A parent from a “rich neighborhood” dropped by Reddit to ask other users if they were being a complete jerk for pioneering a program that prevents kids from other areas coming to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood.
Using a throwaway account, the parent described the situation:
“We are what’s considered the ‘rich’ neighborhood,” they wrote. “So our neighborhood [has] always been a hotspot for trick or treaters. We used to get about 700-1000 kids a year, I’ve always loved getting trick or treaters because my kids are teens now and don’t trick or treat anymore.”
But their concern began when a sudden uptick in trick-or-treaters happened four years ago, sending “thousands of kids and their parents” into the streets to collect candy from the 90 or so houses that make up the community.
The user wrote that their frustration with the influx of kids “trampling yards” and “littering candy wrappers everywhere” bubbled over into a need for change after their 13-year-old daughter broke her arm on Halloween two years ago.
“There were so many people in our neighborhood, we couldn’t get out. There were cars everywhere, lining the streets, parked in people’s yards, it was horrible. We had to wait until everyone left (about 1am) to go to the hospital. My daughter had to wait in pain for HOURS,” they shared.
With the support of the community, they said they were able to organize a system where folks wanting to come and trick-or-treat had to be on a pre-approved friends and family list, and anyone else got turned away at the gate. This knocked the number of trick-or-treaters down to around 300 last year, and they plan on doing it again this Halloween.
But the original poster says their sister is angry at them for excluding kids from poorer neighborhoods.
“When we were kids, we had to trick or treat in other neighborhoods because we lived in a trailer park with no other kids,” they wrote. “[My sister] told me I was a horrible person for ruining thousands of kids’ Halloween. But honest, I’m not too broken up about it.”
Because the crux of the OP’s concern seemed to revolve around safety issues, and not merely hypothetical ones, most people agree with them, ultimately declaring them “Not the A-hole.”
“While it sucks that not every kid can go trick or treating in their own neighbourhood, the ‘slack’ can’t be picked up by one neighbourhood alone,” wrote u/sneeky_seer. “People from another town going there is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary.”
u/Kathrynlena asked what would have happened if anyone “had a heart attack, or a stroke, or an anaphylactic allergic reaction, or any number of other time-contingent medical [emergencies]?”
But many were also sympathetic to the kids, deeming it a tricky situation overall.
“It sucks for those kids, it really does. But when this becomes a hazard to people’s safety and ability to get medical attention, something had to be done,” wrote u/southparkslaps.
“I come from a rich neighborhood too and I see a bunch of kids coming into [it] during Halloween as well,” added u/readmancy. “The parked cars were definitely a hazard, but I’m sure there would have been better ways to deal with it (e.g. stricter parking rules, not allowing cars to block entrances, etc.) instead of completely locking out all those children from your neighborhood.”
Hopefully, all the kids who get turned away at the gate can find another neighborhood in which to go trick-or-treating, in a way that keeps everybody safe. Because every kid deserves all the Halloween candy they can carry!
More parenting AITA:
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- Mom Decides To Ditch School’s “Punishment” And Take Her Daughter To An Amusement Park
- Rich Mom Tells Teacher She Doesn’t Want Her Daughter To Befriend Poor Kid In Class