Onondaga Central
This Halloween, you may find yourself handing out candy, taking your siblings around the neighborhood, or completely disregarding the holiday and its traditions. But at this age, as high-schoolers, is it still okay for us to go trick-or-treating? How old is too old for trick-or-treating? Answers to this question range anywhere from twelve to sixteen, and it varies by location.
Most areas around the country don’t have a specific age limit for trick-or-treating, but there is a level of social acceptability. Some areas, on the other hand, have set bans on trick-or-treating past a certain age. In Chesapeake, Virginia, city officials set a maximum age limit of twelve years old for trick-or-treating this year. Anyone over the age of twelve faces a misdemeanor charge, up to six months in jail, and $25 to $100 in fines (Timsit). Nine other towns in Virginia, as well as others across the country, have followed suit, setting the cutoff age at twelve. Additionally, a town in Canada set a trick-or-treating ban for anyone over the age of sixteen (Timsit). Town officials admit that they are not actively seeking out “over-age” teens on Halloween; they are merely setting a standard in order to push for less pranks and vandalism. Parents, however, believe that by telling kids they can’t go out on Halloween will have the opposite effect. Many parents go on to say that kids of all ages should be encouraged to take part in the traditions of Halloween. Dressing up and taking part in the magic of Halloween could possibly help some of the problems that teens deal with today, such as depression and anxiety (Timsit). Others believe the reason for setting an age limit on trick-or-treating is to ensure that younger kids are priority. One woman states that she wants to “make sure the younger kids are getting the chance and opportunity, but I don’t want to discourage teens from enjoying this as long as they’re behaving well” (Gajanan). Teens who still want to go trick-or-treating, parents say, should try taking their younger siblings out. That way, your younger sibling can have a fun holiday experience and you can, too. Others say that Halloween night should have specific time frames for different age groups to go out. However, this could prolong the night as a whole, causing people to pass out candy for nearly five hours. In conclusion, although many places have not set an age limit on trick-or-treating, it is definitely something that needs to be taken into consideration if you are a teenager. But if teenagers are well-behaved and dressed in a costume, who’s to say that they shouldn’t be allowed to trick-or-treat? After all, one major argument of teens today is that they’re growing up too fast. By allowing kids of all ages to trick-or-treat, we are helping to preserve childhoods. Sources: https://qz.com/1419215/this-halloween-some-us-towns-will-ban-teens-from-trick-or-treating/ https://time.com/4976689/how-old-is-too-old-trick-or-treat-halloween/
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