LIBERTY, Ohio (WYTV) – Skeletons, monsters and ghosts: Halloween is the second-biggest retail holiday, behind only Christmas.
Almost all of us love it. A two-year-old might giggle and smile, but in just a few years, she will have learned fear.
Rochelle Richardson, with Psycare of Liberty, said sometimes their fear isn’t noticeable.
“Some kids will just stand there and tremble or stare off into space, so a lot of times, adults aren’t alerted that they’re afraid of something,” Richardson said.
It’s best to explain and familiarize kids ahead of time.
“Explaining to a young child that maybe this isn’t real. Allowing them to touch it, interact with it before they’re introduced to it in the dark, maybe Truck or Treating or going to a Halloween party,” Richardson said.
Older siblings may do more harm than good.
“Younger siblings sometimes get kind of like, forced into situations that make their older siblings laugh and joke, and they think it’s funny when it’s really harmful,” Richardson said.
Alan Tura, owner of Fear Forest, is in the fear business but he is sensitive to his youngest customers.
“We tell our actors, listen: the young kids, the real little ones, are really scared already, so don’t put any pressure on the little kids. They’re scared just being here, so go after the big kids,” Tura said.
