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Showing Original Post only (View all)Kids from poorer neighborhoods keep coming to trick-or-treat in mine. Do I have to give them candy? [View all]
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/dear_prudence/2014/10/dear_prudence_on_halloween_poor_kids_come_to_trick_or_treat_in_my_neighborhood.htmlDear Prudence,
I live in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country, but on one of the more modest streetsmostly doctors and lawyers and family business owners. (A few blocks away are billionaires, families with famous last names, media moguls, etc.) I have noticed that on Halloween, what seems like 75 percent of the trick-or-treaters are clearly not from this neighborhood. Kids arrive in overflowing cars from less fortunate areas. I feel this is inappropriate. Halloween isnt a social service or a charity in which I have to buy candy for less fortunate children. Obviously this makes me feel like a terrible person, because whats the big deal about making less fortunate kids happy on a holiday? But it just bugs me, because we already pay more than enough taxes toward actual social services. Should Halloween be a neighborhood activity, or is it legitimately a free-for-all in which people hunt down the best candy grounds for their kids?
Halloween for the 99 Percent
Dear 99,
In the urban neighborhood where I used to live, families who were not from the immediate area would come in fairly large groups to trick-or-treat on our streets, which were safe, well-lit, and full of people overstocked with candy. It was delightful to see the little mermaids, spider-men, ghosts, and the occasional axe murderer excitedly run up and down our front steps, having the time of their lives. So wed spend an extra $20 to make sure we had enough candy for kids who werent as fortunate as ours. There you are, 99, on the impoverished side of Greenwich or Beverly Hills, with the other struggling lawyers, doctors, and business owners. Your whine makes me kind of wish that people from the actual poor side of town come this year not with scary costumes but with real pitchforks. Stop being callous and miserly and go to Costco, you cheapskate, and get enough candy to fill the bags of the kids who come one day a year to marvel at how the 1 percent live.
Prudie
I live in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country, but on one of the more modest streetsmostly doctors and lawyers and family business owners. (A few blocks away are billionaires, families with famous last names, media moguls, etc.) I have noticed that on Halloween, what seems like 75 percent of the trick-or-treaters are clearly not from this neighborhood. Kids arrive in overflowing cars from less fortunate areas. I feel this is inappropriate. Halloween isnt a social service or a charity in which I have to buy candy for less fortunate children. Obviously this makes me feel like a terrible person, because whats the big deal about making less fortunate kids happy on a holiday? But it just bugs me, because we already pay more than enough taxes toward actual social services. Should Halloween be a neighborhood activity, or is it legitimately a free-for-all in which people hunt down the best candy grounds for their kids?
Halloween for the 99 Percent
Dear 99,
In the urban neighborhood where I used to live, families who were not from the immediate area would come in fairly large groups to trick-or-treat on our streets, which were safe, well-lit, and full of people overstocked with candy. It was delightful to see the little mermaids, spider-men, ghosts, and the occasional axe murderer excitedly run up and down our front steps, having the time of their lives. So wed spend an extra $20 to make sure we had enough candy for kids who werent as fortunate as ours. There you are, 99, on the impoverished side of Greenwich or Beverly Hills, with the other struggling lawyers, doctors, and business owners. Your whine makes me kind of wish that people from the actual poor side of town come this year not with scary costumes but with real pitchforks. Stop being callous and miserly and go to Costco, you cheapskate, and get enough candy to fill the bags of the kids who come one day a year to marvel at how the 1 percent live.
Prudie
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Kids from poorer neighborhoods keep coming to trick-or-treat in mine. Do I have to give them candy? [View all]
KamaAina
Oct 2014
OP
Me too. I hate having candy around because I don't want to be tempted, but always buy
hlthe2b
Oct 2014
#201
I think we're being too harsh on her, and we LOVED the traffic coming to the densely packed
Hortensis
Oct 2014
#134
WTF??!! This is a free country and those babies and bigger kids should be welcome
Ecumenist
Oct 2014
#200
"A local walk around"??? Where I grew up, the nearest neighbor was a mile away. I"m sure
1monster
Oct 2014
#208
The kind of person who thinks living in a high income area frees them from seeing *those people*
Gormy Cuss
Oct 2014
#10
That's what it looked like to me too. Although I assumed it was written to seem ironic. eom
Blanks
Oct 2014
#52
I suspect the person that wrote the email is the same person that answered it. n/t
A Simple Game
Oct 2014
#118
Just a hunch. I have a hard time thinking that anyone would look to an outsider
A Simple Game
Oct 2014
#130
It may be faked. But I heard a sister-in-law say almost exactly the same thing.
tclambert
Oct 2014
#59
We get a lot of migrant worker families - lots of tomato and strawberry farms around here.
djean111
Oct 2014
#54
happens to me every year. i did a spit take the first time kids came up to the door and the parents
dionysus
Oct 2014
#27
I have the older ones sing me a song. They are usually in a group so I pick something like
shraby
Oct 2014
#48
Really? All kids coming to our door hopefully go away with nice memories and some good treats.
Hortensis
Oct 2014
#203
I do, too. Halloween used to be big business in this neighborhood. TONS of kids
calimary
Oct 2014
#55
The writer signed a real name and the columnist changed it to "Halloween for the 99 percent" NT
Eric J in MN
Oct 2014
#60
Definitely fake. How the hell do you know which neighborhood trick-or-treaters are from?
Nye Bevan
Oct 2014
#14
Well, when your neighborhood is lily-white for miles around and some face or hands reaching out
No Vested Interest
Oct 2014
#72
For those insisting that this is a complete fabrication, I can personally attest
bullwinkle428
Oct 2014
#22
I appreciate where you are coming from but don't think an Ayn Rand would even give out candy.
rhett o rick
Oct 2014
#150
bingo- said or un-said... it is the attitude and has been whispered behind the scenes of fortunates
tomm2thumbs
Oct 2014
#86
The letter-writer signed real name and the columnist changed it to "Halloween for the 99 percent" NT
Eric J in MN
Oct 2014
#61
Hmm I usually get the bite sized for 2 reasons - cost is one, I just assumed it was less expensive
seaglass
Oct 2014
#71
Same here. 30 full size bars @ $18 is a good deal and the kids are thrilled. n/t
MerryBlooms
Oct 2014
#154
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? My taxes pay for these useful institutions.
tclambert
Oct 2014
#43
Great response.Can you imagine being so selfish to deny a candy bar to a poor kid that gets to
judesedit
Oct 2014
#57
Sounds fake, but ABSOLUTELY represents the thoughts of tens of millions of Americans
randys1
Oct 2014
#70
I just moved to a nice neighborhood, though nothing like what the OP describes.
Maedhros
Oct 2014
#79
Solution: All the doctors and lawyers can send their kids a few blocks over to the billionaires
cemaphonic
Oct 2014
#85
It makes you FEEL like a terrible person, because you ARE a terrible person. n/t
Fantastic Anarchist
Oct 2014
#91
We live in a very neat, lower-middle-class neighborhood. LOTS of families drive here for TOT.
riqster
Oct 2014
#102
What a silly question. When trick or treaters come from poorer neighborhoods it is a good idea
Louisiana1976
Oct 2014
#108
I live in a old 1960s subdivision surrounded by rural roads and farms in all directions.
NutmegYankee
Oct 2014
#109
That's the way it's gotten to be where I live. The rural/suburban mixture means that
enough
Oct 2014
#162
I have seen kids come home with a wide variety of item on Holloween. Pencils for school, apples,
jwirr
Oct 2014
#126
I don't sympathize with that whiny twerp. They have no business giving out candy.
rhett o rick
Oct 2014
#148
Halloween visits fell off in recent years, and I missed it. But our neighbor started doing a haunted
Hekate
Oct 2014
#132
while it's possible that the specific letter in the OP could be fake there really ARE
JI7
Oct 2014
#156
Anyone here from Dallas? Y'all haven't experienced Halloween until you have seen a Swiss
Hestia
Oct 2014
#167
We will be shutting our door / turning our light off once it gets completely dark out.
X_Digger
Oct 2014
#177
People that are pretty well off are possibly the real culprits. How does she know where they are
brewens
Oct 2014
#182
Better give 'em something - ever hear of the "flaming bag of dog poo" trick?
tularetom
Oct 2014
#185
Has anyone here heard a RW conservative ask for approval of their beliefs ever?
IronLionZion
Oct 2014
#188