Where has all the cuteness gone?

  Now time for a rant.  I was pulling out my Halloween decorations when something struck me.  Where has all the cuteness gone?  Back in the day...eons ago during my childhood...decorations were cute.  They were pretty.  Where has this gone?  

  Darling Daughter and I were shopping not to very long ago when, as usual, we ventured down the Halloween decoration aisle.  (You know the spot that pops up in July and is located right next to the Christmas decoration aisle that pops up in August.)  Anyway, she and I love to bedeck our houses for each holiday starting with Halloween.  As we ambled down the aisle we were bombarded with some of the most gruesome items to have ever been found on the shelves of a department store.  These things might just as well been found in some zombie movie set department, which is fine, that is where they need to stay.  I fully understand that some folks like this sort of stuff but not me and I do not think it is necessary to fill the brains of tiny tots with this garbage.  While we were searching for the elusive pumpkin or even a skull, there were three tots ( between the ages of say two and five) being subjected to severed heads with realistic wounds, dolls with hatchets in their heads and bleeding eyes and some pretty realistic looking innards.  These items were mixed in with all sorts of life-sized zombies that would reach out or scream at you whenever you walked past them.  At one point two of the little kids started crying because they were frightened.  Their dad started laughing at them instead of consoling the tots.  My heart was breaking.

   While driving home, Elizabeth and I talked about the whole scenario. The fact that the little kids were terrified of these so-called decorations says a lot.  This type stuff is not a good thing.  Some folks argue that since the stuff is not real, it should not matter.  It does.  Nothing needs to be so gory that little ones (and some of us older folks) are repulsed by it. Life is scary enough for kids, why make it worse.  Why desensitize our kiddos by slamming them with garbage that they are not ready to see.  If you want to have all of this stuff at your place...fine...keep it for older kids and adults.  Toddlers are not ready to handle it and they should not be expected to be able cope with it.  Stores need to keep this in mind as well and not display things in view of tots.  

  Keep in mind, I am all about having a bit of "fright night" fun but being scary and being gory are two different things.  The Little Bayou House does, indeed, have its resident plastic skeleton complete with top hat and bow tie.  It does have plastic skulls on display along with spiders, ghosties and bats.  There are the occasional groups of crows and ravens that inhabit the entryway and Jack-o-lanterns on the hearth.  None of these strike dread in anyone.  None leave lasting scars of fright.  They are just pure fun.  What happened to nice Halloween decorations?  Why has it all gone to gore?  I just shake my head in disbelief.