Monsters at the Market

October 30, 2025

Last weekend I was at a community Halloween event, helping staff an info table for one of the boards I serve on. As volunteers were setting up, a few early-bird families wandered through to beat the crowds. One of those included a toddler, maybe two years old, dressed as a princess. Cute as can be and happy as Anna building a snowman... until she caught sight of a teen in a demon mask with glowing red eyes. Within seconds, she was screaming—not a little tantrum, but full-on panic. This wasn’t the stable world she knew, and she had no idea how to respond. It pierced the heart of every mom in a five-table radius.

It reminded me of something we sometimes forget as adults: Kids don’t come into the world knowing how to interpret what they see; they react based on instinct and emotion, not reason. And the younger they are, the more unfamiliar the world still is, especially when it suddenly looks nothing like usual. We tell them, “It’s not scary,” but to them, it is.

Later that afternoon, I saw the family walk by again. The crowd had grown, the costumes were more intense… and yet that same toddler was perched on a hip, wide-eyed but calm, happily working on a lollipop. She’d adjusted. Her parents had helped her through it—not, I assume, by insisting she was wrong, but by staying close, helping her feel safe, and giving her time.

That’s the real work of parenting, especially this time of year. It’s not about steering kids away from the scary stuff, or hurrying them past discomfort. It’s about meeting them where they are, helping the unfamiliar become familiar, and gently guiding them toward a new way of seeing.

Eventually, the monsters lose their power. We help our kids lick them at their own pace and on their own terms, with patience and love... and, maybe, a well-timed (literal or metaphorical) Tootsie Pop.

—Debra Ross, publisher

KidsOutAndAbout.com: Discover more. Do more. Connect more.