Traditionally, younger children have been the ones going door to door asking for candy, as they have for 100 years, according to the History Channel’s website. Trick or treating has gone from “trick-or-treat!” with a child standing at the door with the biggest smile on his/her face and a parent standing in the yard watching, to a sixteen or seventeen-year-old young adult standing at the door in a poor costume waiting for you to put the free candy in the bag. If you really think about it, can you recall the young adults saying “trick-or-treat?”
There are no laws stating who can and cannot participate in trick or treating, but there is also a time frame for when the activity starts and ends. That time frame is made because the idea of trick or treating is made for younger children and most children that trick or treat at an appropriate age still have a bed time.
Many parents aren’t fond of the idea of teenagers trick or treating, for they bought the candy for young children to enjoy. Some parents find it very selfish and think teenagers are old enough to drive and go out and buy a bag of candy for the night and watch scary movies or host an event for Halloween in a more adult manner and leave the children to their night.
The parents aren’t wrong, they shouldn’t have to have teenagers flying past their children in the streets almost knocking them over trying to get the candy before them.