Halloween is just around the corner, and I’ve now changed my mind three times about what costume I’ll be wearing. Luckily, the Big-Eyed Boy picked his out last year and has stuck with it. He gets that kind of fashion decisiveness from his father, I’m sure.

Our neighborhood is the kind where people drive from miles around to bring their kids for trick or treating. Around 5:00 the RVs, mini-vans and camper trucks start lining the streets, happy voices ringing through their walls. How the parents can stand being cooped up in a vehicle with a half-dozen children greedy for sugar is beyond me, but I do like the way they wait until precisely 6:00 p.m. to let the kids spill onto the sidewalk.

From that moment forward, a seemingly endless stream of costumed children will file from one house to the next, mostly well-behaved, all looking forward to the “good candy” for which our neighborhood’s known. As far as the kids are concerned, that means they won’t be getting those off-brand blobs of crumbly chocolate, and chances are they’ll receive several treats at each house. No one-candy-per-kid rules around here.

The parents like our neighborhood’s safety. The streets aren’t clogged with traffic (aside from the vehicles that imported all of the little Halloweeners, that is), and since each home has a lamp post in the front yard, it’s well-lit enough to be safe throughout the night. We’ve never had an incident here involving candy that’s been tampered with, nor are the homes the kind you’d worry about passing such stuff out.

Which bothers me sometimes, to be honest. Oh, I like that our area is considered a safe one, and I love knowing that the kids who come here are going to have a wonderful night. But I don’t understand in this day and age why so many people still confuse “looks safe” with “is safe”. Why, year after year, I’ve opened the door to find 4- and 5-year-olds walking alone together while Mommy and Daddy stand down at the intersection chatting with other adults, oblivious to which house their children just went up to, or who’s standing there talking to them at the door.

I’m not nearly as trusting of a person, so every year around this time I go over our safety rules with the Big-Eyed Boy: stick near Daddy at all times; don’t give anyone your name or address; never eat candy until Mommy has looked at it… things like that. I don’t want to scare him, but I don’t want him to get a trick when he was expecting a treat, either.

If you haven’t done so lately, now’s a great time to go over safety rules with your kid, too. You can find lots of them, along with decorating and costume ideas on this list of Halloween tips submitted by parents.