halloween came and wentBut since then a conversation has emerged about Australian children (and teenagers) being greedier than ever and cleaning up lollies left outside people’s homes.
Many have pointed the finger at older children, who are generally unruly when trick-or-treating, saying they take more than their fair share and leave nothing for the younger children.
In a video posted on Instagram by the radio host and mother of two jackie felgateHalloween’s “Grub Act” was put on full display.
The footage was captured by a Ring camera and shows a teenage boy casually walking down someone’s path with an empty Coles bag.
He then bags all the lollies from an abandoned bowl by the door and runs across the lawn and into the street.
Ms Felgate’s caption read: “Can these big kids please stop stealing all the lollies?
“I have been sent a lot of such videos. Give us a mantra.”
In the comments, people said that the same thing had happened to them last night.
“I saw some older kids emptying my pan at 4:30 pm, I literally kicked them out because I was going trick-or-treating with my younger kids. The main culprit immediately ran away with all his belongings,” said a mother.
Another revealed, “Just a 10 year old kid emptied an entire bowl of lollies on himself and drove back to his parents’ $100k car.”
A third replied, “It ruined it for all the kids in our area too.” “These old people are thinking it’s OK.”
The video was taken in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, but complaints about the trend are coming in from across Australia.
In sydney A user in a Reddit thread shared his frustration after a similar incident.
“My nephews, ages two and five, were so excited to dress up and look for lollies around the neighborhood,” the poster reads.
“His parents had to work by 5:30pm, so he bought seven big bags of lollies to put out front (enough to easily last the night) with ‘take one’ signs on them and an honesty system. It was written. When they got home, it was sad to see that people had taken virtually everything, but whatever the case, it was bad luck.
Then their parents took their children for a walk and found that every house was like this, so the children “didn’t find a single thing.”
“I really felt good for the kids when they were so excited to dress up and get some lollies and someone else in the neighborhood took them all,” she said.
Others expressed their views, retweeting Ms Felgate’s video and calling for it to be ‘banned’. teenagers participating in halloween,
Someone chimed in, “Once you finish elementary school, you don’t need to go trick or treating.”
Another said, “Yes, if you’re in high school, you should be banned from trick-or-treating.”
“The greed of older kids can be annoying,” began a third, “but what I find worst is that parents search Facebook groups for the best suburbs/streets and then go there and “Knowing your community by driving out people who aren’t even their neighbors.”
One Redditor admitted that such behavior “breaks my heart,” while another called it “disgusting.”
Yet not everyone felt that teenagers were entirely to blame.
“It sucks, but leaving stuff unattended out in the open is asking for trouble. It would be better to leave a sign informing all trick-or-treaters what time the family will be home so they can come back at that time to collect the lollies,” one suggested.
“You’re dealing with kids,” reminded another, “and it sucks, but maybe give out lollies instead of leaving a giant unattended bucket. Profits will always be taken if there are no results.
“I’m not sure how much I would trust the honesty system because tweens and teens tend to lack impulse control.”
It comes after a debate earlier this week over whether Australians should celebrate Halloween as it is an American tradition.
One particularly disgruntled Australian didn’t hesitate to make his feelings known ahead of Thursday night, leaving a fiery comment for potential trick-or-treaters.
The note read, “This is Australia, not America.” Fuck your Halloween s***.”
After the note was shared on social media, one comment summarized what many Americans were thinking: “It seems like Australians are sad and don’t like kids. Anyhow, thank God I don’t live there.
Another person declared: “It’s time to send eggs and toilet paper from America to Australia with love.”
Another user joked, “All tricks and no gifts.”
