Single Dad and Son Halloween Ideas

Has any mask manufacturer created a likeness of Gregory Keer? Keer has called himself the "Evil Dad." He is planning to do his trick or treating without a costume, feeling that his own face should give adults a sufficient scare.

Keer writes a regular column for L.A. Parent Magazine. At the advice of a friend, Kerr recently did a column about "how much fun it is to see other parents suffer." Perhaps some of the stories in that article might give to a single father the seed of an idea for a Halloween costume.

The friend, who gave Keer the suggested column topic, had joined Keer to watch a children's basketball game. During the game, the two of them had overheard a father giving his son some advice. The father had been trying to help his son improve his limited basketball skills. The son had no desire to listen to his father's advice. In fact he said this to his father: "You stink at shooting."

Upon hearing that comment, Keer and his friend both suddenly had a desire to relish in the misery suffered by other parents. They spent the game recalling similar incidents. They shared recollections of a father at a T-ball game.

Both men had chosen to devote time to another endeavor by their children. The young ball players had been only 5 years old. None could hit the ball very far. Still, one father had complained to the coach on the opposing team. He was upset, because the players on that team directed their tiny hits at the boy on the pitcher's mound. The man's son had been positioned on that mound.

As a father, the complaining man had every reason to display a desire to be protective. Of course, he chose to display his protective tendencies at a time when they were not needed. That was what had amused Keer and his friend. Maybe that story could be used to design some sort of single father and son Halloween costume.

Another time Keer saw a father try to impress upon his son the importance of sharing. The boy refused to share any or his toys. The desperate father did not know how to change his son's mind. The father of the less than generous son looked at the other parents and said, "Please don't judge us by our son."

Keer enjoyed watching such scenes because he too had found it difficult to discipline his children. One time Keer had tried to be like a strict disciplinarian, the type one might read about in a Dickens' novel. Keer had grabbed a mischievous child by the collar, and had said "Mind your manners my urchins. It's not wise to make your father look bad."

How did Keer's children respond to such an action? Did they respond in the way he had hoped? No, they did not; they simply laughed at their father.

While that story does not help a single father with any discipline problems, it might be used to formulate a different sort of Halloween costume. Perhaps a single father could find an old Dickens novel. He could carry that with him on Halloween night. He and his son could go door to door, with the father holding the son's collar when it came time to say "trick or treat."

Maybe none of the above suggestions will appeal to the single father who has read this article. Maybe none of the above suggestions will satisfy the criterion of the man's children. Still, this article can serve as a way for a son and father to begin discussing what they want to wear on Halloween night.