The Furry Forums

Furry Chat => Rants and Advice => Topic started by: The Past on October 24, 2013, 09:48:03 AM

Title: Scaring the children!
Post by: The Past on October 24, 2013, 09:48:03 AM
I'm pretty sure I left a topic about this years ago, but I feel I should bring it back. I have a little more to say on it, plus there are newbies here who may be interested in reading.

About eight years ago (holy shit, eight years ago already?! X_x; ) I was with my friends during Halloween. I was dressed as a demon black cat. Now, Halloween is my favorite holiday, and when I dress up as something, I'm not just dressed up and chilling out, munching on candy, and having usual chats with friends. I roleplay. I get into character. I make up a personality for that character, act and talk like them, and bring up topics that character might discuss.

My friends and I were all doing this. Walking around, discussing things like our characters would. And keep in mind that this is right before trick-or-treating started, and it was still light outside. In my demonic cat tone, I ranted about how lame Halloween is these days. How kids just dress up as princesses and Spiderman, and people are more concerned with candy and cuteness rather than the thrill of fear. Conveniently, a little girl and her parents walked by us as I was talking. This little girl was dressed as a witch (which is a nice change), and she wasn't terribly young. I'd say she was at least four or five years old.  We passed them at the perfect time for me to turn to her in a roaring-monster pose and say, "we should be scaring the children!"

Immediately the mother screamed at me. The child was fine. She wasn't upset, she wasn't crying. In fact, she seemed surprised and a bit amused, but her mother was furious. I ignored it the best I could. I eventually got over it, went about our trick-or-treating. An hour or so later, we were waiting at a house where the woman showed up and noticed me in the dark. I heard her voice behind me.
"Don't you dare scare my child again!"

That ruined my night. It really did. I also feel bad for that poor kid whose parent is horribly paranoid and over-sheltering. And I was just a kid in terrible cat makeup who simply did a "roar" pose and said something in a somewhat raised voice. I can't imagine what she did to anyone who actually TRIED to scare her kid. Did she punch em? Sue em? Good lord.

Look, parents. If you're afraid of your kid getting scared and think they'll be scarred for life, don't take them trick-or-treating. When you go out, you should EXPECT that people have set up things to scare kids. It's not bad for kids to be scared! It's exciting. It's actually fun in a Halloween environment. It's all in good fun. No one is trying to hurt your kid, they are trying to give them a good, amusing scare. Let your kid have fun, but if you're so horribly against that and don't want your kid to experience natural emotions they need to know, don't ruin it for the rest of us who understand that Halloween is for having a good, creepy, sweet-filled time.

This video by the Nostalgia Critic awesomely explains how scaring kids isn't horrible. Though he's talking about movies specifically, it still makes plenty of sense in real life Halloween stuff.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/41043-should-we-scare-the-shit-out-of-our-kids (http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/41043-should-we-scare-the-shit-out-of-our-kids)

Have any of you guys gone through similar experiences?
Title: Re: Scaring the children!
Post by: White Wolf Guardian on October 24, 2013, 10:08:41 AM
I don't remember if you wrote this in a thread or sent it in message on skype long ago, but I know I've heard this story before.

Continue to have fun every halloween and don't let overly sensitive folk bother you :P
Title: Re: Scaring the children!
Post by: anoni on October 24, 2013, 10:22:51 AM
Some people don't really get the spirit of halloween, just forget about it and have fun :3
Title: Re: Scaring the children!
Post by: The Past on October 25, 2013, 08:10:34 AM
Guys, I'm not asking for advice. I'm giving advice. I'm also wondering if people have gone through similar experiences.
Title: Re: Scaring the children!
Post by: White Wolf Guardian on October 25, 2013, 12:51:43 PM
Well that's why I said what I said, I have de-friended many people for being overly sensitive. Not going to have people censoring my life just so I can please them, which applies to this situation.
Title: Re: Scaring the children!
Post by: Trigahex on October 25, 2013, 08:06:41 PM
lol and the girl was not even scared.
 
I hate people who bubble wrap everything.
Title: Re: Scaring the children!
Post by: Shiothefox on October 27, 2013, 05:32:09 AM
Honestly, if the mother would have said that to me, I would have punched here right between the eyes
People like that should not reproduce
Title: Re: Scaring the children!
Post by: Snow Kittie on October 28, 2013, 08:06:10 PM
My mom is like that! XD  I don't think there will ever be a day when some parents aren't overprotective... but what can you do about it besides forget and move on.
I agree, being frightened not only keeps things interesting, but is the focus of Halloween. That is why haunted houses and what not EXIST!
Title: Re: Scaring the children!
Post by: BakaFawkes on November 02, 2013, 08:14:43 AM
There's over protective, then there's over protective. I run into those parents all the time.