Halloween wisdom

This Halloween we were determined not to make the same mistakes we made last year, one of which involved neglecting to sneak through the little people's bags of candy before they did, resulting in not getting the choice pick of goodies.

Another error that was important to rectify was losing children in the darkness. It does not seem within the realm of possibility for two children to scatter in sixteen directions, but somehow they managed it quite well last year. This year we were better prepared, having put two tricks to our advantage.

First, it is extremely advantageous if children are dressed in brightly colored costumes so that they can be easily located in the darkness by lost parents or, in our case, lost aunts. We, for instance, had a pumpkin among us. It was very easy to find him, particularly since all his friends were dressed in black, and when they all ran down the street it looked as if the pumpkin was alone, the others blending into the darkness.

But if a child objects to parading about in a brightly colored costume on the grounds that it is not cool (and be aware that ANY costume you suggest to a child is not cool), you can simply place a variety of glow sticks about his person. The glow sticks can be bent into a ring and placed about the child's wrists, neck, arms, ears, etc. If the child is dressed in all black, this will give the effect of glowing rings moving of their own accord through the darkness, but at least you will always know where the child is. Unless all his friends are wearing glow sticks, too.

A second easy solution for keeping track of your child in the darkness is to teach him or her a Halloween song, and to tell the child that singing it at the top of one's lungs will keep the Candy Monster at bay. This works best with younger children, who do not yet realize that YOU are the Candy Monster, and that no amount of jolly Halloween songs will keep you from plundering the child's loot later on.

Your child may even be inclined to make up his or her own song. The four-year-old in our care showed great imagination when it came to inventing a song, as she was not bound by any beliefs that a Halloween song need have anything to do with Halloween, but liberally threw in references to puppies, sunshine, and Santa.

Between the bright orange pumpkin and the song-belting angel, we had no difficulty in locating our charges this year. Or in locating our favorite candy in their bags.