'Blood is too much, but the hands look cute': Mum calls out daycare on Halloween

"There are plenty of other decorations they can resort to, that don't portray some sort of child harm."

As a massive horror fan, my standards for what is scary for my child have been fairly low.

But it seems I'm not typical/I am a negligent mum.

A mother last week wrote for Kidspot that she's a "Halloween Prude" and wants public decorations to be mindful of scaring her young children.

And now, a Melbourne mum has been concerned about the 'bloody handprints' of kids on display at her child's childcare centre...

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"Halloween decorations at kinder"

The mum wrote in a Facebook group, asking if other parents would be shocked: 

"I was horrified (no pun intended) to find that the 3yo kinder [room] at our local centre decorated their window with blood stain handprints of the children in the class... some dragging down as if to suggest some sort of suffering.

"I get they want to get into the spirit (again no pun intended) of things. But there are plenty of other decoration ideas they can resort to, that doesn't portray some sort of child harm.

"Not to mention this can be triggering to people to have lived through trauma or abuse. Thoughts?"

The post did not include a photo, but we imagine it looked something like this:

Image: iStock

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"Halloween is not appropriate for children"

The comments section was divided on the mum's post.

"So unnecessary," one agreed. "If you don’t speak up now, it will snowball into something bigger and scarier next year. I cannot understand why people think Halloween is appropriate for children (taking lollies from strangers - um, hello?!)"

This woman had a stronger take: "It isn't happenstance nor a bit of fun. It is time we all opened out eyes wider to so much that involves our kids.

"The parents being killed in kids' movies, the dark nursery rhymes, this Halloween bs...there is so so much we need to rethink from the way we are all indoctrinated to take part and normalise many warped things."

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"I personally don't see an issue"

There were some commenters who didn't agree with the mum at all.

"I think people can be a little over sensitive. If it were affecting the kids in a negative way, absolutely I would be concerned, if not I personally don't see an issue," one wrote diplomatically.

Another mum added, "Yeah I'd probably just politely suggest to centre management keeping to kid-appropriate Halloween decor. No need to bring blood and gore into it. I'm guessing staff just got a little excited when decorating."

Then there was this balanced voice: "Great thing about children’s minds is that they are innocent. I do think you’re being oversensitive.

"They will be exposed to more out trick or treating. My son last year went to his pre-kindergarten Halloween trick or treat as a blood zombie."

Finally, this mum thought the whole thing was ridiculous.

"Omg, are people really that sooky in society. I'm pretty sure it isn't going to traumatise them from them knowing it's paint and their handprints.

"Many shops have far worse. Stop hiding your children and teach them fake fun from real-life and they won't get traumatised by it."

Originally published as 'Blood is too much, but the hands look cute': Mum calls out daycare on Halloween