Dressing Up

Tinkerbell and Peter Pan

I only have a few weeks to decide what I'm going to be for Halloween. Nope, Kenz didn't say this, I did. Nana needs a costume.

I'm a little surprised that I even want to--- dress up. Since leaving the costume stage behind somewhere around ten years old, I can count on one hand the times I have donned a get-up for the October tradition. Some people never give up the dress up day, but I had, long ago. When I trick or treated with my children, when they were small, I only dressed up once. I was an injured jogger. I tied a piece of a ripped up sheet with red marker stains around my forehead. (Hard to believe.) Since Kenz has been celebrating Halloween, I've already dressed up twice, once as Peter Pan and once as a plump pumpkin. This year I want to dress up again! This is crazy. With my busy schedule, I can hardly get myself dressed and out of the house for work. (Hmmm, maybe I should be a Nurse.)

This is a phenomena of being a grandparent; a desire to want to be young again. Young defined as somewhere in the three to ten range, not the twenties or thirties. The desire part comes from participating in the craziness of childhood, being a pal with your grandchild and sharing in the experience of the FUN they are having.

This year Kenz frightened me with her possible costume choice. She wants to be a Dracula. She got the idea from a face painting book I picked up at a library sale. It's an easy costume and cheap.... face paint, black clothes, fangs and a cape. In reality, I think she wants to scare herself to try to get over being scared by scary things. Even though she insisted we go to the big big big Halloween store, she clung to my leg every time she saw a creepy creature. I keep reminding her that it's all pretend, but for children the line between pretend and real can be---thin. She may reevaluate her choice in the next few weeks. We shall see.

In the meantime, I am thinking of maybe being a princess, a Hannah or a cheerleader. I won't have to buy anything. I can borrow from Kenz ---a crown, pom poms, or her Hannah wig.

If you see a blonde grandma and a little Vampire at your door this Halloween, don't be afraid, it's only Nana and Kenz! (Nana will probably scare you the most.)

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Below is a post from my Grandparents.com blog. I wrote it last year. There were some good comments that followed. You can read them at the site.

Scary Fun?

Anything that is too scary is not fun.

A couple of Halloween's ago, Kenz and I and her mommy trick or treated in a neighborhood where the houses are close together. The front yards were heavily displayed with graves and skeletons and spider webs. The doors were opend by mean warty witches and monsters with green eyes who were frowning. Pretty soon we were avoiding the houses that looked like they might be too scary. To be a little scared is fun, it's a surprise; to be bewildered is not.

Halloween is fun, but anything that is too scary is not fun. Some of this stuff is too scary for little children and sometimes they don't admit it. They need grown-up sensitivity to help them sort out the real from the fake.

Even the Halloween aisle at the drugstore has those machines which talk in very low voices, saying "Where are going? Hey, where are going?" when you walk by. These are scary to little ones who don't understand batteries.

There is so much fun to be had on Halloween; costumes, candy, pumpkins and friends. But, anything that is too scary is not fun, even if it is make-believe.

Happy Halloween