The wal-mart haloween display gave her kids nightmares

[justZu]

Different kids are scared by different things. When my daughter was 4 her absolute favorite movie(which she insisted on watching EVERY DAY) was Jurassic Park. Her favorite parts were the T-Rex chasing the car and the Raptors in the kitchen. On the other hand, she was terrified of clowns. Should I have insisted the local mall remove the clown selling balloons in the food court? No, I used it as an opportunity to teach her about make believe and pretend.

I guess what I'm getting at is this: I am sick and tired of people who expect everything in life to conform to their desires. Since when do the opinions of one person take precedence over the holiday enjoyment of many people? I, personally, do not celebrate Halloween. However, it does not bother me at all if everyone else celebrates it. I would never dream of trying to force my beliefs or opinions on other people. Also, even though I choose to not participate, I still give out candy to the kids who come to my door. I can still appreciate their cute and creative costumes and enjoy their smiles when they get candy.
Also, I greatly enjoy all that yummy left-over candy at the end of the night.

[mattm04]

I am very tempted to stop by the local wal-mart and buy one.

[Broomjockey]

Unfortunately, cannibalistic fiends and dismembered corpses seem to be taking over the holiday from faeries and wizards.

Or is that taking it back? Remember, the original point of All Hallow's Eve was to dress up in the guise of monsters to blend in, as the barrier between the living and the dead was blurred, and spirits and the dead could roam on that night.

About the OP though, she's got a point. Not every kid can handle that, and most people don't think twice about taking their kids to Wal-Mart. I've had kids come out scared of Finding Nemo, and even Happy Feet, so really, they need to try and keep the stuff away from the direct enterance that everyone needs to walk past, or they might just find people walking past the enterence.

[XCashier]

Something far worse happened when our daughter was about 2 years old. We went to a Halloween store, and of course, she was crying about everything. My SO tried to show her that it was all fake, nothing to be a afraid of. She touched a display and said "See? It can't hurt you." The display was a rotted guy with his mouth twisted in a scream clutching his chest. Turns out, he was motion activated.

He started screaming and wailing as he ripped open his chest, exposing his beating heart and lots of flashing red lights. Needless to say, we got the hell out of there for the sake of the other shoppers and their hearing

Yeah, a lot of these Halloween stores are very over-the-top in the gore department. I love Halloween, but I prefer the fantasy aspect (and the candy aspect! ) and don't care much for the gory stuff. Unfortunately, cannibalistic fiends and dismembered corpses seem to be taking over the holiday from faeries and wizards.

[Kara]

My four year old LOVES that guy. He's also at all the Halloween stores and the grocery stores. Our two-year old is terrified of it. We're not upset by it. We tell the kids it's a big toy. We try to expose the kids to it in small doses so they can at least have some understanding of what it's all about. Because on Halloween, there will be plenty of ghouls and fiends running around, and we're not going to deprive them of the fun of Trick-or-Treating just so they don't see any "bad" things.

Something far worse happened when our daughter was about 2 years old. We went to a Halloween store, and of course, she was crying about everything. My SO tried to show her that it was all fake, nothing to be a afraid of. She touched a display and said "See? It can't hurt you." The display was a rotted guy with his mouth twisted in a scream clutching his chest. Turns out, he was motion activated.

He started screaming and wailing as he ripped open his chest, exposing his beating heart and lots of flashing red lights. Needless to say, we got the hell out of there for the sake of the other shoppers and their hearing

[Ree]

I don't know...sometimes, even explaining that it's just pretend doesn't stop the scary stuff from coming out in a child's dreams and causing nightmares.

Some children are more sensitive to things like that.

I don't even like stuff like that staring me in the face as I go into a store, so I can see how a little child could be terrorized by it.

I'm not saying that I would start demanding they move the display, but I don't dismiss her concerns as frivolous, either.

[ShinyGreenApple]

When I was working at Wal-Mart last year, they had the zombie butler at the entrance, motion activated and all. I loved covering the door greeter's breaks, just to see people literally walk in the store and jump a few feet sideways when he came to life But then . . . someone complained about it and they moved him

[Rine]

My local Wally World has the same display at the front entrance. But he's wearing a blue Wal-mart vest and a name tag that says his name is Dave. Kinda freaked me out the first time I saw it because out of the corner of my eye it looked like a real person.

[Crazyredhead]

My son will be 2 in November and he actually got a kick out of it. At the Walmart near me they have one of these pop off head gouls on display near the door and my son wants one. I took him up to it and he slapped it (easily) and laughed at it. If my not yet two year old can differenciate then she is just being a lazy mother who wants something to bitch about.

[XCashier]

I took my five-year-old son to Walmart one day, and as we walked past the Halloween aisles, he got rather unnerved by a large spider decoration (think Ron Weasley's reaction in HP2). I explained to him that it wasn't real, everything in the Halloween aisle (except the candy) was made of plastic, rubber and cloth. I couldn't take down the spider without spoiling the display, but I reached up and touched it, showed him that it didn't move like a real spider would. Showed him the masks, turned one inside out and let him touch it, so he could see for himself that they were just for pretend. (Yes, I did put everything back the way it was afterward!)

Granted, it's a bit shocking to walk past a zombie pulling off his own head, and they probably should've put something tamer at the entrance, but you can -- and should -- explain the concept of "just pretend for Halloween" to young children.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I dunno, I see her point. Some kids are more sensitive than others. I saw this thing, and while I doubt I'd have gone so far as to complain about it, it was a bit much. I am pretty sure my 2 year old doesn't need to see stuff like that. Probably won't scar her for life, but I dont' know how she will react to that. Some kids find some things disturbing.

The mom didn't seem like a nut job, and she didn't request anything out of line. She simply stated that maybe the display should be back with the other Halloween stuff, and not out front where she has no choice but to walk past it.

I didn't really see anything too over the top with her request.

[April]

that Zombie is my childrens favorite display at walmart. :P

Of course, we go all out for halloween included dead people and scary ghosts so my kids are used to it

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

"At this age, you cannot explain that this is a toy, that's not real," Whitney said.

Cannot or will not?

I first went trick-or-treating when I was 3, and her 4-year-old cannot be told this decoration is not a real person?

If I were the manager at the Wal-Mart getting her complaint, I'd leave the decoration where it is and apologize to the mother thusly: "I'm sorry you are the only person in this entire city who has a problem with our display, and the only mother who's too wound up to explain that it's just a decoration. I suggest locking yourself and your family in your house until Halloween is over."

[iradney]

Jeez, let your kids get scared (obviously not by driving 90 blindfolded but you get the idea), read them scary stories, nothing worse than a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, dammit if you took them literally you wouldn't speak to or do the following
Old Women
Walk through woods
Eat Sweets (candy)
Eat Apples
Spin Cotton (I know, highly unlikely these days but I'm rapidly running out of suggestions, help me out here guys)

Stay Safe

Kiss a frog?
Er
promise a little person your first born if they spin a room full of straw into gold?
break a promise?
get a stepmother?
go swimming naked?
be lazy?

[crazylegs]

Hmm, does this woman have shares in a bubble wrap factory?

Seriously she is insulating her kids, it is plastic, the 'gory' display has purple blood, unless her children have seen serious gore in real life how at 2-4 y/o do you equate purple with blood?

Jeez, let your kids get scared (obviously not by driving 90 blindfolded but you get the idea), read them scary stories, nothing worse than a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, dammit if you took them literally you wouldn't speak to or do the following
Old Women
Walk through woods
Eat Sweets (candy)
Eat Apples
Spin Cotton (I know, highly unlikely these days but I'm rapidly running out of suggestions, help me out here guys)

Stay Safe