by Margaret Merrill

Created on: November 01, 2009

Remember those bullies at Halloween? They usually come in the form of high school kids-and older-which is totally my reason for saying Yes to a cut-off age. Not only do they do all sorts of nasty, dirty things, but they also tend to take the fun out of Halloween by hogging up all the candy and pulling mean pranks.

I remember having a great time when it was time to go to Halloween parties, as a kid. Dressing up in all sorts of different costumes-Raggedy Anne, a scarecow, Pippi Longstocking, just to name a new-gave me all sorts of pleasure. However, going trick-or-treating was the cause of some consternation several times over the years, thanks to the high school kids.

Planning out each costume every year with my mom, was always fun. Besides planning the costume, we had to decide what treats to hand out, and what treats to take to school. Add in the party Mom threw every year for the whole neighborhood, and we were talking tons of Halloween fun-except for those high school kids.

It happened every Halloween-and it was actually quite a downer for me-the high school kids that would go out trick-or-treating. So many of the high schoolers would toilet paper houses, or egg cars while we were all out-supposedly just having fun. How can it be fun for the little kids to go out trick-or-treating when the adults are suddenly all ticked off because of some irresponsible teenagers who have damaged property? It can't possibly be fun for the little ones then. Truly, it's not fair, and that just has to stop.

Oh, and don't forget how many times they would steal bags of candy from little kids just because they wanted more. Once kids hit ninth grade, I think, they forget how to act decently when it comes to Halloween, and they need to be banned. OK, they can play chaperone for younger siblings, but other than that, nothing more.

So yes, there does need to be an age cut-off for Halloween, I'm not ashamed to say I think so. That age cut off should be when the child enters high school, at the latest. As the teenagers mature, their sense of humor becomes darker, and meaner-not the innocent fun that the children that are going around in the Halloween costumes are looking for.

I can hear the argument now-everyone deserves to be able to go out trick-or-treating. Maybe, but at the same time, everyone deserves to be able to go out trick-or-treating, and not face any type of pranks, either. Sure, there is the "trick" or "treat" aspect of the holiday-but that does NOT mean defacing or destroying someone's property, either.

It's time to keep Halloween as innocent as possible again...

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