The Wussification of Halloween

Halloween night, after trick-or-treating and inspecting the candy for apples with razor blades, millions of parents and kids will watch "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on ABC. But not the wussy daddy blogger, Dad Camp, who says it's time to stop airing the Halloween classic. He says it is "no longer appropriate."
He says it has nothing of value for our kids. As if every TV show, movie and book needs to end with low music and an important life lesson delivered by Bob Saget.
In fact there are plenty of great lessons for children in "It's the Great Pumpkin."

1) Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker:

2) Always have important signed documents notarized

3) Keep your lips away from dog lips

In all seriousness, I do see his point. Were this show made today, parents would never show it to their kids, it no longer fits with our new standards and sensibilities.

The author says Charlie Brown is bullied, not just by the kids but the adults too.
I never saw the rock-getting as persecution, I thought it was just bad luck.

To me Charlie Brown is a poor unlucky schmoe, not someone who is picked on, after all, they are his friends, they tease him in good fun.

He even criticizes World War I Flying Ace the Red Baron (Snoopy) for all the war imagery. The Red Baron is a war hero. Does this guy shield his kids eyes when a man in uniform walks by, so he doesn't have to explain war to his precious angels?

Dadcamp says stupid and dumb are as bad as [fuck]. And maybe most new age parents would agree. But they're wrong. I think my main argument against his argument against "It's the Great Pumpkin" is: this is why we're raising a generation of wussies.

It's ok to expose our kids to "bad" words, and mistreatment of others. We can demonstrate how hurt Charlie Brown was by their words and actions, and teach them to be nicer and more inclusive. We can also show them how Charlie Brown handles the insults, he deals with it and moves on. He doesn't get depressed and cut his forearm. He remains hopeful that one day he will get invited to the parties, and that Lucy will let him kick the football. It's actually a good lesson.

But that's not why we watch the show with our kids every year.

The truth is we've spent too much money on Peanuts themed Halloween decor to turn back now.