Children should experience this ...

I'm as guilty as any other parent for monitoring my kids closer than I was. Of course I didn't live next to kids whose moms slept all day, except when the deadbeat ex-husband comes around for a fight. Nor did I live next to some guy asks to make a phone call every week because his phone got shut off (the guy has money for cigarettes and booze, though).

It's sad, since my wife and I were raised middle class, but now we make it on my paltry newspaper salary, which means renting in our city.

 

Catch fireflies.

Make s'mores at a campfire.

Eat Wintergreen Lifesavers in the closet with a friend.

Put full make-up on an adult.

Dive (or jump) off the high board.

 

Do you live in The People's Republic of China?

Do they have all the parents submit to mandatory drug testing as well?

That's pretty fucked up

 

Ride on a haunted hayride while they're young enough to be scared.

Sneak out and party all night.

PS. Halloween was never about my parents. Maybe before I knew what the holiday was and they dressed me up in a pumpkin costume, but I always enjoyed picking out my own. Mom didn't care what I was, she just knew it was that time of year when we had to go somewhere and pick out make-up.

 

Here is part of the form and remember this is just one of about six forms you have to fill out:

AS A CONDITION OF VOLUNTEERING, I give permission for the Little League organization to conduct a background check on me, which may include a review of sex offender registries, child abuse and criminal history records. I understand that, if appointed, my position is conditional upon the league receiving no inappropriate information on my background. I hereby release and agree to hold harmless from liability the local Little League, Little League Baseball, Incorporated, the officers, employees and volunteers thereof, or any other person or organization that may provide such information. I also understand that, regardless of previous appointments, Little League is not obligated to appoint me to a volunteer position. If appointed, I understand that, prior to the expiration of my term, I am subject to suspension by the President and removal by the Board of Directors for violation of Little League policies or principles.

 

Swimming lessons

See fireworks

Every kid should also go to the beach, even for a day a couple times in their life.

Oh, when you are playing baseball seriously that whiffle bat destorys your swing for weeks.

 

So wait. People in the newsroom really did dress up for the Oscars?

 

Jesus, Dick. I bet you're a real gas to party with. Good lord.

 

This has been addressed. The fact that I don't think children should wear Halloween costumes to school has nothing to do with my personality as a whole. I like a good time as much as anyone. I want kids to have fun. I also think there's a time and a place for it.

Routine is very important to children, especially children that age. The distraction of costumes on Halloween disrupts that routine in a manner that has ramifications beyond just that day.

 

Yes the ones in entertainment. One wore an Elizabethian costume. They were actually classy and not tacky. It's a Sunday night and once a year.

Not much different than dressing up for an NFL game, which some people at our paper do each Sunday and a lot of folks did when the city's NFL team made the Super Bowl.

The newsroom also has an annual Hawaiian shirt day to honor one of our longtime editors who loved Hawaiian print shirts and had died of cancer years before.
I'm sure that tradition would be beneath people like Dick Whitman though since it is so non-professional.

And I know this will violate all that is right and proper, but the newsroom has (gasp!) an actual Christmas tree with lights and everything. As far as I know, no one has died or gotten ill from it.


I'm still trying to grasp how wearing a Halloween costume has major ramifications beyond that one day. Routine is important for children and the routine of being able to wear a Halloween costume on Halloween logically seems to follow that pattern or it used to.

 

If you guys are having fun, that's your call I guess. But it all sounds hella lame.

 

Awesome. Maybe on the next Election Day, the sports department will be able to cheerfully don their Obama or Romney T-shirts.