This is the reason my mother gave for shutting down early and she used that phrasing, saying Mexicans were being "bussed" in. However, let's make less racially motivated and more generalized. Do you object to having out of neighborhood kids trick or treating in your area?
Kids are kids. Usually the neighborhood kids came first anyway, and I always had a ton of candy on hand. What's the harm? When the candy was gone or it got too late for the younger kids to be out, then I shut down. Unfortunately, it's been years since kids went around the neighborhoods here - schools, churches, and businesses have 'parties' for them instead. Such a shame.
Yeah, I didn't think kids did the door to door thing anymore. It is a shame because it was such fun as a kid in the 70's. But you did say "shutting down early" so maybe there is an establishment in play at one of the locations @shadowwalker mentioned?
We still do door-to-door here. I live in the country and get about five kids. I'd LOVE to have extra kids from somewhere. The more, the better!
We also have the door to door parade here, but it's pretty much all local kids. We're a small town, and the larger surrounding towns also have door to door monsterlings. But you know what? I really never gave a shit whether they were local or "imported", nor would I. If anything, I would be pleased to know we were considered to be a fun place to Trick or Treat. And isn't that the whole point? Sheesh.
Let's just pivet from a race issue to a class issue! Dear Prudence column sets rich against poor trick-or-treaters
We used to buy a lot of candy, but there were no kids. So we had to eat all the candy by ourselves. Why were there no children? I love when they come knocking and we can throw a lollipop or two their way, but apparently it isn't as appealing to them any more...
Depends on the neighbourhood. A few years ago I lived in a working class neighbourhood in Vancouver and we had over 150 kids on Halloween. Had to go out for extra candy the first year, figured it out for the second year and bought a LOT. It was excellent.
My son and I used to go all out with decorations and tons and tons of candy - a typical year meant 150-200 kids. That's when we lived in the City. The last couple years before I moved back to my hometown, it started dwindling. I think a lot of it had to do with the drug scares (used to be razors when I was a kid). I really loved taking my son out, and then seeing all the kids in their costumes - especially the really tiny tots! Sigh...
Oh good grief, "bussing them in"? I used to take my son to a nearby neighborhood for trick or treating because so few houses in this neighborhood participated. We've had busy years and quiet years. I always buy candy and put the pumpkins out. I can't believe people balk about a few dollars of candy to give out. If you have too many kids come by, buy cheaper candy. When I was a kid, hundreds of kids came to the door and we went to hundreds of houses.
For the record, no one goes to the 1% households to trick or treat. The houses are too far apart and typically behind locked gates. So we are talking about lower class and upper middle class. I live in a 3/4 of a million dollar house which in this city is middle class. The upper middle class all live in million dollar houses. I think I can afford $20 worth of candy for one night.
I assume this was inspired, at least in part, by the Dear Prudence column? Our neighborhood gets trick or treaters, but I wish we got more. We've lived in our current house for 12 years, and this is the first house where we have had trick or treaters, and I was always so glad we *finally* had them. (Prior to this we had lived in apartment complexes, or in cities, or in areas with very few children. At one point we did live in a townhouse development, very close to single family homes and to an elementary school, so I had expected we'd get a lot of trick or treaters, especially since townhouses were always better -- much more efficient. But we were surprised to get none.) So, I'm happy to have trick or treaters, and wouldn't care if kids came from other areas. We don't get as many as I'd like as we're near the end of our street.
I remember buying candy when I lived in Seattle, a nice little neighborhood, and not a single kid came by. It was disappointing.
We live in an apartment, and the first year here we bought candy and had only one tricker treater. All of the other children around got "bussed out" to the real neighborhood. When we live in a real neighborhood we'll do it again, but for now there's no one to get candy for.
So they're concentrating the trick or treaters into controlled areas using scare tactics. Who's next?
Those were her words. I know my mother to be a racist, but I would have thought that she would give kids some latitude. For those of you who don't get kids coming by, check if there is a stipulation on it. Here, you need to have a light on (in the afternoon) to show you're participating. When I was a kid, we would go ToTing at night. That's not allowed anymore. To many neglectful parents, I think.
It's tradition that you have to have a porch or door light on before kids stop - and no one even considered going out until at least dusk. What fun is daylight?
What does this have to do with writing? Also, I see the issue with there being too many children but I bet if those kids were white, your mother or anybody else in your neighborhood wouldn't consider it a problem. If it's the drug cartels posing threats then that's different. But every child deserves to be treated the same, and of course it isn't going to be like that but I feel I should speak out on it..
Hmm... Maybe you could ship a couple of those buses over to Sweden? I think we could do with a few more ToTers over here. Nothing, and that's the point. This is The Lounge, the place were people hang around talking and chatting about whatever comes to their minds.
I wonder which person spelled it "bussing" (kissing) as opposed to "busing" (transporting via bus). I've been sitting on my fingers since I first saw the initial post.
