Kindergartens split over how scary Halloween should be

Some kindergartens have opted out of Halloween scares, while others are embracing them. DR spoke to childcare centres on both sides of the debate, as questions grow over whether the festivities can be too frightening for young children.

At Børnehuset Fladhøj, a childcare centre in Rødekro, staff have added a haunted house, spooky face paint and witch’s potion to Halloween week. Children aged five or six can handle being startled a little, says centre director Bodil Thye.

“It’s about finding the sweet spot where children feel it’s a little scary, but know they can manage it,” says Marc Andersen, a fear researcher and associate professor at Aarhus University.

At Børnehuset Bakkebo, a childcare centre in Aabenraa, Halloween is not celebrated. Instead of bloody monsters or severed limbs, children can make chestnut animals and carve pumpkins.

Children of kindergarten age have not yet developed the ability to distinguish play from reality, says centre director Susanne Budde. Some of what Halloween represents is not suitable for children, she says.

Budde says children will encounter frightening things in the world, but there is no need to expose them to more. Staff can explore fear in other, more natural ways, she says, adding that Halloween has a tendency to become “too much and too intense”.

At Børnehuset Fladhøj, the celebrations have become more elaborate each year because the children enjoy them, Thye says. Three-year-olds get slime and face paint, four-year-olds have a ghost disco, and children preparing for school can visit a haunted house in the playground.

“It’s fine if they get a few butterflies in their stomachs. It can actually be good for them. But it never gets out of hand,” she says.

Børnehuset Regnbuen, a childcare centre in Christiansfeld, also goes all in on the scares. Halloween has become bigger than Fastelavn for the children, says department head Orsi Preda Roed. She says carefully pushing their boundaries can help build their confidence, and they are ready for more from one year to the next.

There is no simple answer to whether Halloween is suitable for young children, Andersen says. Research in the 1980s and 1990s found that children who watched horror films they were too young for could develop anxiety symptoms, including nightmares. When the experience is too much, children can have a temporary negative reaction, he says.

Children are generally drawn to things that are moderately frightening, he says. If families go trick-or-treating, he advises letting children decide how much they want to take part: they could choose whether to enter a spooky garden, or watch a clown without letting it come close.

That is when children can get something positive from fear, Andersen says.