Crabmommy: All treat no trick?

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  Posted by Phoenix Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:54pm PDT

  I'll have to go ahead and say I'm glad no one will be TPing my house this Friday. I'm all for fun and lasting memories, but I don't think destructive behavior should be encouraged, sorry. Good luck with the trickery.

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  Posted by HotCrossBuns Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:01pm PDT

  Hehehee, oh this brings back memories. TP in trees. Soap on windows. Poo on door-stoops. nd oh the poor fool who left their car doors unlocked (wipers turned on, radio stations reprogrammed, seatbelts tied up behind the seats....)

  I remember one year we went around and took all of the 'For Sale' signs and moved them to other people's lawns, several streets away. We also used to buy plastic cutlery and "fork" people's lawns. At chrismastime, we still sometimes stop at friends' houses under the cover of dark and "rearrange" their lawn ornamentation into precarious positions...

  But these days it seems most young people's ideas of mischeif borderline on illegal vandalism, so I won't be inviting any tricksters to my house.

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  Posted by Open mouth, insert foot Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:33pm PDT

  There are harmless pranks (e.g. shaving cream tends to be the best, because it causes no permanent damage and basically disappears the next day), and then there's vandalism. Toilet paper is a pain to clean up, not to mention it's wasteful. Eggs can damage paint which again, costs money to redo. If you're going to play "tricks" on people, you better be ready to help clean up the mess later! Otherwise, it's completely unfair to the people who get stuck cleaning up and paying the bill for property damage. Kids don't always have the best judgment in choosing victims --elderly or handicapped individuals might have trouble cleaning up after your so-called "harmless" pranks. So I would say stick with the shaving cream, or only target people that you know won't mind (like friends).

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  Posted by Z's Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:04pm PDT

  Yup--I'd have to agree with Open Mouth. Hmm...this is a peculiar post. I'm not quite sure why you would want to teach your 4 year old that destruction of other people's property is not only OK, it's also fun? I'm not a square, even though that very phrase suggests I am, but I guess, maybe sadly, I have turned the corner from adolescence into adulthood enough to realize that, although it is much fun to give into peer pressure and do things like you described, it's a lot less fun for the people who have to clean it up the next day. I know, that was a run-on sentence. Also, I don't remember any parents in my day who actually condoned and have always hoped for this type of behavior from their child. Very strange. I guess I just don't understand "the crabmommy".

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  Posted by Crabmommy Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:07pm PDT

  Crabmommy here.

  Openmouth you said it well when you said "there are harmless pranks and then there's vandalism." I'm not advocating vandalism. I'm just advocating for a little bit of mischief. I realize there may be a fine line and maybe to many my "TPing" reference crosses it. To be honest, I wouldn't really know because I never grew up in the States and we didn't have Halloween, so such stories of teens toilet-papering someone's tree were merely exotic anecdotes to me.

  Let me put it this way: as Crabkid grows older and her tricks go beyond the home (if they even do), I would never officially encourage her to do something annoying to a stranger's house or car. But I wouldn't lose sleep if she got caught applying shaving cream to a window or sticking an egg in a mailbox or whatever prank she gets up to in the name of Halloween. I just believe there is something to the idea of allowing a bit of naughtiness into the air once a year. Our kids have to behave all the time (certainly mine does, because I'm a strict mommy). And if they get caught and have to clean up said shaving cream, then all's well that ends well and the punishment will fit the crime! Me, I like life to have a little bit of spice to it, and I like for holidays to have meaning. If trick or treat is all about treat then it's just a bland event that has lost its meaning.

  HotCross: sounds like you have happy memories of some harmless-sounding naughtiness from your childhood. That's all I'm talking about. I do believe that kids can be taught the difference between destruction of property and a prank, but if all the other adults around me think pranks=vandalism and nobody has a sense of humor about any of it, then I guess Crabkid will have to keep her eggs in the fridge. :(

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  Posted by Care Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:14am PDT

  Well, Crabkid would be welcome to TP my house, although TP anchors are limited because I don't have any trees in my yard. I'd be happy to have eggs left on my door step- how about a dozen? haha.

  Each Halloween, when I have little kiddos (and sometimes big kiddos) ring my bell and say "Trick or Treat", I always answer "Trick!". Poor things are always quite ill prepared, so I have to give instead of receive.

  Sigh.

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  Posted by HotCrossBuns Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:10pm PDT

  Aww, Crabby, don't get me wrong, I like the ideas of eggs in the mailbox, TP in the trees, tootsie rolls laid on the bedpillow the cat likes to sleep on, and Crabkid is welcome to put a flaming bag of poo on my steps anyday (as long as she's sure it's going to get put out one way or another, hehe). We play those kinds of pranks year-round in this house.

  I just meant I'm won't be advertising to anyone I don't know the fact that I enjoy a good prank (given or received) just for the plain fact that it does get taken too far by the kids who AREN'T taught what is too far, like the time some teenagers threw eggs at my house, missed the siding and cracked the window which broke and cost us almost $300 to fix because it required a special-order item. I'll take some cheap dog poo on my bo-bos over that fiasco anyday!

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  Posted by Kari Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:31pm PDT

  Why not take Crabkid to "boo" her neighbors? It's a fun and nice way to be sneaky. http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/halloween/l/blhalbooed.htm

  Also, April Fool's is just a few months away, maybe you could help her hatch some fun tricks to play around the house.

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