Parents know best when choosing what to do with their child on Halloween

Parents should trust their gut when it comes to deciding what to do this Halloween, according to a spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service.

“They know their kid best,” said Constable Victor Kwong. “They would have to know whether their child is mature enough, responsible enough, and street-smart enough.”

Kwong said the Toronto Police haven’t seen an increase or decrease in the number of Halloween crimes over the past years.

Although something that has changed is the addition of not only distracted drivers, but also distracted walkers.

“What we always tell kids is go up one side of the street then cross and come back down the other side of the street, don’t zigzag,” said Kwong. “Not only is it safer, but you’ll get more candy per hour that way too.”

First time father David Gercken said he trick-or-treated every year as a child and has the same thing planed for his 6-month-old son when he’s old enough.

“It’s a tradition with us you know,” Gercken said. “We’ve always done that.”

Gercken said while his son will be knocking on doors in the community he won’t be doing so alone, an adult is going to be with him at all times.

In Canada the number of children aged five to 14 has increased yearly since 2012, according to Statistics Canada.

Despite that increase Ryerson student Janine Mendes said the number of kids knocking on her door seems to be going down.

“I probably get 10 to 15 trick-or-treaters,” Mendes said. “The numbers are dwindling as the years go on.”

Raymond Cacciatore, a fourth year philosophy student at Ryerson, described his neighbourhood on Halloween as “dead”.

“When I was a kid the streets were packed with kids,” Cacciatore said. “Now we might get three groups who come by.”

Organized Halloween parties could be playing a part in the decreasing number of door-to-door trick-or-treaters.

Bridlewood Mall Marketing Coordinator Anna Mele said their festivities get bigger every year.

Halloween at the mall involves a magic show, crafts and the ability for kids to go store-to-store trick-or-treating, according to Mele.

“Halloween is actually one of our biggest events,” Mele said. "I mean it is right up there with Santa Claus.”

Mele attributes their growing popularity to a couple of factors.

“First and foremost the weather, people sometimes don’t wanna go out there trick-or-treating. But I think safety is an issue too,” Mele said. “I think people are looking for different ways now to celebrate these events.”

Diana Latham, the mother of a 23-year-old, said she used to be fine with her daughter going trick-or-treating outside but said the safer option now is probably malls.

“You never know when you go to someone’s door what you’ll get,” said Latham. “It’s not just a trick anymore.”

But according to Statistics Canada, crime has actually been decreasing in Canada for the last two decades.

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