make that two, of the many reasons we chose not to have children. Along with working at WDW !
Believe me we saw the worst of both !

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I usually hand out the bucket if they are smaller and let them pick and hand out to the older kids. I guess my age has made it harder to figure out the children's ages. Some were confused when I handed them the bucket. Almost afraid to take.

I was not expecting a lot of children this year due to weather. We happen to be close to the city line and we did get the "car groups" though. They were pleasant but came to the house twice. I give out 2-3 for each kid so they made out at our house. I couldn't come out and say no you were already here. Also, the parents are so young now, they even had Halloween bags/buckets. Times are changing, so I guess so will my technique next year.

OP sorry you had a bad experience. Try to remember there really our great kids/parents still out there.