As Halloween approached, I spoke to Heather Catalano, a parent and resident here in New Providence, about her experiences with Halloween costumes.

Of  Mischief Night, the night before Halloween, Mrs. Catalano says: “If they can keep it safe and good old fashioned clean fun, then yes, have at it.  Toilet paper in the trees is always a sight to see.”

As a parent herself she believes that others should care about the way their children dress for Halloween.  It is a perfect time for children to enjoy themselves by dressing up as their favorite TV show characters or movie characters, but now that horror movies are appearing in theaters, some of the movies might make parents think twice. If students want to wear their costumes to school, they can not wear masks or any type of costume that could scare the younger students in the school. As a whole, though, she does not feel that children and teens have been taking scary and inappropriate costumes too far.

Actually, Mrs. Catalano believes that adults are dressing up as scarier things than children and teenagers. She is more concerned about the appropriateness of haunted houses or hayrides where the characters get too close to the children or even adults. She does not like the characters popping out and continue to follow people through the haunted house or maze.