Is that my child?

There are days, when I wonder if my child, is my child. Halloween was such a day.
I know the world is much more different than when I was a kid:

• They sell Halloween/snack sized junk year-round.
• You can buy decent Halloween costumes in a store.
• Halloween celebrations go on for weeks rather than just one night.
• I don't carve a pumpkin on Halloween Eve.

Chloe has worn her Halloween costume at least three times this year before Halloween. That was unheard of when I was a kid. My mom made our costumes and we wore them once.


As my friend Karen said, no one bought costumes in stores because they were all made of plastic and fell apart soon after they were put on.


But that's not my point. Chloe is just so different than I was as a child.

She wore this costume to school yesterday and was discouraged when some girl told her she looked like a baby. She got in the car and asked if she could have another costume. I'm not sure if I would have been so discouraged right away. I grew up telling myself that other people's opinions of me didn't matter.

I have to admit I'm pissed. Some lame 5-year-old ruined her day and she won't  tell me who it was. The opinions of others seem to matter to her, which is sad because at her age, the kids are very self absorbed and they are either nice or rude, there's no in between.

But that's not why I'm writing this.

Last night when we headed out trick or treating - on a blustery, cold, wet and horribly windy night - we'd gone to three houses when Chloe wanted to stop. She wanted to hand out candy instead of getting any from the neighbors. Of course she didn't word it like that. She and I had a standoff on the sidewalk with Chloe saying, she wanted others to say trick or treat to her.

I told her that's not how it worked and it went downhill from there.

I would never have done that.

I worshiped candy and would never have sacrificed a Halloween night. I left Chloe and Martin, who never trick or treated in that deprived country England and didn't think it was a big deal, to hand out candy.

I came downstairs shortly before 7 p.m. and asked Chloe if she wanted to at least show off her costume to any of her friends who live in the houses around us. (She had changed to last year's princess costume.)

She and Martin scuttled off and left me to hand out candy. They only went to about seven homes and then came home.

I really have a great kid, especially considering she is not as obsessed with treats as I was. That's a good thing.

But she's also such a different person than me. She's a homebody. She loves being with her parents and doing simple things. She's super special and I feel very lucky that she has so far turned out so well.