Now they're going after Halloween

[dish rag]

I disagree. Most kids aren't really able to do this on their own until about fourth grade. Primary students without parental support for holidays have a difficult time. Teachers help them, but that's not the same when you see your friend dressing in the beautiful ice princess costume you were wishing you had. Young kids just can't decide to go trick or treating without their parents.

That's sad but it's also life. You learn to deal with it.

 

[disykat]

That's sad but it's also life. You learn to deal with it.

Why should we try to be inclusive? They can just learn to deal with it. Toughen up, kiddos, we want our costume parades during school hours!

 

[wonder whisper]

Yeah give the kids what they want. None of that boring math or english or history or all that other learning garbage. It's all about the kids. More parties. It's what they want.

On the history tangent, I wouldn't be surprised if the same MA principals who have just banned the use of the word "Halloween" in conjunction with any school activity are now rushing to deal with the word "Pilgrims" being associated in the curriculum with the word "Thanksgiving." "Pilgrims" will also be banned and replaced by the term "Imperialist European colonists who brutally displaced indigenous peoples."

Then you will see a real media circus when the Chamber of Commerce in Plymouth, MA declares war on the towns engaging in revisionist history.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Yup. Now they all are. Glad you agree.

Concession accepted sir.

 

[dish rag]

Why should we try to be inclusive? They can just learn to deal with it. Toughen up, kiddos, we want our costume parades during school hours!

That's right!!!

 

[Julie's Haircut]

Have you ever been to Salem in October?

No, not in October. But I'm well aware that Salem has a large Halloween celebration throughout the whole month.

I was there twice, once over 30 years ago, and then again three years ago. Both times in late spring.

What I found fascinating 30 years ago was the harbor. It was low tide, and the boats were resting on the muddy bottom.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Why should we try to be inclusive? They can just learn to deal with it. Toughen up, kiddos, we want our costume parades during school hours!

Toughen up falls on deaf ears when the ones saying it aren't even tough enough to handle the costume parade after hours instead of during school hours on a day that isn't even a holiday where they get out of school.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Nice hyperbole

I knew you would appreciate it.

 

[tvguy]

Actually, the Peanuts themed Halloween and Christmas cartoons have previously migrated. Both first appeared on CBS, but then moved in 2001 to ABC. Frankly, I don't care what network they may go to next, as long as it isn't "Nothing But Commercials."

Like said earlier in this thread, Peanuts to me is a newspaper comic strip, I just don't like all the TV cartoon versions. Probably because I had read the comic strip for so long before the TV versions came out in the mid to late 1960's. Just didn't translate to TV well for me.
Funny thing is, I loved the Batman TV, but I never read the comic strip before it went on the air. And for the record, Adam West IS Batman, all those other guys later in the movies, are impostors!

 

[mjkacmom]

Why should we try to be inclusive? They can just learn to deal with it. Toughen up, kiddos, we want our costume parades during school hours!

The slacker parent is the same one not buying poster board for the project, not getting a costume for the wax museum, not providing school,supplies. I’ve never met a single kid not excited about Halloween, even with a lame costume (I’ve had my boys dress as soccer players, basketball players, heck, ds was a girl and just wore his twin sister’s clothes. Cost isn’t an issue, some of the most creative costumes cost very little.

The fact that you didn’t like it as a kid is an anomaly.

 

[L&Lfan]

Peanuts Christmas is the only one that's must see for me. Peanuts Halloween was part of my childhood, but not in the same league as the Christmas special. All the rest you can have...I do like the comics.


OT...one of our area's radio stations switched to an all Christmas music format TODAY.

 

[moon]

There is no reason a kid should be in tears without a costume. I never had a store bought costume, and my mom was not crafty. I was a baby or a bum most years, throw in a cat every now and then. Goodwill is great for costume ideas, and with the internet, you don’t even need to be clever, tons of cheap ideas. And all kids, rich, poor, get the same right to ring doorbells and ask for candy, the more work you put in, the more candy you get.

I agree. One of the best costumes I've ever seen was a young girl wearing a square cardboard box. It had openings for her head, arms and legs. it had painted or added colored squares...she was a Rubik's cube! It was awesome, so clever an unique. She stood out among the dozens of store-bought princesses and fairies. People kept admiring her costume and telling her how much they like it. It was a hit!

 

[DisneyOma]

In order to understand this "being news" you'd have to go way back to understanding Boston and its colonial roots: fiercely proud, willing to put lives on the line for independence, the start of the American Revolution and all that, and steeped in strong tradition ever since. It doesn't mean that we're not progressive, necessarily, because we absolutely are, but - put it this way - many people here don't like having things taken away from them.

That's as simple as I can get.

Nobody likes things taken away from them, do they?

Having many ancestors that fought in the Revolutionary War, including one who was shot (but not killed) during the Lexington skirmish, I get that there's a deep tradition, but I've found that people are quite willing to be inclusive. It's all about how the news stations phrase things. No one does an unbiased news report anymore.

 

[disykat]

The fact that you didn’t like it as a kid is an anomaly.

Sure, I agree with that. That's why it's so painful for the kids who either aren't allowed or supported by their families to participate. Every school I've been in does tons of things that celebrate fall and Halloween, removing the 2 hour time suck of a costume parade for a small amount of parents and having an after school event doesn't change that. (Plus the added thing that some kids are excluded that I talked of earlier.) Parents want it all, so teachers end up skipping some of the cool educational opportunities the holiday provides to have the kids parade through or around an empty school (all the kids are parading) in their costumes. Missing art projects, math games, science experiments, etc. to do a Halloween costume parade just doesn't make sense to most teachers, who usually vote against the Halloween parade - at least in my experience. People just like to blame "religion" for things. IMO the best way to "have it all" is to have the after school events or have people do the costume thing on their own after school.

At the school I was at the teacher's overwhelmingly shot down the costume parade. However, we have all sorts of fun. Some of the older classes put on plays, one teacher knows how to milk the silk out of spiders and is in great demand to demonstrate. Lower grades usually do cooking and/or candy math games. Everyone does art projects. All of those things can be adjusted around whomever is in your class. Then we have a carnival after school. Yet, every year we hear "they're cancelling Halloween due to religion." What?

 

[CinderDuffy]

Sure, I agree with that. That's why it's so painful for the kids who either aren't allowed or supported by their families to participate. Every school I've been in does tons of things that celebrate fall and Halloween, removing the 2 hour time suck of a costume parade for a small amount of parents and having an after school event doesn't change that. (Plus the added thing that some kids are excluded that I talked of earlier.) Parents want it all, so teachers end up skipping some of the cool educational opportunities the holiday provides to have the kids parade through or around an empty school (all the kids are parading) in their costumes. Missing art projects, math games, science experiments, etc. to do a Halloween costume parade just doesn't make sense to most teachers, who usually vote against the Halloween parade - at least in my experience. People just like to blame "religion" for things. IMO the best way to "have it all" is to have the after school events or have people do the costume thing on their own after school.

At the school I was at the teacher's overwhelmingly shot down the costume parade. However, we have all sorts of fun. Some of the older classes put on plays, one teacher knows how to milk the silk out of spiders and is in great demand to demonstrate. Lower grades usually do cooking and/or candy math games. Everyone does art projects. All of those things can be adjusted around whomever is in your class. Then we have a carnival after school. Yet, every year we hear "they're cancelling Halloween due to religion." What?

We did art projects. We did "candy history lessons." And yet, the teachers still managed to find time for a school costume parade and classroom parties. No learning was happening whatsoever for an hour or so while many snacks were being consumed, and that was okay too. There is something special for kids about wearing a costume to school. There was always the kid whose costume was an old black sweatsuit and a homemade cat mask or whatever. They didn't care. We didn't care. It was Halloween and we were having fun.

My kids' schools are much the same now. In the midst of today's obsession with scores and statistics, I'm fine with my kids and their classmates having some time to decompress. Then again, I also take them out for family vacations, for their birthdays, and sometimes just because I think they need a day off.

 

[amberpi]

Then again, I also take them out for family vacations, for their birthdays, and sometimes just because I think they need a day off.

I don't disagree personally, but 5 unexcused (no doc notes) is truancy and has some serious consequences in my parts. I don't have kids, and think it's silly, but still...its the law.

 

[wonder whisper]

I don't disagree personally, but 5 unexcused (no doc notes) is truancy and has some serious consequences in my parts. I don't have kids, and think it's silly, but still...its the law.

Good point and I hope this discussion doesn't turn into the proverbial "how can I pull my kids out of school for a ten day vacation at WDW and not get into trouble by sending the principal a note explaining the vast educational value of the trip?"

 

[amberpi]

Good point and I hope this discussion doesn't turn into the proverbial "how can I pull my kids out of school for a ten day vacation at WDW and not get into trouble by sending the principal a note explaining the vast educational value of the trip?"

I'm making 0 value judgments, but its a flat policy. More than 5 unexcused absences goes to the truancy officer. Principals in this case have no say.

 

[Kaytie]

In order to understand this "being news" you'd have to go way back to understanding Boston and its colonial roots: fiercely proud, willing to put lives on the line for independence, the start of the American Revolution and all that, and steeped in strong tradition ever since.

Both Needham and Norwood are towns completely independent from Boston, which is its own city. Sure, they're all in the Greater Boston area, but that doesn't make these towns "Boston."

Needham has eight schools, only one of which made the reported change. Norwood has seven, with again only one making a change.

On the history tangent, I wouldn't be surprised if the same MA principals who have just banned the use of the word "Halloween"

Huh? Which principals banned the use of any word?

 

[CinderDuffy]

I don't disagree personally, but 5 unexcused (no doc notes) is truancy and has some serious consequences in my parts. I don't have kids, and think it's silly, but still...its the law.

I make a phone call and say "child will be out from x date to x date due to family vacation" or "child will be absent today" and that's that. Have yet to see any truancy officers banging on our door.