Happy Halloween,Everyone!
Halloween is this week and I know there are many children excited! Perhaps even parents are ready to celebrate this event with fond memories from their childhood. There are costumes to wear, parades to watch (and be part of), and lots of candy to collect Trick or Treating!
Not every one shares this excitement at equal levels. While the idea of ‘trick-or-treating’ is exciting in theory, there are those with sensory issues who discover the idea is much more appealing, than actually in the participation. And for parents, while their child looks forward to the festivities, behavioral or emotional problems become a great deal more difficult to handle, given the adrenalin rush the activities incite.
One situation which can really ‘up-end’ a child with emotional or behavioral problems is haunted houses; especially those with an asylum-theme. These Halloween ‘attractions’ are often boycotted because real life history of people with mental illnesses become exceedingly frightening for those experiencing any level of this disease.
Disabilities come in a variety of ways. Children may need to lip read because hearing is impaired, or find masks cumbersome, given the way they can fit on their face, block their view, and rub their skin, and a wheelchair bound child requires a special costume that also accommodates the ‘chair’.
Alternatives to cumbersome costumes might be face painting, while using non-edible objects for ‘treats’ instead of candy given the amount of children with a variety of different allergies. Using small items like finger puppets, glow sticks,
Halloween erasers, and a lot more!
Another possibility to accommodate children who aren’t particularly excited about trick-or-treating, even though the prize is lots of candy, might be having a Halloween party within your home. Invite guests with different abilities if possible, so everyone feels like they are on equal footing!
Bring out the pumpkins and let everyone scoop out the slimy seeds and carve fun faces—- or if carving is a problem, let them use markers to create their masterpiece, then add glitter, stickers and other fun decorations to make it their own!
Another game that can accommodate any child might be using decorated mandarin oranges to pass around to music. Begin with one orange with a painted face or otherwise decorated; and begin the music. Pass it around until the music stops. The child holding the orange wins the orange but is now out of the game. Continue until every child has an orange. The last one out is the winner.
Many children (and adults) love Halloween with all the eeriness and whatever the ‘dark side’ can add. Others, like myself, prefer the fun not requiring my heart having a ‘scared out of chest experience’. I enjoy parades, but enjoy the fun which remains cheerful and totally non-threatening. Perhaps that makes me odd and I’m not even disabled. But I do get, to some degree, how those with a disability may feel about being scared senseless.
My personality doesn’t thrive on heart stopping fear and that’s okay. We are all created different, and that’s okay too. It doesn’t make me any less a ‘fun-seeker’ than anyone who enjoys that kind of extreme fright. The same remains true for those with disabilities, and it’s important to remember that, especially at Halloween when the theme for many, is the extreme scare, and the more extreme, the scarier.
All that said, I say, in a very cheerful voice, “Happy Halloween”! Enjoy it the way you were designed and certainly don’t frown upon, mock or humiliate anyone who prefers to celebrate differently.