This coming weekend is a time for tricks and treats. Tomorrow night, children of all ages will celebrate Halloween by doing the traditional trick-or-treating. Adults will get their treat the following night when Standard Time resumes and we all get an extra hour of sleep.

Halloween is a holiday that nowadays seems to generate nothing but bad publicity. The pagan roots of the holiday come up and are criticized, portraying those that celebrate in a bad light. The candy is now on the radar of the politically correct, with many urging us not to give out sweets. And, in the final assault, moving the time change to after the holiday assures that many will trick or treat in the twilight and not in the dark.

In the stone ages when I was a child, Halloween was second only to Christmas as the most anticipated day of the kid's calendar. The lure of as much free candy as you can carry is very strong to a pre-teen. This was especially true in my parents' home, where candy was a rare treat.

I had brothers that did marathon "power" trick-or-treating, travelling to as many households in town as possible, returning home to empty their bag when it became too heavy to carry, then off again into the night to get more. Speed was essential, so they would run between homes to get as much candy as possible before the porch lights would go out, ending the free candy party for another year.

There were a few places where the adults were into the holiday as much, if not more than the children. The local funeral home, of all places, had a "talking" jack-o-lantern. The owners would hide and watch for children to come close to the device, which had a microphone and a speaker inside, and begin talking to trick-or-treaters. This fascinated some, frightened others and amused many. Another home invited you inside to see a rather ghoulish display of a fake skeleton in a casket.

Great fun if you had the time to spare.

During the years that I went out begging for candy, I always went with friends from the neighborhood. We went to homes of people we knew (in those days, we knew practically everyone in town) and enjoyed the frightening things our small imaginations could come up with in the dark. It was a great time.

I don't know what it is about the Baby Boom generation, but we seem to forget how much fun we had and the simple ways that we amused ourselves. Instead, as adults, we have become super protective of our children, and it seems to be getting worse in following generations.

Halloween is about pretending to be someone else, running around in the dark with your friends, getting enough candy to last for weeks (if you can keep your parents out of your "stash,") and just plain having fun.

In our micromanagement of childhood today, we supervise nearly every aspect of the holiday. It's unfortunate that we live in a fear-centric society where we wouldn't even dream of allowing our children to do the things that we did on those dark and wondrous October evenings.

I know that times have changed, and people have as well. We can no longer give or receive succulent apples for fear of razor blades or some other horrifying foreign objects, real or imagined, being inside. If you invited children in your home today to see a fake skeleton in a casket, you more than likely would end up with a visit from the police.

I understand the reason for moving the time change, and it is more safe for the very young children to be out when it is daylight. But I just wish that these children could experience the Halloweens that you and I had as children.

Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night. Enjoy your extra hour!

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.