The Uncool House on the Block

Halloween is Monday.  Trick-or-treating with your kids is a great time for parents to reinforce good walking and crossing habits.  My daughter and I took a walk together this week to a local fall festival.  Although it was still daylight when we started out on our walk, I carried a small flashlight and dressed us both in turquoise jackets with reflective detail.  Always curious, my daughter asked why I had the flashlight.  I used the opportunity to talk to her about pedestrian safety, “I want the cars to see us.  The flashlight makes us more conspicuous, as do our brightly colored jackets.  Have you ever heard the word conspicuous or conspicuity?”  She hadn’t.  “Conspicuity is the ability to pick out an object from it’s environment or background.  I want us to be conspicuous so the cars can see us.”  I gave her another example, “The dog’s Frisbees are orange so we can easily find them in the backyard.    They’re conspicuous.  If they were green, they’d blend in with the grass.”  She was quiet for a moment.  I could tell she was thinking; she’s very smart at four years old and spends a lot of time throwing the dog his Frisbees.   I prepared myself for the intelligent question on conspicuity that I was sure would follow.  “Mom, will there be candy at this party?”

Where there won’t be candy this Halloween is at our house .  My husband assures me we’ll have to clean eggs off our cars on Tuesday morning if we don’t give out candy.  I’m not worried.  The decision not to give out candy was out of concern for diabetics, our youngest daughter being one.  I've contemplated all the possible candy alternatives: apples, pencils, stickers, pamphlets on pedestrian safety.  All of those would probably get our cars egged. 

Whatever we give out, we will have to have at least 100 ready.  Our neighborhood sees a lot of pedestrian traffic on Halloween.  Most streets in the traditional neighborhood are lined with sidewalks, one of the reasons we decided to live here.  The sidewalks, coupled with the closely spaced lots, make for ideal trick-or-treating on foot.   There are also lots of young families, many of which attended the fall festival like me and my daughter. 

The festival was a lot of fun.  We spent most of our time at the jump house and playing the carnival games.  We got a small bag of popcorn, but no candy.  As we were leaving the jump house for the final time, three boys raced by us, their arms aglow in bright neon.  My daughter excitedly exclaimed, “Mom, where did they get the bracelets?  I want a bracelet!”  I smiled – Glow Bracelets – the perfect non-candy alternative for Halloween.  We'll be handing them out on Monday.  Maybe our house wouldn’t be so uncool afterall, at least in this regard.  At the very least, the neighborhood kids will be a bit more conspicuous as they walk from one house to the next in pursuit of candy.   

I’ll let you know on Tuesday if there are any eggs on our cars.