Elise Keller
News/Opinion Editor
Dating back to the middle ages, trick or treating on Halloween night is a fall tradition many look forward to. Well, maybe not everyone. Not when someone is too old for it.
The ECHO took to the polls to finally find the answer to “At what age should the fun end?”
Out of 74 respondents, a majority of 20 students said the tradition should end at age 13 or 14. The next largest response, 16 students said people should never stop trick or treating.
One junior suggested most stop at nine, and that person stopped trick or treating at age eight.
Twenty-two students, however, said they stopped at age 14 or during their freshman year, and 10 students said they still go out and beg their neighbors for candy.
Seven of the students who said they still trick or treated were sophomores or juniors, and one senior said he or she still does.
Some are so adamant on restricting teenagers’ fun in this season that in 2008, Belleville, IL, passed a bill that prohibited trick or treating for children over the age of 12.
The reasoning behind the law was that older children were “knocking on doors after 9 at night, and the people who lived in the homes were scared,” Mayor Mark W. Eckert of Belleville said.
Webster Groves has no such law, and a general consensus among adults is as Eric Dunn, teacher, stated: “I don’t care about the age. Just make sure you’re wearing a legit costume if you want candy from me.”
Susan Riegel, math teacher, agreed. “I think children today grow up so fast and if you enjoy going trick or treating, please continue to do so for as long as it brings you joy,” Riegel said.
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