The time of year has arrived for children to dress up in their favorite costumes and to haunt the streets yelling “Trick or Treat!” at the top of their lungs.

However, in the wake of the national tragedy on Sept. 11, and the recent anthrax scare, how should parents approach the Halloween festivities this year? Is the real world simply too scary for kids to be celebrating Halloween, or do world events have little impact on kids when it comes to Halloween?

Parental responses According to Susan Gelman, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, it is questionable yet certainly possible that the recent tragedies and anthrax scares will be on children’s minds. “A lot of research has found that children are very attuned to their parents’ emotional responses to certain things. If they witness their parents looking worried or scared about an issue, they know that something is wrong,” says Gelman, who has taught psychology at U-M for 17 years. For more information, contact Susan A. Gelman at (734) 764-0268 or gelman@umich.edu.

How parents can cope Parents are urged to approach these issues openly. Brenda Volling, an associate professor of psychology at U-M, advises parents to communicate with their children. “Parents need to assure their children that they are safe, they are there for them, and they will take care of them,” says Volling. Once children realize that they are secure, they need to get back to being a kid. “Parents need to maintain a somewhat regular schedule of life and need to get back some sense of normalcy. Children need some sense of structure or routine, and Halloween is a part of that,” says Volling, whose area of research focuses on children’s social and emotional development.

As far as trick-or-treating and other festivities, parents should supervise their children’s activity just as they would any other year. If parents are worried, Volling urges them to encourage their children to go to only the homes of friends and family members. However, if children are simply not allowed to go out this time, they will wonder why. “Anxious and fearful parents can transfer their anxiety and fear to their children, so if Halloween wasn’t scary before, children will learn from their parents’ reactions that there is certainly something to be scared about now,” says Volling.

For more information, contact Brenda Volling at (734) 764-7379, or volling@umich.edu.

Children and scary costumes What about costumes—will children know the difference between what is real, and what is pretend?

Kristen Harrison, a professor of communication studies at U-M, has researched children’s fright reactions. According to Harrison, it is difficult for young children to understand changes when it comes to costumes. “From the ages of 2-7 years, children are in the pre-operational stage of development. In this stage, young children will have a problem understanding that objects that change in appearance still retain the same underlying characteristics,” says Harrison. For example, a child may have a fright reaction, even if they see a parent putting on a mask. “They may not recognize the same person is underneath,” says Harrison.

For parents to alleviate these reactions, it is important to distract the children rather than simply telling them that everything is ok. “Parents should have things on hand to distract their child, such as some food or a physical object. Preferably, children need something physical to cling to if frightened, like a parent or their favorite teddy bear, to provide them with immediate physical comfort,” says Harrison.

For more information concerning children and fright reactions, contact Kristen Harrison at (734) 763-7349, or krishar@umich.edu.

A bit of Halloween history, and the meaning of masks The time has arrived for preparation. As you begin to fill your bowls with candy for the endless barrage of masked children, you and your children may ask: when did the tradition of wearing masks begin?

Eric Rabkin, a U-M professor of English who teaches fantasy and science fiction, is an authoritative source on Halloween traditions. According to Rabkin, Halloween was originally a Celtic holiday at the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the dark, winter season that was associated with human mortality. Souls, the Celts believed, might try to stay on earth to complete “unfinished business” so they built bonfires to drive the spirits away and filled hollowed turnips candles, another ritual to ward away evil.

The Christianization of the Irish changed the concept of Halloween; Irish immigrants brought the holiday to America “Halloween was initially an apotropaic holiday, that is, a holiday dedicated to warding off evil,” says Rabkin. “The Christians celebration, ‘All Saints’ Day,’ followed Halloween; they turned Halloween into ‘All Hallow’s Eve,’ making it a holiday of redemption rather than one of apotropaism.” The concept of trick-or-treating was created when people left bowls of food outside their homes to keep spirits at bay.

Similarly, many people wore masks and dressed themselves up to frighten spirits away. Today, the Halloween mask takes on more than one meaning. “A mask hides your identity from others, yet masks also tell people who we want to be taken to be.” If someone has a hidden desire to be Frankenstein, for instance, that desire can be fulfilled by donning a Frankenstein mask.

For more information, contact Eric Rabkin at (734) 764-2553 or esrabkin@umich.edu.

Susan GelmanBrenda Vollingvolling@umich.eduKristen Harrisonkrishar@umich.eduEric Rabkinesrabkin@umich.edu