Halloween, defanged.

I often write/present about generational differences and their effects in the workplace, but clearly the workplace is not the only place these differences are seen or have meaning.

A recent NY Times article illuminated one generational difference regarding the meaning and message of a favorite children’s holiday: Halloween. Some schools, concerned that Halloween constumes might be either too scary or too gross, are creating new prohibitions on what is an acceptable costume to wear to school and even looking to encourage “positive costumes.”

This is most definitely a new paradigm for a new generation of kids who really should just be wrapped in bubble wrap. For goodness sake!! It’s Halloween!! It’s supposed to be scary!! It’s supposed to make you jump and scream and run down the street with your friends away from the spooky house with the crazy old lady before you gorge yourself on Snickers, Smarties, Twizzlers, Blow Pops, Reeses and Milky Ways!!

Let children experience a full range of emotions. Not everything has to be a lesson in political correctness. Let them have fangs and claws and blood dripping down their maniacal faces. It’s HALLOWEEN!!