Outside Topic OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - Printable Version
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OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - TrumpCard - 10-28-2023
As the parent of two elementary school girls, I hear lots of complaints about costumes. Too skimpy. Fairy tales female characters are too passive. Etc. Truth be told, I think Cinderella or Elsa costumes are wholesome. What I’m ready to hear are complaints about boys’ costumes. Specifically, costumes with weapons. I’m not interested in a political debate about whether guns should or shouldn’t be allowed in our society. That debate has been decided anyway. I’m talking about a cultural issue. IMHO, parents should be teaching their kids that guns of any kind are unacceptable. Real guns, toy guns, video game guns. They are all garbage. Agree? Disagree?
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - OutsiderFan - 10-28-2023
(10-28-2023, 11:51 AM)TrumpCard Wrote: As the parent of two elementary school girls, I hear lots of complaints about costumes. Too skimpy. Fairy tales female characters are too passive. Etc. Truth be told, I think Cinderella or Elsa costumes are wholesome. What I’m ready to hear are complaints about boys’ costumes. Specifically, costumes with weapons. I’m not interested in a political debate about whether guns should or shouldn’t be allowed in our society. That debate has been decided anyway. I’m talking about a cultural issue. IMHO, parents should be teaching their kids that guns of any kind are unacceptable. Real guns, toy guns, video game guns. They are all garbage. Agree? Disagree?
I think most of the costumes I had as a kid involved guns, knives, and swords. I didn't ever find myself wielding any of them as a weapon later in my life.
People getting up in arms over costumes is like thinking listening to metal music turns you into a devil worshipper. Impossibly stupid, IMO. Parents need to have more faith in their children than think costume choice is somehow an indictment of their character or might set them on a path to destruction. It's just a costume and they get to pretend for a day. Good for them.
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - cardcrimson - 10-28-2023
(10-28-2023, 11:51 AM)TrumpCard Wrote: As the parent of two elementary school girls, I hear lots of complaints about costumes. Too skimpy. Fairy tales female characters are too passive. Etc. Truth be told, I think Cinderella or Elsa costumes are wholesome. What I’m ready to hear are complaints about boys’ costumes. Specifically, costumes with weapons. I’m not interested in a political debate about whether guns should or shouldn’t be allowed in our society. That debate has been decided anyway. I’m talking about a cultural issue. IMHO, parents should be teaching their kids that guns of any kind are unacceptable. Real guns, toy guns, video game guns. They are all garbage. Agree? Disagree?Not wanting to dive into the political area, so a different tack.
Don't have boys, but guns are passé. A few years back, my daughter was still in elementary school, and carried around a bloody chainsaw and had sharp bloody teeth coming out of her neck. Quite the costume. As seems to be the trend in movies, the more sadistic and gruesome the weapon, the better.
This year, she's back to playing Ariel before the cultural change (she's a redhead). As she won't let me see the costume, I imagine it won't be quite as wholesome as it was 10 years ago when she was seven.
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - lex24 - 10-28-2023
TrumpCard dateline='[url=tel:1698519065' Wrote: 1698519065[/url]']
As the parent of two elementary school girls, I hear lots of complaints about costumes. Too skimpy. Fairy tales female characters are too passive. Etc. Truth be told, I think Cinderella or Elsa costumes are wholesome. What I’m ready to hear are complaints about boys’ costumes. Specifically, costumes with weapons. I’m not interested in a political debate about whether guns should or shouldn’t be allowed in our society. That debate has been decided anyway. I’m talking about a cultural issue. IMHO, parents should be teaching their kids that guns of any kind are unacceptable. Real guns, toy guns, video game guns. They are all garbage. Agree? Disagree?
Couple comments. First, I am absolutely a humbug when it comes to Halloween. The only thing I like about it are the little kids in their costumes. Once they get to middle school and high school – it changes. So, I don’t think when people are talking about “skimpy costumes” it’s elementary school.
I think it’s darn near impossible to delve into anything having to do with guns and not get into politics. So I’ll sneak this in it very quietly: agree. Although I will add, but I have daughters that are now fully grown up. Neither had the least bit of interest in toy guns. (Unless squirt guns count). I don’t recall ever “banning“ them. But I didn’t have to. Fully admit it might be a little more difficult if they were kids that grew up, wanting to play with them.
OutsiderFan dateline='[url=tel:1698520692' Wrote: 1698520692[/url]']
TrumpCard dateline='[url=tel:1698519065' Wrote: 1698519065[/url]']
As the parent of two elementary school girls, I hear lots of complaints about costumes. Too skimpy. Fairy tales female characters are too passive. Etc. Truth be told, I think Cinderella or Elsa costumes are wholesome. What I’m ready to hear are complaints about boys’ costumes. Specifically, costumes with weapons. I’m not interested in a political debate about whether guns should or shouldn’t be allowed in our society. That debate has been decided anyway. I’m talking about a cultural issue. IMHO, parents should be teaching their kids that guns of any kind are unacceptable. Real guns, toy guns, video game guns. They are all garbage. Agree? Disagree?
I think most of the costumes I had as a kid involved guns, knives, and swords. I didn't ever find myself wielding any of them as a weapon later in my life.
People getting up in arms over costumes is like thinking listening to metal music turns you into a devil worshipper. Impossibly stupid, IMO. Parents need to have more faith in their children than think costume choice is somehow an indictment of their character or might set them on a path to destruction. It's just a costume and they get to pretend for a day. Good for them.
Curious - you have kids?
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - fullmetal - 10-28-2023
As a parent, you should have every right to decide what's appropriate for your child to wear at Halloween, if you even allow the child to participate. I think other parents have the right to set boundaries on what their children can wear. No parent has an inalienable right to dictate what other children should wear. If you teach your child well, they'll understand why they should or shouldn't observe guidelines on Halloween costumes.
See: left-handedness, religious dietary restrictions, medical dietary restrictions, and the constant tension between individualism and social norms.
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - TrumpCard - 10-28-2023
I completely agree that every parent has the right to choose for their own kids. I am not even arguing that parents should be forbidden from getting shooting lessons for their kids with real guns. I’m only talking about what the social norm should be, with the understanding that millions of parents are going to keep on doing what they’ve been doing. My kids don’t have toy guns, squirt guns, or any other kind of guns. IMHO, football is sufficient to meet the visceral desire for violence. No need to push it with toys that normalize guns.
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - Mick - 10-28-2023
My Halloween experience was in the late 1960's, and my Mom always made me and my sister dress as wounded soldiers every year, until we objected.
My sons went the super hero/star wars/lord of the rings/horror movie route. No guns that I can recall, but there were a few light sabers. I recall that when they were older, they chose very benign characters when they went to Halloween parties (e.g., one year my eldest and his friends went as fast food mascots, another year he and his girlfriend went as a giant bunny and carrot, football player and cheerleader, etc.).
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - rogpodge - 10-28-2023
Involves an obscenity, but otherwise okay?
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - cctop - 10-28-2023
(10-28-2023, 11:51 AM)TrumpCard Wrote: IMHO, parents should be teaching their kids that guns of any kind are unacceptable. Real guns, toy guns, video game guns. They are all garbage. Agree? Disagree?
Not specifically guns, but as a parent I was hyper-sensitive to the amount of violence my kids consumed.
In lots of movies we watch the hero kill his opponents, often indiscriminately, but heaven forbid we see a boob.
Guns themselves aren't the issue. It's the normalization of someone pointing a gun at another human and pulling the trigger, which should be treated as appalling instead of entertaining.
Sure, 99.99% of people can watch violent media and play violent video games and not be affected. It's the people on the margins who ARE affected by it that are the problem.
To fix it I feel like we need to start pushing back against a culture of violence as entertainment. That doesn't mean to eliminate all violence from the media, but at least start by treating it as a last resort and by showing the consequences of it, instead of having our heroes casually punch, stab, or shoot anyone who gets in their way.
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - Hurlburt88 - 10-29-2023
Does a phaser count as a gun? I loved being Spock as a kid . . .
RE: OT: Kids’ Halloween Costumes - cardcrimson - 10-29-2023
(10-29-2023, 09:14 AM)Hurlburt88 Wrote: Does a phaser count as a gun? I loved being Spock as a kid . . .Probably not, but, portraying a Vulcan might count as cultural appropriation. . . . .
;-)