With Halloween right around the corner, people are buying bags of candy and finalizing their costumes. The idea of Halloween is actually quite strange; annually, people impersonate others and go the doors of strangers, where they’re then given candy. The day has become such a natural annual event that people forget to be cautious and stay safe while trick or treating. Sure, candy’s yummy and a nice treat, but the journey to get the candy is potentially very dangerous.

Since a young age, my parents have banned me from dressing up and going trick or treating. Some people may argue, “Hey! That’s not fair! You’re missing out on one of the best holidays of the year!” I, on the other hand, do not mind at all; I was raised without participating in Halloween activities so I developed a dislike towards the holiday. That also means that I’ve never gone trick or treating-in my life. That doesn’t mean I’ve never wanted to go trick or treating; I’ve been tempted so many times to go grab a handful of candy from across the street. Heck, a family from my old development in New Jersey gave away Yankees merchandise (the father worked with the Yankees) every year, and I’m quite sure they still do. It was a real temptation. Never mind the tickets; I wanted the big teddy bears, even though they were donned in sportswear. My older sister and I always joked that we could simply stop by their house and get some nice merchandise; we just wanted free stuff. However, many people could use this idea as a trap, by setting up a good reputation to draw people towards and inside their homes. My parents, on the other hand, knew the dangers of easily getting kidnapped-so they warned my sister and I while we were young. While many parents trick or treat with their children, many parents decide that at a certain age, their children are completely fine trick or treating by themselves or in a group of friends. This is where the biggest danger arrives.

With hundreds of sugar-high kids running around the neighborhood, finding a target can become easy for kidnappers. As the sun sets and the streets become darker, the possibility of a driver not seeing a trick-or-treater increases. Along with the various distractions of the holiday such as home decorations, children are also fairly subject to the risk of a car accident. Unfortunately, in this day and age, there are also some strange people who hand out spiked candy or decide that the moldy candy found in their basement from 1998 is okay for consumption. Halloween is set on one day out of 365, and people treat the day like it’s the only day they can have fun and be crazy because, well, it’s Halloween. People no longer worry about their safety because the day is celebrated nationwide. Usually a quick “stay safe” to their child before he leaves the house is enough for them, but it is not enough to provide their child safety.

On Halloween, people’s guards are not up. Americans are so accustomed to not worrying about the safety of children in the neighborhood; they’re familiar with year after year of safe trick-or-treating and candy. Even on days other than Halloween, parents permit their children to go outside by themselves or with friends. People have become much less cautious about the safety of their children in a general sense, which raises the question of whether society has become safer or if people simply do not care. I believe that the majority of American has ultimately become much too comfortable with neighborhood safety, and Halloween only enforces the idea of assumed safeness because millions of other kids in the nation are walking around alone as well.

Halloween isn’t necessarily a bad holiday, and neither is trick or treating. However, trick or treating is potentially extremely dangerous and should be treated with safety precautions. Most parents choose to send their children off and continue on with their day, but many don’t realize the high risk of danger they are putting their children in. Children must be careful while trick or treating; they’re taking things from strangers. Who knows who the strangers are and what they do?