What Kind of an Idiot Thinks This is Okay?
Ahhh…it’s that time of year again. Time for witches and ghosts and goblins and of course, the trashy, slutty costumes for little girls that make my blood boil. But…I’ve railed about those plenty in the past. Everyone who gets mail probably already knows of a certain national party store chain that carries an assortment of inappropriate costumes for elementary aged girls which, given how I feel about corporate America sexualizing children, kinda makes me want to hurl.
Before I go any further, though, let me ask if you, as a parent, make a habit of letting your 5-7 year olds (or even 8-10 year olds) watch movies like Nightmare on Elm Street or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Friday the 13th or Saw or Hostel? I’m sincerely hoping the answer is no and I’m just going to assume that the vast majority of you are responsible parents who would never do something so reprehensible.
So, that said, you probably wouldn’t be able to explain to me WHY THE EVER LOVING HELL why the aforementioned national party store chain is selling Freddy Krueger (of Nightmare on Elm Street) and Jason (Friday the 13th) costumes for FIVE to SEVEN year old kids and Leatherface (of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) masks for children?
Can you tell me? Because I sure as hell can’t figure it out. In any case? It’s messed. the fuck. up.
5-7 years old??? Even 8-10 yrs old is effed up.
Fits Most CHILDREN???
Nice
And riddle me this…even if you haven’t let your kids see these movies but you DO buy them the costume, out of some kind of twisted nostalgia, I assume, WHAT do you tell them their costume is, exactly? Do you say “Oh, Leatherface is this guy in a movie that dismembers and kills tons of people with a chainsaw. Oh, and his mask? It’s made from the skin of his victims!”?
I mean seriously, I’d LOVE to know.
And yes, it’s very likely that I AM judging you for that. I admit it.
But I’m judging the store that sells this crap for little kids even more more harshly—what the hell are they thinking?
—–
On a lighter note, me and mah girls from Aiming Low are having a couple of awesome parties in Boston & New York next week with amazing swag bags and BIG ticket item giveaways from HP. Come join us. I PROMISE you’ll have fun!
Ok, I’m your huckleberry. I have an 18 yr old and 13 yr old sons. Five years ago, my 18 yo wanted to see a scary movie. We went to see SAW at the theatre. We covered our eyes, screamed, and laughed more than once. No drama, no nightmares, and I never once caught him sharpening knife blades to dissect his classmates.
The following year, he asked to see SAW2. Again, with more laughter just by being together and enjoying ourselves, we had a great time.
At 11, my younger son wanted to join us. We rented all the previous SAW movies, and watched one each nite and on opening night we saw the new SAW release in the theatres….A family tradition has ensued.
Tonight? We start watching SAW1 again at home, and we will follow up with SAW2-5 throughout the two weeks. We have since been joined on our Fright Nights by assorted family and friends raning in ages 10- 60. We have eight other people joining us in our living room with popcorn and chips this year’s Fright Fest.
My kids know the effects are just that. They know nobdoy was actually killed during the filming, in the same way they were taught that no dog really died when Old Yellar bit the bullet when they were kids.
Halloween and spooky things are just a seasonal treat. It does no more harm than does listening to music lyrics (remember playing Sgt. Peppers LP backwards? Paul still isn’t dead, ya know.
I am a responsible parent with wonderful, well adjusted children. I am a huge fan of family time, be it monopoly games that last for days (!!!!!) or scary movies they choose. Actaully, I find their participation is is greatly enhanced when they get to make some of the choices.
And no, I don’t expect either of them to want to grow up to be Jeffrey Dahmer. Or worse. Lizzie Borden took an axe to her mother. Probably because her mom didn’t explain to her that when you chop people up in the movies, it’s all smoke and mirrors. When you do it at home? There’s noone left to do your laundry.
mysuestories’s last blog post…You Can Keep Your Sugar and Spice..I Like Dirt
That’s great, huckleberry. Really. I have no problem with older kids watching horror movies. I did. However, you MAY need to re-read the post because I’m talking about costumes from movies that are most DEFINITELY NOT for, as they suggest, 5 to 7 year olds—unless of course, you took them to see those movies when they were ages five to seven, in which case, I’d definitely question your parental abilities.
Acyually? You DID question my parenting abilities in the taking a 10 yr oold to see SAW…… Heck, The Wizard of Oz had the crazy flying monkeys….Willie Wonka’s Magical Mystery tour with disappearing children…..Remember the old Road Runner cartoons? Again, wacthing WITH a child, so they understand it is ONLY IMAGINATION and all bells and whistles is the key. My son was 7 when he wanted to be the ghost from SCREAM. He hadn’t seen the movie yet, but it was all the rage at his school that year. I bought him the costume (with the blood pump down the face attachment)—and he was happy to be one of 2000 SCREAM ghosts that year.
mysuestories’s last blog post…You Can Keep Your Sugar and Spice..I Like Dirt
Ah yeah…guess I did. In any case, we’ll have to agree to disagree because there’s no explanation that will convince me that Saw or any other movie I’ve mentioned is okay for any kid under 14 years old. As for the costumes, which were the intended focal point of this post, why dress your small child as a violent, gruesome movie character they neither know nor are old enough to even remotely comprehend? (That was rhetorical…no reply necessary) But just for shits and giggles…did you read the post I linked to from thelastpsychiatrist.com? If that doesn’t disturb you then we are definitely never going to see eye to eye.
I am definitely in the IzzyMom camp on this one. The type of horror that are represented in SAW movies and Friday 13, and Hallowe’en movies are far and away more “realistic,” sadistic, bloody, and dismemberment-oriented than anything we saw as kids growing up. I would NOT put Road Runner cartoons and SAW in the same category of violence. The emphasis on young girls getting killed is particularly disturbing for SO many reasons. Come on, if you let your young children 10 and under watch things like this, you’re helping build their tolerance for violence and torture, which is the opposite of healthy child-rearing! When an older child watches something like this, it’s not much better, but at least they understand abstractions like “acting” and “special effects” better than their younger brothers and sisters, and are less likely to have nightmares. Honestly, I would rather my kids watch some smooching and some bare boobies in a foreign movie than the violence and sadism in your average mainstream U.S. thriller or action movie,
(oh and I blogged about movies a few months ago, and I have another post drafted about letting them see Quentin Tarantino films and I don’t think you would, but don’t think it’s a retort or anything - it’s already written!) xoxo :)
Maria’s last blog post…Different thoughts on the Polanski debacle.
I’m talking about very small children and costumes from movies NO 5-7 year old should ever see. Would you really let your 5-7 year old kids watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Or Friday the 13th? Really?
I went to a big horror convention recently (for my job) and there were some vendors there with pretty graphic, violent, and sexually explicit images for sale. First, I don’t know why in the hell anyone would buy the stuff—and then hang it over a couch. Second, there were people there with very small children. Those are the people who will buy these costumes. I totally met them.
Did you follow the link in the post? Sounds like the same AWESOME parents. But seriously, I read that a couple years ago and found it pretty disturbing, as any normal person would.
My preschool doesn’t allow any costumes because “what’s fun to one child is absolutely terrifying to another.” At first I eye rolled. But then I thought, yeah, they have a point. She’s afraid of the inflatable shrek at our neighbor’s house.
I have read that it’s good to let kids be vampires and monsters and that getting those desires addressed in an institutionalized way can be healthy. But I think there’s a line, and I’d imagine a kindergartener in Freddie Kruger pretty much crosses it.
Mom101’s last blog post…Espana, baby
My kids’ schools and preschools have always had a ‘no weapons, blood or gore’ rule, which, of course, I totally support. But I made the mistake of bringing my kids, when they were smaller, to a costume shop. I’d totally forgotten how much scary, gory stuff they have on display. Let’s just say it was a HUGE mistake and I paid for it for weeks with N, even though we were only in there for, literally, about ten seconds.
I don’t watch those kinds of movies, just because I simply don’t like them. I don’t let my kids watch them, and find it apalling that someone would dress their YOUNG CHILD in a costume resembling a character from a horror movie. Crazy.
Sincerely, Jenni’s last blog post…If they’d only have bought me a pair of Nikes…
My daughter, 2yo, wanted to be a puppy for Halloween. I traipsed through 5 different stores yesterday and finally gave up. I was very disheartened to see that even WALMART was selling a “parasitic twin” outfit for KIDS. Disgusting.
The lack of imaginative outfits alone make me want to learn how to sew. Everything was licensed character or a goddamned princess.
cagey’s last blog post…Understated Hyperboles
Yeah, I’m pretty unthrilled with all the licensed character junk, too. Is it not enough that we have characters on every other damn thing in our lives from toothbrushes to those stupid Disney eggs? If you learn to sew, let me know. I’ll pay you to make my kids’ costumes!
IzzyMom’s last blog post…What Kind of an Idiot Thinks This is Okay?
Well written! Don’t you just want to walk up to their PR department or their creative consultants and ask, “What are you thinking?”
Last year, being from Kansas originally, I dressed my daughter up like Dorothy. She’d watched the non-scary parts from The Wizard of Oz (no flying monkeys scenes for her!), and she loved the ruby slippers I’d purchased for her from the Target clearance rack.
My sister heard about the costume and said, “I’m sending you something for you.”
In the mail, I received a “sexy Dorothy” costume. My daughter was so excited that we dressed alike. But at least the sexy costume was for the adult!!!!
Melanie at Parenting Ink’s last blog post…A Bead in the Nose
awww..I bet you guys made a cute pair! And you know, sexy and gruesome costumes are fine for adults. I just don’t get why they’d make them for little kids. It defies all reason.
IzzyMom’s last blog post…What Kind of an Idiot Thinks This is Okay?
I don’t know what’s worse, these costumes, or the “young sluts” costumes that are advertised for girls. At least these look like they would keep the kid warm.
11 and wanting to watch such a movie or knowing about such a movie is one thing. (At 11, my son got to watch “Saving Private Ryan.”) But at 5? 7? 9?
I saw Terminator 2 at a midnight show its opening weekend. I will never forget the terrified 3-year-old boy who watched the whole damn thing with his father. I often wonder whatever happened to him.
Great post, woman.
patois’s last blog post…Scholastic Book Fairs Anti-Vampire
I don’t understand either. But then, I don’t understand the appeal of those movies in the first place.
Happily, the child wants to be a black cat for Halloween. That, I can handle.
magpie’s last blog post…Turn Down Your Thermostat
PS - Looking forward to seeing you in NYC!
magpie’s last blog post…Turn Down Your Thermostat
You’re going?!!! Yay! (Did you RSVP? Muy importante!)
I went to see Zombieland over the weekend (not my choice AT ALL, but it turned out to be, well, great) and there was a family sitting in front of us with an infant and 3 other kids whose ages I guessed as 4, 7 and 9. I assumed the 4yo at least would be pretty terrified, but the reality turned out to be even worse. I’m guessing that all of those kids have seen stuff like that on a regular basis, because there wasn’t even a whimper. I’m so sad for those kids.
I had the same reaction a few years ago when one of my 3rd grade students said her favorite tv show was CSI. Um, seriously? First off, what time is this child going to bed? and second, that show isn’t only excruciatingly graphic, it’s full of really scary and twisted ways people hurt and/or get off with each other. And I knew her parents!
But one of the saddest things I ever saw was a 3-4 yo being dragged through Universal Studios haunted house, with her parents screaming at her, it isn’t real! Only it was real costumed people, in scary costumes, trying to scare her, and she was developmentally unable to know that it was all pretend… idiots is the right word.
I am so with you …. makes you wonder why there aren’t parenting licenses the way we have driver’s and pilot’s licenses!!
I was firm in my disapproval of the Scream costume for my six-year-old son a few years back. He wanted it desperately — a bunch of the other boys in his class were talking about getting it — and I kept saying, “No, it’s not appropriate.”
Imagine my surprise when his jaw dropped and he said, innocently, “Don’t you like expressionist art, Mom? We learned about it in school. Gaby is coming to the class party as that girl Pinky in the white dress with the pink sash, and Vincent is coming as Blue Boy but he says he is going to wear blue jeans and a blue shirt, not that stupid blue suit…”
Um, seems I never got the note about dressing up as famous paintings and didn’t know they were going to be characters from Munch, Lawrence, and Gainsborough, etc. (They had the option of drawing themselves in a costume and then creating one to wear that matched their drawings, too. Clever teacher, I thought!)
On the other hand, I bet I was one of the few mothers in town who bought the Scream costume because my son liked Edvard Munch! (He is 10 now and still hasn’t seen any of those movies.)
I *desperately* wanted to see all kinds of scary movies when I was ten-ish. My evil mother wouldn’t let me. So I watched one at a friend’s sleepover.
Nightmares. For weeks.
Evil mother was right. I told her years later.
I am now the evil mother who will not allow my children to watch certain things now and as they get older. Do I think it ruined my life? Watching that one movie? No. Could I have done without it? Yes.
I’m having enough issue with Batman/etc. The most recent Batman movie was not child friendly. At all. Yet it was marketed with all kinds of toys for children, shirts and even in children’s meals at fast food restaurants. (I don’t recall which one as we don’t do fast food. Once again, I’m now the evil mother.) I broke and bought a Batman-logo shirt because I think it’s funny when my not-quite-two year old and not-quite four year old argue over who and who is not Batman (and they were on clearance at Walmart). They haven’t seen the movie. They won’t for quite some time.
I’m rambling. I just came to say, “I agree.”
FireMom’s last blog post…You Capture: Still Life
I have to agree. Costumes like that are nuts for young kids. I can’t imagine letting my 4 year old son wear something like that.
On the other hand, he is going as Bumblebee from Transformers, and he’s never seen that movie or the cartoons. I don’t think he even knows about the transforming part. He just loves a toy one he has that doesn’t transform and thinks he’s dressing up as that.
Not the same thing at all, since at least Transformers were originally aimed at kids when they were just cartoons.
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I’m with you there… Transformers are SO benign compared to that other stuff. I mean Hostel is torture-porn, plain and simple. The others aren’t much better. You can’t even begin to compare them to a movie about robots. My son has never seen the movie OR the cartoons but he has Transformers and plays with them because they’re TOYS…not chainsaw murderers. And Bumblebee is actually kind of sweet..for a robot :)
IzzyMom’s last blog post…What Kind of an Idiot Thinks This is Okay?
It blows my mind, too, that and the slutty costumes for our little girls. My twins are in first grade, and report that classmates watch Chucky and Terminator and Blade and Twilight, among scores of other inappropriate movies. And, of course, those are the kids at are rude and aggressive and out of control. Why??? I’m sure those are the same parents that will think nothing of it to buy an evil murderous costume for their kid. Good times!
Daria’s last blog post…Singin’ loud with a smile, I reckon
I don’t see how you could let kids watch that sort of thing and NOT see some kind of damage to their burgeoning little minds. Children are simply not capable of parsing and putting into context such brutal and sadistic imagery. They are not that sophisticated. The result? Children who have no sense of what kind of behavior is normal. How could they after they’ve watched a dozen people murdered in every conceivable way?
IzzyMom’s last blog post…What Kind of an Idiot Thinks This is Okay?
I read everything you linked. My parents allowed me to watch these movies at seven or so. Which meant that my sister, who is six years younger than me, watched them with me when she was a toddler. Also to note- my father will NOT be in the room when these movies are on, because *he* can’t handle them. Nightmares and the whole nine yards.
We never killed anyone, or even had issues with violence outside the normal range of two girls growing up in a too small house together.
No, we’re not sociopaths, but hmm, let’s see, we both suffer from moderate to debilitating anxiety disorders, and we both have a serious tendency towards mistrust and a view that the world is a cruel and dangerous place. Of course, some of that has to do with our genetics and the other factors of our childhood…
Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street are probably not the reasons I’m on the Ativan, but I can almost guarantee you they *are* the reasons I sleep with a loaded .357 in my nightstand drawer.
*disclaimer: yes, i am capable of handling a weapon. yes, it is registered. yes, i picked it out myself because i wield it comfortably and confidently, yes, i get a little target practice in there to keep it that way, yes, it has a safety, and no, i do not live with any childrens. i live alone.
verybadcat’s last blog post…Explanation
Some people have gotten the idea, from this post, that my concern is that children who watch such movies or dress up as the characters will grow up to be axe murderers and serial killers.
To the contrary, that is the last thing on my mind. My primary concern is for the emotional and psychological implications of showing such brutal and sadistic imagery to young children who are absolutely NOT equipped to deal with what they are seeing.
The subconscious mind is like a tape recorder. It doesn’t judge. it simply records EVERYTHING we see and hear and feel and there it lives, in the recesses of our subconscious mind, for the rest of our lives.
Children are so perfect and innocent. To pollute that perfection with such vile garbage is akin to child abuse, in my opinion and many experts have drawn similar conclusions.
As for your gun, I say good for you. I’m not anti-gun. I’m anti-criminals-with-guns. Since we can’t seem to keep guns away from criminals, I fully support one’s right to defend themselves against any and all threats.
Izzy Mom’s last blog post…What Kind of an Idiot Thinks This is Okay?
I can make that connection, though, from exposure to violent media to sociopathic tendencies. We learn from a very young age that the world is either basically safe or unsafe, and that colors our development. There isn’t a direct correlation, but I think it’s part of the risk of exposing kids to violence. As you say, the subconscious collects it all, and it rattles around in there forever. :)
verybadcat’s last blog post…Oh What A Week
You’ve described exactly why we now have to sit down and decide what each kid wants to be BEFORE going shopping, and see if there’s any way to come up with the costume WITHOUT going into the costume shop.
My kids are scared shitless of violence.
I LIKE it that way.
Miss Britt’s last blog post…Communicating After Counseling
So are mine—they find disturbing—as they should. And I also like it that way.
Yeah, me too.
Hello, I even felt a little weird buying my 7 year old a Harry Potter costume!
My kids are almost 7 and I don’t even let them watch Spongebob.
I can’t help you on this one.
Tuesday’s last blog post…Wordless Wednesday
I have wondered the same thing. Who would let their young kids wear this stuff? And if they did then the parents are most likely picking their costumes for them b/c generally kids don’t even know about those characters.
My boys are going to be Bumblebee & Dr. Cockroach
I don’t have any kids, but I dig exactly what you’re saying….. whatever happened to the old days when kids would put a sheet over their heads and be a ghost or something benign like that….. in fact, my mother REFUSED to take us to the store and buy us a costume, she insisted on making every costume herself…… and this is why the most embarrassing picture of me EVER is one of me in a Great Pumpkin costume that she made for me when I was 5 or so…… I know for a fact that I didn’t WANT to be a pumpkin, but that is the power that mothers hold over us when we’re that age….. but yeah, the crap they market to kids these days is pretty appalling, kudos to you guys for fighting the good fight……
kuba’s last blog post…AC/DC @ Verizon Center Washington DC October 16, 2009
Hey, good article! Going through some of these comments must have given you a headache. Not that they weren’t well thought out or anything. It’s just a pain to repeat yourself. But good job on defending your beliefs in a well communicated and unoffensive way.
Kids should be pretending to be butterflies or spiderman. Not serial killers…. That’s all I gotta say.
You know, it just disgusts me and I LIKE A GOOD SLASHER MOVIE.
I just did a rant over at Draft Day Suit about the damned SAW commercials they run on Sunday Afternoon during the NFL games.
I don’t understand EXPOSING children to this crap.
When they grow up and have no social moral values, I guess there parents will be SO surprised won’t they?
Gidge’s last blog post…The Boy Has Got To Go
Considering that my five-year-old finds the gingerbread man torture scene in Shrek seriously disturbing, (and rightly so) I have no plans to show him any adult horror movies until he is at least 13.
(And I did watch super-violent, R-rated action and horror movies when I was his age, at my father’s house. And I did not turn out particularly warped. But the movies gave me nightmares. Why would I want to give my kid nightmares?)
I’ve made my kid’s costumes more years than not to avoid the horror movie / licensed character trap. My kid wants to be a plain old ghost this year (his choice, not mine). I’m a little relieved. (The year he wanted to be a pilot I had to make him tiny aviator goggles. THAT was a challenge!)
Tangentially, I’m so sick of the little girls’ slutty costumes trend that I refuse to buy even remotely slutty costumes for myself, despite the fact that I am quite old enough to wear them! But because it’s nearly impossible to buy non-slutty costumes, I generally just make my own.
I’m a PhD student in mass communication at the University of Florida and would like to contact you as a leading momblogger for an academic research project.
Please email me at linda.s.hallam@gmail.com so I can send the pertinent information to you.
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My husband and I took the little ones (2 & 4) out to eat last friday…we wanted italian but next door there is an arcade and my son was dying to get over there…needless to say we got him to eat all of his food with a promise that we would go to the arcade…so we get there and my husband takes him (the 4 year old) to the video games and i take my daughter to opposite sided of the place with the bouncy ball pit…next thing i know…my son comes running over to me screaming he wants to leave…i say “honey…u just got here…why u wanna leave so soon?” and he points over in direction of the video games where my husband and a guy in a Freddy costume (complete with hanging guts) are over there cracking up histerically…I was upset with the hubby for that and my baby had to sleep with me for the nite…which meant my hubby had to sleep in his room (ha!!)
Wynnie Mcbride’s last blog post…Get The All New PS3 Slim
People are such jackasses. I’m really sorry your son had to deal with that :(
Just adults who enjoy these movies creep me out.
maya’s last blog post…Thank You
Cry cry lil babies. Have you ever taken the time to just ask your own children what they’d like to wear? No your too busy thinking you know what’s good for them to take the time and see what they’d actually enjoy themselves. Your full of yourselves. Your smothering your children and they’ll end up antisocial because of you idiots.
Actually, YES.
I ask, they tell me and that’s what they wear. I don’t think anyone said their kids aren’t free to choose. The post was about the fact that the noted costumes are available for 5-7 year olds who really shouldn’t have ANY idea who fucking Freddy or Jason are. But I’m guessing you’re probably one of those douches that would take a 5 year old to see Hostel…
In any case, leaving inflammatory comments with no REAL contact information is the mark of a real coward. At least have the courage to own your words. Are you REALLY that scared of us?
And if you ever DO breed (PLEASE DON’T) let’s hope you’re more of an adult than you are right now and figure out how to be a real parent. Here’s a free tip for you..letting kids run the show is just LAZY parenting and those are the ones that usually turn out antisocial.
Do your homework, coward and while you’re at it, learn to spell and utilize basic grammar.
I’m a 49 year old mom and it kind of disgusts me that not only is the gore getting more intense, but the female costumes, for BOTH children and adults, is having so much more emphasis on sexiness. What happened to the carefree fun of Halloween? The TV shows are filled with murder related plots, and it seems like there’s usually a scene that takes place in a strip club, or has filthy language or nudity in so many of the prime time shows. It’s getting harder and harder to preserve children’s innocence for long.
this costumes are scary,,,.
for children
college degree online’s last blog post…Workshop assists students in note-taking, study skills « The …
frankly i would let them watch such movies nor wear such costumes, i would rather doll them up like princesses.
Is there a store nearby that would also sell the product so I didnt need to have it shupped?