Keep Halloween fun, not scary for kids

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While most adults see Halloween as a time for merriment and indulging in the spooky and mildly scary, if not exposed to the festivities properly many children - especially younger kids - can associate the holiday with death and fear. An adult might have fun shrieking and scaring themselves silly at a haunted house and see no problem with scaring trick-or-treaters of all ages by playing creepy music and appearing at the door wearing a scary mask, but many youngsters will find it frightening or even traumatizing.

According to Cindy Dell Clark, a researcher and professor of human development at Penn State, parents of younger children need to ease them into the holiday. She states that because of the years spent trying to shield children from death and fear, suddenly exposing them to it on Halloween may be overwhelming and scary.

"Halloween is a time when we expose kids to behavior that is not the norm. Children connect the holiday with death," said Clark in Science Daily. "We typically distance ourselves from death and shield children from it, but in this case, young children encounter their fears when they face decorations of skeletons and tombstones."

Text: Sixwise.com

Images:  Copyright AP. Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Image: A boy looks at the halloween display at the Spirit Halloween store in New York.