Halloween has come and gone, but since then a conversation has emerged about Australia’s children (and teenagers) being greedier than ever and scavenging candy left outside people’s homes.
Many have pointed the finger at older children, who are usually unsupervised while trick-or-treating, and are said to take more than their fair share of candy and leave little or none for younger children.
In a video posted to Instagram by radio presenter and mother-of-two Jacqui Felgate, the Halloween grub act was on full display.
The footage was captured by a dash cam and showed a teenage boy casually walking into someone’s driveway with an empty Coles bag.
He then puts all the treats from an unattended bowl on the doorstep into the bag and runs across the lawn and down the road.
mrs. Felgate’s caption read: “Can these older kids stop stealing all the sweets?”
“I’ve been sent so many videos like this. Give us a spell.”
In the comments, people said the same thing happened to them last night.
“I caught a couple of older kids emptying my bin at 4:30pm, I was literally just going to throw them out because I was ready to get away from trick-or-treating with my little kids. The main perpetrator sped away with the cash register his,” said a mother.
“I just asked a 10-year-old to empty the entire candy bowl for himself and get into his parents’ $100,000 car,” revealed another.
“It ruined it for all the kids in our area too,” replied a third. “These older folks think this is okay.â€
The video was taken in the Melbourne suburb of Bulleen, but complaints about the trend have come from across Australia.
On the Sydney Reddit thread, a user shared his frustration after a similar incident.
“My nephews, two and five, were so excited to dress up and find treats around the neighborhood,” the poster read.
“Their parents had to work until 5.30pm so they bought seven big bags of sweets to keep outside (enough to easily get them through the night) with a sign saying ‘take one’ and an honesty system. When they got home it was sad to see that people had literally taken everything, but whatever, bad luck.
Their parents then took their children for a walk and found that it was the same at every house, so the children “didn’t get a thing”.
“I just felt so bad for the kids when they were so excited to finally get dressed up and get some candy and someone else in the neighborhood got it all,” he explained.
Others weighed in with their thoughts, echoing those of Ms. Felgate’s video and call for a “ban” on teenagers attending Halloween.
“Once you graduate from elementary school, you don’t need to go trick or treating,” someone said.
Another added, “Yes, if you’re in high school, you should be banned from trick or treating.”
“The greed of older kids can be annoying,” began a third, “but what I find worse is parents searching Facebook groups for the best suburbs/streets and then going there to clean people who are not even their neighbors instead of getting to know their community.â€
One Redditor admitted this kind of behavior “breaks my heart,” while another called it “disgusting.”
However, not everyone thought the teenagers were entirely to blame.
“It’s disgusting, but just leaving things outside unattended is asking for trouble. “Better leave a sign letting all the trick-or-treaters know what time the family will be home so they can come back at that time to collect the treats,” suggested one.
“You’re dealing with kids,” recalled another, “and it’s stuffy, but maybe give out candy instead of leaving a giant bucket unmonitored. Priority will always be taken if there are no consequences.
“I’m not sure how much I would rely on the honesty system because teenagers and young adults lack that impulse control.
It follows a debate earlier this week over whether Australians should celebrate Halloween as it is an American tradition.
One particularly disgruntled Aussie didn’t hesitate to make their feelings known ahead of Thursday night, dropping a fiery note to would-be cheaters.
The note read: “This is Australia, not America. Go away with your Halloween ***.â€
After the note was shared on social media, one comment summed up what many Americans were thinking: “It seems more like Australians are miserable and don’t like children. Anyway, thank God I don’t live there
Another person declared: “Time to send eggs and toilet paper to Australia from America with love.”
“All tricks and no fun down there,” joked another user.
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Image Source : nypost.com