海角大神

滨迟鈥檚 Halloween. You know that, of course. And you probably have your costume all picked out. A political tongue-in-cheek Big Bird outfit, perhaps. Or maybe a Honey Boo Boo get up.

If you鈥檙e a mom (or dad, for that matter), chances are you鈥檙e even more prepared. You鈥檝e not only figured out your own look 鈥� a combo of funny or scary but still appropriately parental 鈥� and have already purchased (or sewn, or gathered) a fantastic outfit for each one of your kids. You鈥檝e plotted with them the best candy routes and know the afternoon start time of the wholesome town Halloween parade.

This is how I imagine it, at least.

Because it doesn鈥檛 work like that at our house.听 Not even close.

Actually, I don鈥檛 even have a costume for our daughter, who at 19 months is just the age that greeting cards and catalog ads seem to think is perfect for Halloween dress up. (What鈥檚 cuter than a young toddler dressed up like a pumpkin? Or a cat? Or, as Pottery Barn suggests, a $79 Max from 鈥�Where the Wild Things Are?鈥�)

I just didn鈥檛 get it together this year. And I am feeling pretty darn guilty about it.听

But also conflicted.

You see, over the past few weeks, I鈥檝e been reading more and more stories about what I can鈥檛 help but feel are really problematic trends in Halloween costumes for kids.

It was the sexualization of little girls that I first noticed. (Our guest blogger, Rebecca Haines, wrote about this in her post a few days ago; it鈥檚 also a topic that I鈥檝e delved into in the past 鈥� check out our magazine cover story 鈥�Little girls or little women? The Disney Princess Effect.鈥�)

It started when I went to find her a cat costume. Baby M loves kitties, including but not limited to ours, and since I am not most creative Halloween costumer in the first place I thought that鈥檇 suffice.听

Now, there are some really cute toddler cat costumes online. But there are also a whole lot of short skirts and 鈥減retty kitties鈥� and pint-sized models holding their tails just so. Eeww. And powers-that-be help you if you veer from household pets into some of the fairy or Tinker Bell costumes out there. Or any other of the sexy-vampires-in-training outfits. For my baby girl? No thank you.

So I turned to more traditional fare. What about witches? Goblins?听 Super heroes? (Does anyone make a Captain No outfit? That鈥檇 be appropriate.)听

And what I found was scary.

I mean that literally.

There are some incredibly freaky outfits out there for the under-five set. The Associated Press wrote about this the other day, detailing how gory costumes once reserved for preteens are now increasingly sold for toddlers 鈥� think Freddy Krueger and Chucky in blood-splattered pint-sized packages. Even the 鈥渟ock monkey,鈥� apparently, is being sold in kindergarten size as a bloody zombie sock monkey costume.
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Yikes. For real.

Because, while I realize I sound like a total drag here, I just can鈥檛 get excited about exposing our daughter to blood and gore and sexuality and anonymity.听 I mean, that鈥檚 why we don鈥檛 let her watch television.

Moreover, many children her age get confused and troubled by strange changes in environment. While it might be empowering for her later to chose a costume and take on a different identify for a day, and while it would certainly be cute for us adults now, why force her into what, at this age, is an unexplainable 鈥� and likely very scary 鈥� situation?听 Or, for that matter, teach her that it鈥檚 OK to go up to random people鈥檚 doors, ring the bell, and take whatever they give you? (Again, cool for older kids, impossible to explain to younger ones.)

She is at a stage, I decided, where this Halloween thing just doesn鈥檛 make sense.

She is also at a stage where she fights like a marine when I try to put on her shirt and pants. The idea of trying to stuff her into a snowsuit of a cat or dog costume 鈥� even the cute kind 鈥� makes me shudder.

So those are all of my excuses.

But I鈥檝e got to say, this morning I feel a little disappointed. She really would have been cute. And all her little friends are doing it.听

Maybe there鈥檚 time to run to Target or something after all. (Is that where you get kids costumes?)听 We鈥檒l just avoid the bloody, sexy baby witch number.

Happy Halloween, everyone.
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