Some of you download and read the Letters to Nature Kids that I write periodically. They’re available within the “Publications” page. I may not post about each one, so they may be overlooked by some who might want to read them. (Parents or teachers might download them and pass them along to kids, but adults read them at least sometimes.) This time I thought I’d put in a word for the Halloween issue.

The first thing I thought about was, of course, how we hijack things in nature, presenting them in ways that make them fearful. Bats, spiders, owls and such. On the one hand, I don’t want to get on my high horse and spoil the fun. I even tried to join in the fun a little by saying: “Bats live in the opposite of the bright daytime world in which we see and hear birds. When people think of angels, they give them feathered wings, but images of demons often have bat wings.”

On the other hand, after Halloween is over, kids should not be left with fears of these things. So I said, “People make up stories, either for fun or as a way to try to explain what they don’t really understand.”

The issue I feel most strongly about is kids (or anyone, for that matter) who take it too far. Halloween should not be an excuse to badly scare some child. I said, “It can be fun to be scared just a little, when we’re with friends and we know the scary thing isn’t real. … Sadly, some people enjoy scaring others because it makes them feel more powerful or stronger than the person that they scared. I’m not talking about kids having fun with each other, I’m talking about a person who enjoys seeing someone really afraid in a way that’s not fun. That’s bullying and it is not OK. Stay away from someone like that.”

If you know someone who might enjoy this Halloween issue, download it and pass it along. And have a safe, fun Halloween!