How to talk to kids about Halloween

 Halloween can be controversial. Some of us love it and ignore its darker aspects, and others of us try to avoid all association with it. With good reason. The history of Halloween, the practices associated with Halloween, are enough to raise our eyebrows and wonder what is the “right” way to parent this time of year.

While I don’t love ghosts, zombies, the celebration of death, skeletons, etc., I do love the opportunity that comes this time of year to point children to the living and loving God. Let’s not miss this timely opportunity to teach our kids some Biblical truths in ways they can understand.How do we do that? What opportunities come with Halloween for spiritual growth in our children?

Here are 5 ways I like to point kids to spiritual truths in this season: 

1. Teach the history -Brush up on your facts here: Meaning and History of Halloween, All Saints Day, Reformation Day and figure out what’s appropriate for your ages of kids. Teach that Christ-followers are “Easter people”* who believe that Jesus’s sacrifice gives us eternal life, not death and fear. I like to remind kids of the people we know who have loved and followed Jesus and are now living with Him in Heaven. 
2. Halloween is a unique opportunity to connect with your actual neighbors. Talk about loving your neighbors, then make the most of opportunities to meet and greet and love neighbors. While one parent takes the kids trick or treating, one parent can be home and greets the children and other parents in your neighborhood. If you are a single parent, meet up with another parent and tag team, or leave a basket of treats with a friendly note and the light on for kids to help themselves. My daughter and son-in-law bought 100 hot dogs and buns to reach out to their Halloween-loving neighborhood. They passed them out to all the families as they came by as a way to love their neighbors.
3. If you carve pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns, teach about God’s renewing work-taking out the old slime and putting His light inside to shine. Here are a couple books to get the conversation started: The Pumpkin Patch Parable, The Pumpkin Gospel Christians are people who walk in the light!
4. Halloween is an opportunity to teach about how God can create new life from something old and rotten. He can make all things new and beautiful, even things that seem sad. This book alludes to that truth, although it does not talk about God at all. Pumpkin Jack
5. As you see scary yard decorations or costumes around stores or houses, teach kids that perfect love casts out fear, so while the world celebrates being afraid, fear, and death, we celebrate light, life after death, and joy. Read I John 4:18 or Matthew 28:20 together and teach them that Jesus came to always be with us and that He knows sometimes we are afraid, but that He will help us and never leave us. There are many, many verses in the Bible about fear. I like this version of I John 4:18: “Where God's love is, there is no fear. God's perfect love takes away fear.” (Worldwide English) If fear comes up for your kids, post a verse or two at a level where they can see it, and remind each other often of the truth that God’s love casts out fear. We also took this opportunity to let our kids dress up to trick or treat, but not to choose any costumes that celebrate evil, darkness, or evoke fear in others.

That’s it! Which of these ideas sparks an interest for you? How do you already teach your kids to celebrate this time of year? I hope these ideas were helpful and that you have great opportunities to teach your children about God's loving purposes for them in this season.

*PS. Here’s a children’s choir singing one of my favorite songs all year round--not a high quality video, but sung with enthusiasm! And the truths in this song have stayed with me for my whole life, since I sang it in children’s choir way back when!  "Every Morning is Easter Morning from Now On"