My teenage daughter was another story all together. Maybe I’m getting old, or maybe it’s because I am the Mom of a teenage girl, but it seems that all of the female costumes are way too provocative. We walked into three different Halloween stores over the weekend to shop for costumes and it was the same story in all three: Costumes were divided in essentially three sections: Kids, men and women. Although my daughter is only 14, she is 5’ 10” and wears a size 5. She’s tall, beautiful, athletic, and smart (I’m her Mom and legally required to brag!). But I bring this up because she has not fit into the “kids” Halloween costumes since the 5th grade.

What was rather disturbing was the selection of the Halloween costumes available for my daughter. All of them – Yes, ALL of them were down right sleazy. I’m pretty sure prostitutes dress more conservatively than what’s available in the women’s section at the Halloween store. Here are a few names of the costumes for sale: Sexy Witch, Sexy Bat Girl, Fantasy Baseball Gal, and my all-time favorite: Sexy Zombie. Really? Who finds zombies sexy? By the way that costume consisted of hot pants and a torn up, very tight, very low cut dress, all for $59.99. I’m pretty sure I have an old dress she can cut up for zero cents, and she can skip the hot pants.

Most of the costumes had the same layout: Extremely short skirts (or in some cases you bypass the skirt and go for the super tight, super short shorts), extremely low cut tops, 6 “ heels, and fishnet stockings. Put a little makeup and do up your hair and you have what they call a Halloween costume. Most parents would never let their daughter wear anything that short, or that low cut on any regular day. So why is it suddenly acceptable to allow our kids to dress like this on Halloween? It’s not. Go over to the men’s section and there is not one single costume titled, “Sexy…”. Why? Are men not sexy? Or maybe it’s just acceptable that only women be allowed to dress like whores on Halloween. Thankfully my daughter was blessed with intelligence as well as looks and simply stated, “Mom, I’m not dressing like a slut for Halloween”. In the end, she decided on being a mobster girl, but thankfully, not the sexy one.

• 8 of the 9 families plan to view fireworks between July 2 and July 4.
• 3 of the 9 famlies plan to view fireworks between July 5 and July 10 (2 of the families will be viewing fireworks a second time)
• 4 of the 9 famlies plan to launch “fireworks” of their own at some point in July.
• 5 of the 9 famlies live in states where the law permits the launching of fireworks.
• 0 of the 9 famlies had ever been inovled in a “fireworks-related accident”.
• 3 of the 9 families said concerns about potential fireworks-related accidents weighed on their minds at this time of year.
• 6 of the 9 famliies said firework displays were made less special by how prevalent they are on other occasions.

Not too many surprises in this week’s unScientific study. It’s good to know people are keeping fireworks safety in their minds, and that all the families plan to celebrate in some way.

What were your plans and experiences this holiday weekend? Please share them below.

• All six families celebrated with a special meal
• The “mother” in all six families received gifts and cards from her children
  • the ratio of handmade to store bought cards from the children was 7:5
  • the ratio of handmade to store bought gifts from the children was 9:3
• The “mother” in five of the six families received gifts and cards from the “father”
  • the ratio of handmade to store bought cards from the “father” was 1:4
  • the ratio of handmade to store bought gifts from the “father” was 0:5
• All five of the gift giving “fathers” said they would consider the gifts they gave to be “smaller than a typical birthday or Christmas gift”
• 2 of the 6 families interacted in person or sent gifts to a “grandmother”. 3 of the remaining 4 interacted by phone or sent cards earlier in the week.
• 3 of the 6 “fathers” said they “would be a little disappointed if their Fathers’ Days went the same way as Mothers’ Day did”

Moms play such an important (and often unappreciated) role in raising children, we found this data to be a little disappointing. This is definitely an instance where we hope our small sample size is skewing the data.

To the Moms out there, we hope you had a wonderful day yesterday, and that you found your day satisfying (and hopefully not all that out of the ordinary in terms of the kindness and respect showered upon you). To the Dads, we hope that you gave the mothers of your children (and your own mothers) the kind of days you hope for yourselves.

What were your experiences this Mothers’ Day? Please share your thoughts below.

I paused, not sure how to answer the question. Should I be truthful with her, and spoil the fun of believing in the typical imaginary things of childhood? Or should I continue the charade? She told me that many of her classmates have been telling her that there is no such thing as the tooth fairy or Santa, that it is actually just your parents giving you money under your pillow and gifts under the tree and in your stocking. The thing is, kids seem to really love believing in the “magic” of these things. Is there any harm in this? Are we just lying to our children, only to leave them disappointed later when they find out the truth?

So, I beat around the bush for a while. I read her a story called The Real Tooth Fairy by Marilyn Kaye, which deals with this issue. In the book, a little girl named Elise wakes up in the middle of the night to find her mother taking her tooth and putting money under her pillow. She then believes that her mother is THE tooth fairy and has the important job of traveling all over the world and putting money under all the children’s pillows. Then Elise’s friend at school says he woke up to find his father putting money under his pillow. Elise asks her mother about this, and she tells her that the tooth fairy transforms to look like someone the child knows so that if they wake up in the middle of the night, they see someone they know and trust so that they don’t get scared and think it’s a stranger in their room.  She enjoyed the story, but then asked me, “Mom, what is the genre of that story: realistic fiction, fantasy, or nonfiction?”

Wow! Kudos to her third grade teacher for teaching her about genres, but I also think this was Ashleigh’s way of asking me if the tooth fairy is really real!

I told her that it is up to her to believe or not believe, but if she doesn’t believe in the tooth fairy or Santa, she will no longer receive gifts from the tooth fairy or Santa. I reminded her about how this happened in movies like the Polar Express, Miracle on 34^th Street, and The Santa Clause.  I pointed out to her that is her choice to believe or not believe, but children who choose not to believe can sometimes miss out.

I am still debating on how to answer Ashleigh’s questions. She has told me that she wants to know the truth. I feel like I should honor her request, but I also don’t want her to be disappointed, or even upset that she has been “lied to.” One thing I know for sure – my little girl is growing up!