It's tough to be a parent these days. Especially around Halloween–a holiday that for bused to be about fun, sugar-induced tummy aches and staying up too late running around the neighborhood with friends. Now, it's a battleground for political correctness. In the weeks leading up to the holiday, bloggers and the media were full of material–warning parents about everything from the appropriateness of their children’s costumes choices to the content of their kid’s trick-or-treating bucket.
It’s no surprise that the social justice warriors were out in force, explaining that no one should allow their little girls to dress-up as the Disney princess Moana, unless of course the child in question is an actual Hawaiian princess. Parents were also advised to avoid Disney ice princesses Elsa and Anna, because apparently those two Disney princesses represent a celebration of white beauty.
Other activists stuck to the old reliable for freaking parents out: food fears. The Non-GMO Project was sure to promote their own money-making scheme by reminding parents to check that their children’s treats were non-GMO only. Because that’s a totally realistic suggestion—“Hey there, kid! Hold up! No eating any candy from your bucket until we get home and under a strong light and using my microscope, I can check that all your candy Non-GMO! After that, you can have the two pieces of candy that remain in your bucket.”
Boy, that's a fun house to grow up in.
Others blathered on about the myths of kids being poisoned or harmed by embedded razor blades and candy injected with killer chemicals. Mercifully, the always great Lenore Skenzy debunked those tall tales.
And naturally, the party animals at the Center For Science and the Public Interest posted an article about the horrors of Halloween treats containing…wait for it…sugar and artificial dyes. Now, we know the folks at CSPI only purchase candy from Whole Foods that is made of the more trendy though no healthier agave nectar and is dyed with beet juice and turmeric root.
But for normal parents who have better things to do than drive around town looking for "natural" and utterly disgusting-tasting “candy” that costs triple what a bag of regular candy costs; just ignore the Halloween fun stealers and let your kids have a good time.