It’s not quite The Town That Cancelled Christmas but there was a decidedly grinchy attitude taking hold in the Milford Public School district in Connecticut this year. The schools decided to cancel all parades, parties and costume contests for Halloween but after a number of complaints from parents it looks like the festivities are back on the schedule. (Fox News)

[O]fficials from Milford Public Schools decided on Monday to reinstate parades and other Halloween activities at elementary schools in the district after parents protested the original decision.

“The principals and I are about educating our children,” read a letter from School Superintendent Elizabeth Feser sent to parents Monday afternoon.”With this in mind, knowing that the issue of Halloween is detracting from what we are truly about, and our time with our children around teaching and learning is most important, we have decided to reverse our decision.”

The original decision by Milford school officials to ban all Halloween parades at the elementary schools across the district had parents moaning, according to the Connecticut Post.

Normally when I hear about a school wanting to dump Halloween I expect to see a religious group complaining about satanic imagery, devil worship or the general corrupting influence of the festivities. That doesn’t seem to be the case in Connecticut at all. (If they really want to get upset over the costumes they might want to take a look at some of the “slut-wear” but we’ll have more on that below.) They were expressing concerns over some children “feeling left out” if they didn’t want to participate, mixed in with some pandering about how it would take time away from the mission of education. But these are kids we’re talking about here. They need some relief once in a while and I’ve never seen the real harm in Halloween to begin with as long as they’re not pitching it to kids as an actual religious holiday or allowing it to turn into an adult film festival.

As for “feeling left out” if they don’t participate, welcome to the long, slow process of growing up. Kids feel left out if they don’t get a card on Valentines Day or if they don’t make the football team. It’s a pity we can’t make everyone feel great all the time, but the Everybody Gets a Trophy school of child rearing isn’t doing the kids any favors. If they really do want to find a problem with Halloween which both the schools and the parents could work on together, perhaps they could step in and make sure that the parents of the pre-teen girls aren’t sending them off to school dressed like sluts. Check out some of the advice for parents in the article, Avoiding sexy costumes for kids. (And really, isn’t it something of a red flag that an article by that title even had to be written in the first place?)

Or how about an opinion piece from an unexpected source… Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps.

Abercrombie & Fitch came under fire this spring for introducing the “Ashley,” a push-up bra for girls who normally are too young to have anything to push up. Originally it was marketed for girls as young as 7, but after public outcry, it raised its intended audience to the wise old age of 12. I wonder how do people initiate a conversation in the office about the undeveloped chest of elementary school girls without someone nearby thinking they’re pedophiles?

What kind of PowerPoint presentation was shown to the Abercrombie executives that persuaded them to green light such a product?

That there was a demand to make little girls hot?…

We’ve been here with Abercrombie before — if you recall, about 10 years ago they sold thongs for 10-year-olds — but they’re hardly alone in pitching inappropriate clothing to young girls. Four years ago the popular “Bratz” franchise introduced padded bras called “bralettes” for girls as young as six. That was also around the time the good folks at Wal-Mart rolled out a pair of pink panties in its junior department with the phrase “Who Needs Credit Cards” printed on the front.

Yes, yes… I know. I’m an old man who’s probably already out there yelling at the damn kids to get off my lawn, so what do I know? But this trend has been going on for a while and nobody is doing anything to stop it. I see it around my own neighborhood and it makes me angry. It also tends to lead me to be a bit cynical when parents in the neighborhood express shock when their 15 year old granddaughter comes home pregnant. How does that happen?

Well, maybe somebody shouldn’t have started dressing her like a hooker at age ten.

Rant over. Go about your business.