By N’Nia Brickhouse, Staff Writer

Halloween night – small children with bright smiles walk through their neighborhood trick-or-treating in their costumes. But what’s to stop teenagers from doing the same?

As we get older, many people passing out candy will give you a weird look for still dressing up and going out for Halloween. It isn’t as cute for a teenager to wear a costume and beg for candy as it is for a toddler.

Even though I no longer go trick-or-treating, I don’t think it’s all that weird for someone to want to spend Halloween night with a few friends going house to house. 

After all, we’re technically still kids.

However, an ordinance in Chesapeake, Virginia, disagrees. Anyone over the age of 14 who goes trick-or-treating can be found guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor and can be fined up to $250. It isn’t exclusive to Chesapeake, either; many other towns, including ones in North Carolina, have similar age restrictions on trick-or-treating. 

Luckily, these laws are rarely enforced.

What’s there to gain by limiting who can trick or treat? Lots of people continue dressing up for Halloween even into adulthood without much judgment from their peers, yet adding the collection of candy crosses the line because of the childish connotation.

Charging a teenager with a misdemeanor and fining them for going trick-or-treating on Halloween night is way too extreme. Why should they get something on their permanent record for something as little as that? Let them have fun while they can. 

Trick-or-treating is a tradition that many of us remember well from when we were little. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to continue the tradition before your childhood ends and it’s time  to go off to college or enter the workforce.

If you want to go trick-or-treating, there shouldn’t be any rules stopping you from doing so. Relive your childhood memories, and make some more in the process.

Sophomore N’Nia Brickhouse can be reached at 24brickhousenn92@daretolearn.org.