Dalai Mama
Drama Llama
La Pea Boheme
Posts: 6,985
Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
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Post by Dalai Mama on Jul 26, 2022 13:03:00 GMT
I'm only here for the "bad parents" judgment calls. 🤣🤣 I mean... What the hell? A child wears a mask and he's got terrible parents? This is the type of sheltered childhood that I'm glad I didn't have, looking through that Gen X thread. We watched all the scary movies. Nothing like running through the corn after watching Children of the Corn for scary. Also lots of kids know who Chucky is without having seen the movie, same with Jason, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers back in the day. Scooch over - I'm sitting with you on this one. |
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Post by cindosha on Jul 26, 2022 13:29:16 GMT
It's no different than a 5 year old dressing up as a police officer, an army man, spaceman or Harry Potter. Kids like to dress up. I don't see the problem. If someone's kid freaks out about seeing a kid in a costume, they should tell their kid that it's just a costume.
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Post by auntkelly on Jul 26, 2022 13:45:36 GMT
I'm only here for the "bad parents" judgment calls. 🤣🤣 I mean... What the hell? A child wears a mask and he's got terrible parents? This is the type of sheltered childhood that I'm glad I didn't have, looking through that Gen X thread. We watched all the scary movies. Nothing like running through the corn after watching Children of the Corn for scary. Also lots of kids know who Chucky is without having seen the movie, same with Jason, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers back in the day. The world really is going to hell in a hand basket. Back in the sixties when I was growing up we had wholesome costumes-devils, skeletons and witches.  |
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oh yvonne
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,064
Jun 26, 2014 0:45:23 GMT
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Post by oh yvonne on Jul 26, 2022 14:19:32 GMT
Meh, the kid got to go viral to boot!
This phase will pass in about a week and the neighborhood and life will go on.
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Post by melanell on Jul 26, 2022 14:31:24 GMT
A lot of kids recognize and even say that they like characters without ever seeing the corresponding movie, series, video game, etc. They see the image of the character and are curious about it, and ask, and they're given some sort of answer, and they decide they like the character, without any true understanding of what it is. My one aunt lived in a town where the school mascot was the Something, Something Devils and she always joked that a whole town of small children were growing up thinking one should cheer for the devil.  One of my kids (while in kindergarten) supposedly liked the bear from Five Nights at Freddy's. No one in our house played that game, never mind the 5 year old, but they still were sure that they loved that thing. That same kid used to love the creepy baby dolls and clowns at Spirit of Halloween as well. Terrified of any and all bugs, though. Go figure. Heck, I can remember doing similar things as a tween when I wasn't allowed to watch popular movies because they were rated R and therefore off-limits to me. I'd still be allowed to buy the soundtrack album, and I'd read all of the articles about the movies/cast, and I'd talk about the movie with kids at school----all without ever seeing it. I have no idea which of the other kids actually saw it, or just heard about it from older siblings, or just were basing their comments on trailers and Entertainment Tonight clips like I was.  |
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Post by melanell on Jul 26, 2022 14:34:29 GMT
Oh, and I do happen to know someone with a 5 year old granddaughter who is mad about Chucky. And neither her parents, nor grandparents know why. She's never seen the movie. But she did plead and beg to be Chucky last Halloween and they let her. Not to school--but to go Trick or Treating. She was so thrilled.
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kibblesandbits
Pearl Clutcher
At the corner of Awesome and Bombdiggity
Posts: 3,305 
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Post by kibblesandbits on Jul 26, 2022 14:47:06 GMT
Right, so your 4 year old wouldn't choose to walk around a neighborhood in that costume. He wouldn't understand why others would find it amusing or scary. If it's the kid's idea, I think the parents have terrible judgement. If it's the parents' idea, I think they have terrible judgement. Yes. Well, and if it is the child in the story's costume, he was 4 (or close to it) last Halloween. I, personally, wouldn't be scared by the weird kid running around in the costume, but 1) if you read the article, it is the child's "neighborhood watch" outfit. What 5 y.o. thinks it is his job to conduct a neighborhood watch; and 2) I have a large number of kids in my immediate community who are on the Autism spectrum and this would scare the living crap out of them. Especially since there is no context to put it in - it isn't Halloween, so why does that kid look so frightening? I mean, the kid can wear what he wants to, and I can judge if I want to too. I hope that the parents have given him business cards with the house phone number on it so that neighborhood parents with kids who have issues with it (I imagine there are a number of neurotypical children scared too) can call the parents and have the parents explain to their children why their child chooses to roam the neighborhood (without an adult, if the picture is accurate and not cutting out the parents) as a horror movie character. When my son was 5, he was the "neighborhood watch" person. He dressed up every day in a suit and bow tie, and checked every driveway in the neighborhood. Why is this so weird? We had another kid in the neighborhood (on the spectrum) who wore either a cat or dog mask everywhere. |
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Post by elaine on Jul 26, 2022 15:24:21 GMT
Yes. Well, and if it is the child in the story's costume, he was 4 (or close to it) last Halloween. I, personally, wouldn't be scared by the weird kid running around in the costume, but 1) if you read the article, it is the child's "neighborhood watch" outfit. What 5 y.o. thinks it is his job to conduct a neighborhood watch; and 2) I have a large number of kids in my immediate community who are on the Autism spectrum and this would scare the living crap out of them. Especially since there is no context to put it in - it isn't Halloween, so why does that kid look so frightening? I mean, the kid can wear what he wants to, and I can judge if I want to too. I hope that the parents have given him business cards with the house phone number on it so that neighborhood parents with kids who have issues with it (I imagine there are a number of neurotypical children scared too) can call the parents and have the parents explain to their children why their child chooses to roam the neighborhood (without an adult, if the picture is accurate and not cutting out the parents) as a horror movie character. When my son was 5, he was the "neighborhood watch" person. He dressed up every day in a suit and bow tie, and checked every driveway in the neighborhood. Why is this so weird? We had another kid in the neighborhood (on the spectrum) who wore either a cat or dog mask everywhere. It isn't typical 5 year old behavior to conduct a neighborhood watch. 🤷♀️ I’m glad that your son had fun doing it - and it sounds like he chose professional dress for doing his job. ❤️ |
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kibblesandbits
Pearl Clutcher
At the corner of Awesome and Bombdiggity
Posts: 3,305
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Post by kibblesandbits on Jul 26, 2022 15:47:44 GMT
When my son was 5, he was the "neighborhood watch" person. He dressed up every day in a suit and bow tie, and checked every driveway in the neighborhood. Why is this so weird? We had another kid in the neighborhood (on the spectrum) who wore either a cat or dog mask everywhere. It isn't typical 5 year old behavior to conduct a neighborhood watch. 🤷♀️ I’m glad that your son had fun doing it - and it sounds like he chose professional dress for doing his job. ❤️ Perhaps it’s more typical than you think. Lots of kids play dress up and model adult jobs and responsibilities. |
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Post by katlady on Jul 26, 2022 15:58:41 GMT
My niece has loved scary things since she was young. I don’t remember at what age, but she was watching scary movies when she was definitely younger than 10. I was once watching old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and she loved it. Her brother on the other hand, wouldn’t watch. My niece would probably have loved to wear a Chucky costume.
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Post by 950nancy on Jul 26, 2022 16:39:50 GMT
We had a ten year old across the street from us in a rental. Not saying he was the reason we moved, but I don't miss him. One day in mid October, this kid was dressed up as Pennywise. He was wandering the neighborhood and putting on a show. Our neighbors next door to us had 2 and 5 year old girls. Pennywise and another young kid in the neighborhood pretended to have a brawl in the girls' driveway and there was a pretend murder where the normally dressed kid was left for dead for a few minutes and then Pennywise came back and slowly dragged him off to his home. They were clearly doing it to freak out the girls whose rooms faced the street. I watched it from my front window. Right then, our realtor pulled up down the street a bit and Pennywise went to her car and said, "I am going to slit your fuc!ing throat." She said, "That isn't a very nice thing to say." She then proceeded to open her hatchback and pull out a giant sledgehammer. He freaked out. He started to scream at her that she was going to kill him and ran back home. She slowly walked back down the street to our house where he ran into his still screaming. She set the hammer down and went back to get the For Sale sign she was installing. I watched it all, but didn't quite know what was going on until she told me. God love that woman. She is my hero. We moved out several days later and I never saw that kid again.
In this case, the parents were in and out of the house, the grandparents were raising the kid and he was cussed at every day. It was a bad situation. I blame both the parents and the grandparents.
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 26, 2022 16:43:09 GMT
The only thing that scares me is that 5 year old should have no idea who Chucky is. so many of my kids when I taught preschool knew about different horror films. I don't think they all watched them (one little girl definitely did and she was traumatized) but the advertising and different items in the store let them know |
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Post by elaine on Jul 26, 2022 17:15:45 GMT
It isn't typical 5 year old behavior to conduct a neighborhood watch. 🤷♀️ I’m glad that your son had fun doing it - and it sounds like he chose professional dress for doing his job. ❤️ I think you are probably correct. 😀 It is great pretend play! I have yet to see a regular adult wearing a Chucky mask and outfit to an adult job outside of a costume store. And never doing neighborhood watch. 🤷♀️ |
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Post by mellyw on Jul 26, 2022 17:51:42 GMT
I'm only here for the "bad parents" judgment calls. 🤣🤣 I mean... What the hell? A child wears a mask and he's got terrible parents? This is the type of sheltered childhood that I'm glad I didn't have, looking through that Gen X thread. We watched all the scary movies. Nothing like running through the corn after watching Children of the Corn for scary. Also lots of kids know who Chucky is without having seen the movie, same with Jason, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers back in the day. My formative years, watching The Exorcist at 8 or 9. It’s not that I had bad parents or any of my friends did. It was more you watch that stuff and get scared, don’t go crying to the adults 😂😂😂. I think Chuckie is more accessible than some on here think. He’s been sanitized down and shown on near repeat on tv during September and October. There are commercials with him, and kids are sure as heck internet savvy enough to look it up without having seen any of the movies |
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Post by pixiechick on Jul 26, 2022 17:54:58 GMT
Right then, our realtor pulled up down the street a bit and Pennywise went to her car and said, "I am going to slit your fuc!ing throat." She said, "That isn't a very nice thing to say." She then proceeded to open her hatchback and pull out a giant sledgehammer. He freaked out. He started to scream at her that she was going to kill him and ran back home. She slowly walked back down the street to our house where he ran into his still screaming. She set the hammer down and went back to get the For Sale sign she was installing. I watched it all, but didn't quite know what was going on until she told me. God love that woman. She is my hero. We moved out several days later and I never saw that kid again. Horrible language from a 10 year old, but the image of the realtor just doing her job resulting in scaring the kid straight is hilarious.  |
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Post by bc2ca on Jul 26, 2022 18:23:51 GMT
FFS people, the story went viral because one person driving by took photos and everyone ran with "the neighborhood is being terrorized".  Kendra Walden is the photographer of the photos in the linked story: FWIW, DS(23) alternated between Jason and Ghostface for Halloween for a few years when he outgrew Spiderman. He had never seen a Friday the 13th or Scream movie at the time. I've still never seen one and had to ask him the character name/movie before typing that sentence. Any kid who has been in the costume section of a Target, Walmart, Spirit or Party City knows and can name these characters. That does not equate to 5 year olds being allowed to watch the movies. |
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Post by 950nancy on Jul 26, 2022 18:42:05 GMT
Right then, our realtor pulled up down the street a bit and Pennywise went to her car and said, "I am going to slit your fuc!ing throat." She said, "That isn't a very nice thing to say." She then proceeded to open her hatchback and pull out a giant sledgehammer. He freaked out. He started to scream at her that she was going to kill him and ran back home. She slowly walked back down the street to our house where he ran into his still screaming. She set the hammer down and went back to get the For Sale sign she was installing. I watched it all, but didn't quite know what was going on until she told me. God love that woman. She is my hero. We moved out several days later and I never saw that kid again. Horrible language from a 10 year old, but the image of the realtor just doing her job resulting in scaring the kid straight is hilarious.  I still laugh at the image of her walking with Thor's hammer over her shoulder. I taught ten year olds for years and never came across this type of kid. He's just awful. |
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peabay
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,940
Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Jul 26, 2022 19:47:28 GMT
The only thing that scares me is that 5 year old should have no idea who Chucky is. so many of my kids when I taught preschool knew about different horror films. I don't think they all watched them (one little girl definitely did and she was traumatized) but the advertising and different items in the store let them know I guess it just comes down to different parenting. If my 5 year old said they wanted to be Chucky, I would steer them to something else other than a murderous doll. My argument to my kids, all the time, was "you have a lot of years to be grown up and only a few to be a kid. I'm going to make sure you're a kid while you're still able." I personally don't think it's cute or amusing for a kid in primary school to dress up as a horror movie icon. YMMV. |
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teddyw
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,159
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Post by teddyw on Jul 27, 2022 14:06:13 GMT
My bil was saved by the 4 yo neighborhood watch kid in his neighborhood. He fell off the roof and broke his collarbone. That kid ran in the house and had his mom call ems.
I only saw him dress up as a policeman, fireman or baseball player.
I don’t watch horror movies ever so I didn’t know who the character was in the picture. I have heard of him though because my dds love horror movies.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Jul 27, 2022 18:06:52 GMT
Perhaps it’s more typical than you think. Lots of kids play dress up and model adult jobs and responsibilities. When I was a kid, my neighborhood buddy and I would use his dad's binoculars and lay in the cornfield at the end of our street watching all the neighbors come and go because we were "spies" but the good kind. And we lived basically in Mayberry where nothing of note ever happened. Still didn't stop us from spying on everyone and picking up all manner of random trash to use as "clues" to solving our mysteries. Esther, when she was a little boy loved costumes so much. She was the kind of kid who would wear her Halloween costume a good 3-4 months after Halloween. She had great fun with her Superman costume. She would ride all over the town (this was when we lived back in Mayberry too) in her costume and cape, "protecting" the neighborhood. I would often go to the corner store and hear all about how "Superman" was out protecting the neighborhood on his bike. And then there was the year that Esther was Davy Jones and her best friend was Jack Sparrow and they went all around the neighborhood hunting for "treasure." Esther just loved costumes. She loved playing pretend. She loved having a "job" to do or a role to play. And some years, she would choose the scariest costume she could find and wore that for months on end too. She had a Halloween birthday so we always put a lot of energy in Halloween when she was little. Decorations, costumes, parties, scary things. And she never once watched a horror film. But it didn't stop her from wanting to have the bleeding skull mask one Halloween that seeing pictures of just horrified some people that I'd let my kid wear it. But I had taken her to the Halloween store and she picked out her own costume. So I totally raised a kid who wasn't allowed to watch any kind of horror film, but not only loved scary costumes and decorations but also would wear them for months following Halloween all over the neighborhood. Thank you for letting me talk about Esther today. These are all good memories. |
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Post by Skellinton on Jul 27, 2022 20:06:04 GMT
Perhaps it’s more typical than you think. Lots of kids play dress up and model adult jobs and responsibilities. When I was a kid, my neighborhood buddy and I would use his dad's binoculars and lay in the cornfield at the end of our street watching all the neighbors come and go because we were "spies" but the good kind. And we lived basically in Mayberry where nothing of note ever happened. Still didn't stop us from spying on everyone and picking up all manner of random trash to use as "clues" to solving our mysteries. Esther, when she was a little boy loved costumes so much. She was the kind of kid who would wear her Halloween costume a good 3-4 months after Halloween. She had great fun with her Superman costume. She would ride all over the town (this was when we lived back in Mayberry too) in her costume and cape, "protecting" the neighborhood. I would often go to the corner store and hear all about how "Superman" was out protecting the neighborhood on his bike. And then there was the year that Esther was Davy Jones and her best friend was Jack Sparrow and they went all around the neighborhood hunting for "treasure." Esther just loved costumes. She loved playing pretend. She loved having a "job" to do or a role to play. And some years, she would choose the scariest costume she could find and wore that for months on end too. She had a Halloween birthday so we always put a lot of energy in Halloween when she was little. Decorations, costumes, parties, scary things. And she never once watched a horror film. But it didn't stop her from wanting to have the bleeding skull mask one Halloween that seeing pictures of just horrified some people that I'd let my kid wear it. But I had taken her to the Halloween store and she picked out her own costume. So I totally raised a kid who wasn't allowed to watch any kind of horror film, but not only loved scary costumes and decorations but also would wear them for months following Halloween all over the neighborhood. Thank you for letting me talk about Esther today. These are all good memories. Thank you for sharing about Esther. Love the thought of her protecting the neighborhood in their Superman costume. And her love of Halloween? She sounds like my kind of person. Hugs to you. |
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kibblesandbits
Pearl Clutcher
At the corner of Awesome and Bombdiggity
Posts: 3,305
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Post by kibblesandbits on Jul 27, 2022 23:25:36 GMT
Perhaps it’s more typical than you think. Lots of kids play dress up and model adult jobs and responsibilities. When I was a kid, my neighborhood buddy and I would use his dad's binoculars and lay in the cornfield at the end of our street watching all the neighbors come and go because we were "spies" but the good kind. And we lived basically in Mayberry where nothing of note ever happened. Still didn't stop us from spying on everyone and picking up all manner of random trash to use as "clues" to solving our mysteries. Esther, when she was a little boy loved costumes so much. She was the kind of kid who would wear her Halloween costume a good 3-4 months after Halloween. She had great fun with her Superman costume. She would ride all over the town (this was when we lived back in Mayberry too) in her costume and cape, "protecting" the neighborhood. I would often go to the corner store and hear all about how "Superman" was out protecting the neighborhood on his bike. And then there was the year that Esther was Davy Jones and her best friend was Jack Sparrow and they went all around the neighborhood hunting for "treasure." Esther just loved costumes. She loved playing pretend. She loved having a "job" to do or a role to play. And some years, she would choose the scariest costume she could find and wore that for months on end too. She had a Halloween birthday so we always put a lot of energy in Halloween when she was little. Decorations, costumes, parties, scary things. And she never once watched a horror film. But it didn't stop her from wanting to have the bleeding skull mask one Halloween that seeing pictures of just horrified some people that I'd let my kid wear it. But I had taken her to the Halloween store and she picked out her own costume. So I totally raised a kid who wasn't allowed to watch any kind of horror film, but not only loved scary costumes and decorations but also would wear them for months following Halloween all over the neighborhood. Thank you for letting me talk about Esther today. These are all good memories. Thank you for sharing. I think of you and Esther often. |
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