Halloween Used To Be A Nightmare For My Child With ADHD – Until I Tried This

Halloween can often top Christmas as our kids’ favourite celebration, but for many neurodiverse children it can also bring sensory overload, sleep disruption, and emotional strain. The event seems to get bigger every year: more lights on houses, bigger and bolder decorations, and buckets of sweets. For many families, it’s a day of laughter and fancy dress. But for those of us raising neurodiverse children, Halloween can be more “tricky” than “treat”.For years, we avoided it altogether. Our child, with a busy ADHD brain and vivid imagination, struggled to switch off from all the spooky sights and sounds.The line between reality and fantasy blurred, and bedtime became a battle. It wasn’t just about fear – it was the emotional exhaustion that lingered for days.Even a Halloween costume could spark weeks of bedtime anxiety. The sensory overload, the late nights, and the effects of sugar all added up to a full system meltdown.Why Halloween can be challenging for neurodiverse childrenResearch shows that neurodiverse children often develop executive function skills about a third more slowly than their neurotypical peers. That means a six-year-old might regulate emotions more like a four-year-old.Add in excitement, costumes, sugar, and scary imagery, and it’s easy to see why Halloween can overwhelm your child, even when others seem to cope fine.While sugar itself isn’t proven to cause hyperactivity, it can affect sleep. A 2016 study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that diets high in sugar are linked with lighter, more restless sleep.And sleep, as we know, is a foundation for executive functions – including emotional regulation and impulse control – key areas where neurodiverse children may already need extra support.For many children, the line between reality and fantasy is blurry anyway. But for some neurodiverse kids, when night falls and they’re left alone with racing thoughts and vivid imaginations, things can easily get out of hand – for more than just one night.Our Halloween, our wayIn the early years, we kept it simple, no spooky pumpkins on the doorstep, lights off at the front, and autumn crafts at the kitchen table.We made pumpkin-shaped sandwiches, had a “special tea”, and finished with a “disco bath” – glow sticks in the water and music playing. Our sparkler was safely stuck into a carrot.It was low-stress, but special – and it worked.Now that our child is older, we venture out for a short round of trick-or-treating. But we still set boundaries and expectations.What helps us (and might help you)If your child finds Halloween challenging, here are a few ideas that might help keep things calmer:Go early. Visit houses while it’s still light so there’s time to wind down afterwards.Keep it short. Plan just a few houses, not the whole street.Take 5. Our children choose five sweets to eat that night; the rest are saved for another day.Talk to neighbours. Let them know if masks or jump scares might be tricky.Use a code word. Create a discreet phrase your child can say that means: “I’m done, I want to go home.”Plan for recovery. The next day might be tough, so keep plans flexible.Create your own traditions. Swap trick-or-treating for a sweet treasure hunt at home or a themed movie night.Sometimes, the most inclusive thing we can do is redefine what celebration looks like.Gee Eltringham is a psychotherapist, mother and founder of twigged – an easy to use six-week toolkit for families of children with ADHD.Related...The Real Origins Of Halloween Are Wilder Than You'd ThinkYour Teen Wants To Wear A 'Sexy' Halloween Costume – What Do You Do?Witch, Please! These 5 Halloween Crafts Might Just Save Your Sanity This Half-Term

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