How Not To Scare Your Kids During Halloween

I just returned from London and boy, what a town. I got all giddy over one thing in particular: Picadilly Circus. It wasn't the sparkling lights or the Harrods just steps away H&M, it was the fact that it reminded me of An American Werewolf In London, even though the film was made almost 30 years ago.

I checked in with my best friend Cat, who told me she was struggling with whether to take her son, Jack, to see Where The Wild Things Are. We talked about a blog entry I read by NBC's Today producer Rainy Farrell. Farrell took her twin girls to see the film and while they enjoyed it, she left the theaters feeling it may have been too dark. I tend to agree; I was more of a Goodnight, Moon girl, myself.

Farrell's fears may be justified. According to MSNBC, the latest issue of the journal Child: Care, Health and Development reports that almost three-fourths of children have been scared by TV programs, with more than 40 percent suffering from nightmares associated with TV viewing.

Come to think of it, standing in that plaza, I remembered vividly the first time I witnessed American Werewolf in London's main character David, now fully transformed into a werewolf, wreaking havoc in the heat of the night and completely ruining his European vacation. At age 4, that was my first scary movie. What was more bizarre than watching this progressively decaying homeboy was the joy my parents took in watching me be frightened, like it was the prize in the Cracker Jack box of parenthood. Sure, there is the momentary crying, nightmares and subsequent sharing of beds for a night or two, but their little faces when they see their first bloodthirsty zombie ... priceless ... right?

The report adds that kids were more than three times as likely to be frightened if they talked about scary programs with their parents. And they were four times as likely to be frightened if their parents watched TV with them. Kids are waiting for adults to respond first. If an adult freaks out — that freaks the kid out more.

Patrick Tolan, professor and director for the Center for Positive Youth Development at the University of Virginia gave MSNBC a few suggestions on how to curb your kids' fears: