The answer is: it depends on the child. Some children find haunted houses, and other Halloween festivities beyond frightening. But, other children find these celebrations entertaining and exciting. Why is there such a difference? And why do some kids enjoy it,and some run scared? The discrepancy lies in the age group, and the personalities of the children themselves.

Halloween began as a superstitious, spiritual, Celtic festival during harvest season, called Samhain in which people dressed up as scary characters to ward off ghosts.  Now a days, Halloween is less about the spiritual side of protecting yourself by scaring ghosts, but to scare the daylight out of others. It has turned into the yearly rigamarole of getting the scariest, most frightening costume.

Some families show a large display of guts and gore, cobwebs and ghosts all around their yard and home every year. Ghostly graveyards and bloody Zombies might be too much for some youngsters. These such displays, as well as being extremely costly, are often scary and brutal. But, we don’t mind the giant light-up pumpkins!

Older and more mature children may be able to handle such images. It might even be a good opportunity to practice their bravery, to see how they would react in a real-life situation.

Seeing scary images and experiencing frightening situations can affect children in many ways. For some children, it gives them a chance to be brave and to prepare for real-life situations. But, for smaller children, it can frighten them and keep them from enjoying Halloween for the rest of their lives.