Educate, Advocate, Empower

"Educate, Advocate, Empower"

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Halloween fears: Is your toddler afraid of people wearing masks?

Here's what the ZERO TO THREE National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families suggests you can do to make Halloween a little less spooky for your child:http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/

  • Provide some (non-frightening) masks for your child to play with in the weeks before Halloween. Having your child peek through the eye-holes, and seeing you do the same, will help to de-sensitize him before the 31st rolls around.
  • Trick-or-treat during the daytime—or skip it altogether. Many organizations—preschools, malls, churches or synagogues—have Halloween programs that don’t require going out at night.
  • If you do go out, avoid those houses with the dry-ice fog! Some families really get into the Halloween holiday (which is great), but these are the houses to skip on your Halloween route. Your little goblin doesn’t need to have the armless hand give him candy or be startled by the stuffed witch that cackles on a motion detector. Stick to houses you know, so your child will be greeted by friendly faces at the door. Walk up and ring the bell with your little one, and crouch down next to her in case she feels unsure.
  • How to handle trick-or-treaters at your door? One answer is to let someone else have the door-answering honors while you and your child play in another room. But if you want your child to participate in handing out candy, first take a peek outside to see whether your visitors are more Casper or Poltergeist. If they’re scary-ish, you may want to hand off your toddler to another adult, and do a solo Snickers distribution this time. If your trick-or-treaters appear to be friendly ghosts, get down at your child’s level and open the door slowly. As you do, tell your child what costumes he will see. If you know the kids, you can ask them to take their masks off so your toddler recognizes who they are “underneath.”


With you there to help and support him, your child will make it through Halloween night—especially once he realizes just what’s in those goody bags he keeps getting at every house.

Your home could be full of potential hazards!

Unhealthy housing is linked to unhealthy children. Learn about lead and other hazards, and learn the warning signs and steps to create a healthy, safe, energy efficient and sustainable home at http://www.greenandhealthyhomes.org/

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