Have a spooky, but safe, Halloween

Talk about it

The scariest part of Halloween isn’t the witches and ghosts, but the potential for accidents and inadvertent mayhem.

Drivers need to slow down and be especially alert on Halloween, as children and their parents head out to hunt for candy.

In turn, parents should be sure to supervise their children, and trick-or-treaters should walk in groups. Those groups should walk and not run, look both ways before crossing streets and use crosswalks rather than jaywalking.

Costumes should fit properly, to avoid tripping and blocked vision, and if it’s cold out, trick-or-treaters should dress appropriately. Bring flashlights, and if a costume is dark, reflective tape is easy to add.

Children should be warned not to enter anyone’s homes unless they’re with an adult, and they should also be told not to stop at a house with no outside lights on — the universal sign for “no candy.”

It’s best to use lights other than candles for safer Halloween decorating, but if there are candles around, be extra cautious, and always be sure to wear a fire-resistant costume.

Fake swords are great for pirates, ninjas and barbarian princesses, but they should be short and flexible.

And then there’s the best part of Halloween — the candy.

However, Halloween candy calls for caution. There have been documented incidences of treat-tampering, so parents should always be sure to examine candy before it’s eaten. Hard candies can pose choking hazards to small children, too.

It’s probably best to avoid homemade treats unless they were made by someone you know — and it’s always best to consume candy with moderation. Just because you love peanut butter cups doesn’t mean you can eat 87 of them in a row with no ill effects.

As for grown-up treats, anyone heading for out a party should be sure to have a designated driver to make sure everyone gets home safely.

Finally, Halloween, like Independence Day, can be hard on pets, with all the weird noises, strangers wearing odd clothes and people who might target a pet for a prank.

Keep the pets inside instead, and if you’re answering the door for trick-or-treaters, it might be best to put pets in another part of the house — they can be surprisingly intimidating to small children or people who aren’t animal-lovers.

For more information about Halloween safety, check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website at www.cdc.gov/family/halloween.

(Editorials are the opinion of Jamestown Sun management and the newspaper’s editorial board)

Tags: opinion, editorials, halloween