Teens Banned from Trick-or-Treatingby Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 30 Oct 2008 07:55 PM Parents in Belleville, Illinois will have to find some other way to entertain their teens tomorrow night now that the mayor has banned high school students from trick-or-treating. Belleville Mayor Mark Eckert signed an ordinance Tuesday prohibiting any child who has completed the 8th grade from trick-or-treating on Halloween. The mayor says the move comes after his office received dozens of complaints from residents, who were sick of having teenagers ring their doorbells late on Halloween night. "We were hearing more and more about bigger kids knocking on doors after 9 at night, and the people who lived in the homes were scared," Eckert a local newspaper. "The seniors were especially scared. They didn't want to be the recipient of some kind of trick; they didn't want to open their doors late at night, either." Under the new ordinance all trick-or-treaters must be off city streets by 8 p.m. on Halloween and teens are only allowed to go door-to-door if they are escorting younger siblings or other family members. If you think that's harsh, consider this addendum to the ordinance: Parents whose teenage children break the rule are subject to a $25 fine. Much more trick than treat, wouldn't you say? What do you make of the ban? Is it too harsh? Personally, I found it rather interesting given that I just addressed the subject of: "How Old is Too Old to Trick-or-Treat?" in a previous blog. I suppose it depends who you ask. On the one hand I would rather see teens trick-or-treating (for UNICEF more than for empty calories) than hitting up a liquor store clad in a Freddy Krueger costume on Halloween night. But on the flipside, my grandmother is one of those senior citizens who does scare easily and would much rather not answer her door after 9:30 p.m. on Halloween (or any other night for that matter). Then, there are the parents of the teens who can no longer canvas the neighborhood in search of the elusive full-size candy bar. I wonder how they reacted after learning of the new ordinance that essentially prohibits their kids from participating in the time-honored tradition of bagging a plastic pumpkin full of free candy on Halloween? How would you feel if your child was banned from trick-or-treating? Related Articles: Halloween, the Economy and Your Family Do Your Teens Still Go Trick-or-Treating? Parental Bargaining on Halloween Parents Who Don't Give Out Candy on Halloween Halloween Candy Competition Among Parents Halloween Candy-Yours, Mine, Ours Parents and Halloween: Scary Stuff! Halloween and Young Children: Trick or Treat? Pumpkinpalooza--Attack of the Parental Paparazzi Halloween Photo Tips---Shooting Your Little Pumpkins Are you Raising a Mini Fashionista? Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevantparenting tags User Comments  mcmama (51978) 31 Oct 2008 06:12 AMI understand the concern - and a curfew is a good idea - but banning teens is stupid. What if the parent is working a shift and depends on a teenage neighbor or sibling to take the little one trick or treating? Must be a perfect world there. swtuthmommy3 (130) 31 Oct 2008 12:40 PMIsn't this ban punishing all the teens in this town for the acts of a few roudy teens? I have to say that I disagree with the ban. Although I think the curfew could be raised to 8:30pm. Maybe the local high schools could bring up the issue of respecting our elders and being reasonable about trick-or-treating on halloween. In my neighborhood we've gotten trick-or-treaters all the way up to 9pm.  Michele Cheplic |
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