Here's Liz Atwood with this week's Tween Tuesday

Halloween is less than three weeks away, but you wouldn’t know it at my house. Sadly, it seems, the kids really are growing up. The boys haven’t asked to put up decorations or visit a pumpkin farm or even go to the party store for costumes. The fifth grader seemed ready to take a pass on trick-or-treating altogether until he learned that his dentist was giving $1 for every pound of candy his patients turn in. Now the kid sees the chance to make money and vows to stay out until midnight collecting as much candy as he can. The older one, who is 15, gave up trick-or-treating a couple years ago, but a girl he likes is going and I’m sure she could persuade him to join her.

It all feels so strange. In the houses where the kids are still small, they have the pumpkins out and the decorations in the yard. I recall how much effort I used to put into the holiday. When my older son was small, I made his Halloween costumes. The first was a bunny outfit (think Christmas Story) and then a bear outfit. By the time he started pre-school he would have nothing to do with homemade costumes and so we started on to the action figures, vampires and ghouls. I used to spend a fortune on decorations.

Now our house looks plain. It looks like “old” people live there.

In the spring, we gave up the Easter egg hunt. Trick-or-treating is looking pretty iffy. These holidays really do feel different when the kids start to grow up.

UPDATE (11:06 a.m.) Click here for a guide of Halloween activities.
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