Pumpkin patches are open, hay rides, and corn mazes are here. The weather is cooling off and the Halloween costume store is officially open. The anticipation for what can be one of the best nights in any child’s life is about to happen, Halloween! The one night that you get to go door to door, yell “trick or treat!” get candy in your bag or bucket and run with glee to the next house.
While this may be one of the best nights for some children, other children may struggle with it. Some children struggle with social cues, or making eye contact. Some children struggle with sensory issues and struggle to take candy from your hand or from the container you may be giving candy from. I’m reminded of a Halloween episode of “The Middle.” A show where a mom; Frankie Heck has a son, Brick Heck who struggles with social cues, whispering, and whooping for no apparent reason. Brick is placed in a special group of kids at school to help support his developmental and social skills. In this particular episode of “The Middle” Frankie ends up trick or treating with Brick’s entire social skills group. She goes door to door with a child that “meows” for they believe they are cat, and a child who needs a pair of socks on his hands for he cannot get his hands dirty, to name a few from the social skills group. The episode is all in fun, and in no way makes fun of the kids, but it does place focus on a group of children who are special, and are needing special attention in a way that other kids their age do not. In the episode you see Frankie struggle to get from house to house with all the kids from the social group and bumps into a mother and daughter who are trick or treating. While Frankie apologizes to the mother/daughter duo, the mom says under her breath “I wouldn’t let my kids act like that.” In horror Frankie hears what the mom says and is outraged, for she is doing her best to give the kids from the social group the same experience every other child is entitled to; which is to have a fun night where you get to dress up, run from house to house and get candy.
I really want to encourage you to take a moment this Halloween when you are handing out candy to all your trick or treaters how maybe some of the kids may struggle with things your child may not, such as social cues or sensory issues. I believe all parents are doing their best and so if a child bumps into yours, or is running in excitement and cuts your child off, before you conclude “that’s an unruly child who needs to be disciplined,” and possibly making a comment to another parent, take a second to think about what that child may be needing that you are unaware of. Every child deserves nonjudgmental fun dressing up as their favorite character, running door to door, and have fun this Halloween night.