Last night was pretty rough for my 5 year old. He woke up twice in the night, scared from that house that turned its garage, driveway, and front yard into a scary graveyard. The house was awful. I didn't even want to go near it. Ethan and I kept right on moving while Eric walked Owen up to get candy.
I cuddled Ethan till he fell asleep. He asked me why people make scary decorations. He said people should make their windows look nice for people. All I could do was tell him he was right and just cuddle him some more.
I love all that candy, too. And it's so cute and fun to see the kids dressed up in friendly costumes. But I don't think it's worth letting my kids see creepy stuff that scares them that they will remember for a long long time.
I remember being in third grade and I saw E.T. It TERRIFIED me. Many people couldn't understand why I was scared of E.T. He was a good guy, a friendly alien, etc.
I knew E.T. wasn't real, but it was my own imagination that got me all scared. I had a night light plugged in under the window, and the shadow the window valance made on the ceiling from it looked just like E.T.'s body from the side, with his neck all stretched out. It made me remember the scene when E.T. was really sick, all powdery white, laying on the floor of Elliot's bathroom, reaching out to Elliot's mom and crying.
I don't know how many days went by that I couldn't sleep because I couldn't take my eyes off that shadow, watching to see if it actually moved, which meant E.T. was in my room! Which meant he'd sneak up on me and stretch his head up over the side of my bed! And maybe he had fangs! And he might show me those fangs and growl at me...and on and on and on my imagination went.
You know, to this day, I can't sleep with my back to the edge of the bed. Maybe it's because of that old childhood fear.
I think our days of going out on the street are over...there are a lot of cute costumes out there, but there's lots of scary stuff, too. If we find a church that has a carnival, we can still dress up and have fun without the icky creepy stuff.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
I Think I've Changed My Mind
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3 comments:
next year you need to vacation right about this time in wav town... i know of an awesome place that would love if you came!!- but praying that your move will find an awesome one first!
I so get what you're saying. I really think moms need to heed the little flickering inside us that tells us something is not quite right. You sound like a really compassionate mom.
Some friends of ours from CA tell us they have "trunk or treats" in the church parking lots. They decorate their cars/trunks and avoid the dark side of Halloween. I guess it is pretty popular there...much safer. I think I would like that.
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