Watch this segment live on FITM this Monday, October 30th between 8:00 and 8:30a.m.
Background: Most children are busy daydreaming this week about getting ready for Halloween parties and trick or treating next Tuesday. However, Halloween can be both a fun or scary experience depending upon certain precautions that parents need to put in place. To begin with, costumes can be both amusing and fun but also quite frightening when considering the age of the child.
For the under 6- year olds, too much exposure to costumes or decorations involving blood, guts, or mangled body parts, as well as too scary a costume, can evoke both extreme anxiety and bad dreams. In some cases, such over-stimulation can cause fears which can last up to a month or longer. Parents of this group of children need to both be careful what they allow their child to wear as well as what they are exposed to during the Halloween ritual. It is recommended that this group begin trick or treating as early as possible and end before the older children get onto the streets wearing graphic costumes and engaging in possible pranks. Obviously, parents need to stay very close to the children in this age group. In addition, when approaching homes with creepy decorations, be sensitive as to whether your child will be too affected by the decor and if so, you may wish to miss that particular house. Haunted houses are also NOT recommended for the under 6 year-olds for the same reasons as mentioned regarding costumes and decorations for children in this age group are still between fantasy and reality thinking and graphic exposure may feel "too real" to them causing undue anxiety.
For the 6 to 11 year-olds, it is suggested that parents also stay close by as they venture onto the streets due to possible dangers that could occur due to group behaviors and the effects of anonminity that wearing costumes can cause - for example, children are more likely to act out if their identity is masked. In addition, impulsivity increases in numbers. Therefore, parents are needed to safeguard the grade school aged child.
Regarding the early to middle adolescents, they will most likely try to ditch any parent who attempts to tag along, but it is still suggested that the parents of this age group are still somewhere present in the neighborhood - perhaps in a parked car at the end of the street - here, the adolescent has some independence but also some supervision to help keep them from getting into any trouble. Hopefully, the post 16 year olds have given up trick or treating, so this should not be an issue for most parents.
As always, parents need to check through the candy and toss away anything that is unwrapped or seems questionable. Furthermore, limits need to be placed on the amount of candy eaten in order to avoid potential negative health effects. Following these guidelines should assist in a fun and happy Halloween.
Safe Halloween Planning Key Points:
1. For the under 6-year olds, be careful about exposure to scary costumes/houses.
2. Start the evening early for the small children to avoid older children antics.
3. Up to preadolescence, parents need to be chaperones for safety.
4. For the early to middle adolescent, position yourself at a checkpoint.
5. Always check through candy and limit consumption.
Dr. Keith Kanner
Show Host
Your Family Matters
Fox6 News - San Diego
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About drkanner
Dr. Kanner is a Licensed Clinical Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychologist and Psychoanalyst with a full time private practice in Rancho Santa Fe, California. He is also an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at U.C. San Diego and a Clinical Instructor and Supervisor at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Recently, he has become the Director of Clinical Counseling for La Jolla Country Day School and has been named to the National Board of Directors for KidsKorps, USA. He continues as a Consultant for many public and private schools in San Diego and has also received distinguished teaching awards over the past seven years. He is a published author and a sought after speaker on topics pertaining to childhood, adolescence, and parenthood. He is also presently writing a book for Fox based on his show, Your Family Matters.
