Children should experience this ...

I don't think it has to do with being a complete distraction, more to do with them being scary. But really the principal is opposed to Halloween and that's that.

On "Harvest Night" she would not allow pumpkins because they were too closely associated with Halloween.

"Crazy Hair Day" is a "complete distraction" as well, but the school allows that.

At our paper on Oscar night, the entertainment folks (and others) dress up as characters. It's actually quite cool and not a distraction in the least.

I'll be sure to send out an invite for our Ebenezer Scrooge party. Oops, I slipped in a Christmas reference, didn't mean to be so politically incorrect.

 

Isn't this in your control? If you want your kids to have that freedom, let them have it.

 

Was thinking the same thing.

Read a horribly depressing story in the Toronto Star a year or so ago about a mother who let her child ride his bike around the block alone for the first time. The kid was twelve years old.

 

Wish my kid could ride his bike to baseball practice and back. Only problem is the parks he practises in are nowhere near the house.

 

It's not painfully boring nor structured. It can be a learning environment without being either of those things. It doesn't, however, have to be a free-for-all.

 

How is wearing a costume one day a year a free for all?

 

Kiddos should get to pet farm animals.

Go on a train ride with cars in which you're able to open the windows.

They should be able to go on a jet plane trip just for fun, before it becomes something they'll do as a chore as an adult.

They should be able to eat watermelon and spit the seeds into the back yard.

They should be given a couple of dollars for no reason to spend on whatever they want.

 

Buy him a transponder and he could take the 407.

 

That is very sad.
I understand that it's not always possible for a kid to ride a bike to school or basketball practice. I know highways often split towns.
But without nitpicking specifics, parents set boundaries for freedom, discovery, etc. Those things are important and should be balanced with safety.

(I rode a bike down the Long Island Expressway when I was a kid, although that was not cleared through my parents.)

 

Because that's what it turns into when young children wear their costumes to school for the day. They don't pay a lick of attention to school, just to their own and their classmates' costumes. From morning bell to afternoon bell.

Plus, you get parents sending their kids with completely inappropriate costumes. Masks. Fake weapons. Completely offensive stereotypes. And on and on. Save it for trick-or-treating.

 

It's one day a year, let the kids have a little fun.

 

It sets a bad tone.

And you know as well as I do that it's not really about the kids. It's about the parents thinking it's adorable to send Little Johnny to school in his Freddy costume for the day.

And, of course, it turns into a competition.

Who needs it? Not teachers, certainly. Nor administrators. No good reason to allow Halloween costumes at school. Just too much of a distraction for everyone.