Have Halloween costumes become too scary for children?
That was the question posed on today’s Good Morning Britain which prompted a fierce debate between viewers.
Discussing the issue in the ITV studio with Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley was Siobhan Freegard from Channel Mums who said she thought many costumes on sale today were inappropriate for kids.
She said the scary clowns and Scream masks were enough to give little ones nightmares, and some should be sold with an age restriction.
She said: “Mums are telling us their kids are frightened by costumes of killer clowns and are having nightmares. You open the door on Halloween to be confronted by meat cleavers and headless horsemen. Little kids can’t distinguish that it is someone dressed up.”
She urged parents not to take their children Trick or Treating if they are dressed “too scarily” and to choose something age appropriate.
She added: “A lot of costumes on sale are frightening. Some are of serial killers and the description says ‘become a serial killer’. That is not appropriate.”
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She also pointed out that many costumes for little girls as young as four have become over-sexualised featuring mini skirts and corsets.
Susanna agreed that sometimes it can be terrifying for young children on Halloween to open their front door and be confronted by a scary mask.
Meanwhile Richard said he was “disgusted” by some of the costumes on sale this year, including one of shamed Paralympian Oscar Pistorius with a toy gun provided to replicate the night he shot dead his girlfriend.
Many GMB viewers also thought Halloween has gone too far and many kids could be terrified by today’s Trick Or Treaters. Some wondered why children can’t go back to making their costumes themselves or just dressing up in a good old sheet or bin bag.
But John Walton appeared on GMB to say he thought people were being oversensitive.
He said: “Children and adults view things differently. If it’s a scary character from a film, the children haven’t seen it so they don’t know who it is, to them it is just a scary mask.”
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He added: “We have become de-sensitised to a lot of things. What difference are age restrictions going to make? Parents still have final say on what their children wear.”
Some viewers sided with his point of view.
According to a Channel Mums survey revealed by GMB, two thirds of parents think Halloween costumes are too scary for children and 55% think they’re too sexualised.