The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom
...but this isn't the fear of the Lord:
Halloween Too Scary for Some Kids, Study Finds
By Heather Whipps
Special to LiveScience
posted: 27 October 2005
11:31 am ET
It is the adults who should be afraid this Halloween. Not of ghouls and goblins, but of permanently scarring their children.
In a recent study of six- and seven-year-olds in the Philadelphia area, Penn State psychologist Cindy Dell Clark found that most parents underestimate just how terrifying the holiday can be for young kids.
There have been few studies to examine how the holiday affects children. Child psychologists generally caution parents that the fright of some aspects of Halloween can be too much for the very young, and advise adults to keep a close eye on children and remind them of what is real and what is not.
According to Clark, who interviewed parents and children after three Halloweens, younger children may be unwilling participants in the whole ritual.
The key ingredient in the recipe of Halloween fright is, of course, death.
"Intriguingly, Halloween is a holiday when adults assist children in behaviors taboo and out of bounds," Clark writes in the anthropological journal Ethos. "It is striking that on Halloween, death-related themes are intended as entertainment for the very children whom adults routinely protect."
Kids as young as six and seven don't differentiate between real death and the store-bought skeleton figures hanging in the trees and fake tombstones on the grass.
"Children see things on a real plane, as opposed to adults, who are trying to get around real themes like death by treating them as fun."
Conducting her study, Clark observed young children cowering from fear in front of the haunted displays and graveyard scenes common in so many American neighborhoods at Halloween.
Children interpret the frights of Halloween differently depending on their personal situations, such as the recent death of a relative or pet. An especially harrowing Halloween experience might have long-lasting effects.
Halloween Too Scary for Some Kids, Study Finds
By Heather Whipps
Special to LiveScience
posted: 27 October 2005
11:31 am ET
It is the adults who should be afraid this Halloween. Not of ghouls and goblins, but of permanently scarring their children.
In a recent study of six- and seven-year-olds in the Philadelphia area, Penn State psychologist Cindy Dell Clark found that most parents underestimate just how terrifying the holiday can be for young kids.
There have been few studies to examine how the holiday affects children. Child psychologists generally caution parents that the fright of some aspects of Halloween can be too much for the very young, and advise adults to keep a close eye on children and remind them of what is real and what is not.
According to Clark, who interviewed parents and children after three Halloweens, younger children may be unwilling participants in the whole ritual.
The key ingredient in the recipe of Halloween fright is, of course, death.
"Intriguingly, Halloween is a holiday when adults assist children in behaviors taboo and out of bounds," Clark writes in the anthropological journal Ethos. "It is striking that on Halloween, death-related themes are intended as entertainment for the very children whom adults routinely protect."
Kids as young as six and seven don't differentiate between real death and the store-bought skeleton figures hanging in the trees and fake tombstones on the grass.
"Children see things on a real plane, as opposed to adults, who are trying to get around real themes like death by treating them as fun."
Conducting her study, Clark observed young children cowering from fear in front of the haunted displays and graveyard scenes common in so many American neighborhoods at Halloween.
Children interpret the frights of Halloween differently depending on their personal situations, such as the recent death of a relative or pet. An especially harrowing Halloween experience might have long-lasting effects.
posted by Jason at 10/28/2005 07:47:00 PM
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