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***image1***Melissa Hastings knows what it means to be safe, especially when it comes to trick-or-treating.
“She makes sure it’s safe,” said McKenna Hastings, 8, on what her mother does for a living and what it’s like to go trick-or-treating with her.
Mrs. Hastings is the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern’s safety manager and a mother of three children – her oldest is 12 years old and McKenna is the youngest.
“I believe the most important thing (when trick-or-treating) is adult supervision, even on base because there are still cars driving around – it can be dangerous,” said Mrs. Hastings, who has worked in the safety field for about five years.
Her children know they are not going trick-or-treating without mom and dad, unless, of course, dad is deployed, she said.
“We walk down the street together. We walk along the sidewalk as they go to the houses, and we all cross the street together because there is still traffic moving around,” said Mrs. Hastings, who said they have only trick-or-treated on military housing while they have been stationed in Europe.
Emphasizing her main concern, she tells about an incident that occurred last year while trick-or-treating when a girl got separated from her mother.
The Hastings’ family was able to find the Pumpkin Patrol, who was then able to reconnect the girl with her mother.
“I think the Pumpkin Patrol is just a great idea and very effective,” she said.
For at least 20 years, Pumpkin Patrols consisting of the German Zivil-Polizei (Civilian Police) Air Force’s Security Police and the Army’s Military Police have patrolled all the housing areas in the KMC during trick-or-treating hours.
From her five-year’s experience of trick-or-treating here, Mrs. Hastings said the No. 1 safety concern she has witnessed is that many children are not wearing reflective belts, armbands or vests, and are not carrying flashlights.
“Something so people can see them, and a lot of children are wearing those dark costumes – you just can’t see them,” she said.
Other safety tips that Mrs. Hastings can offer other parents can also be found on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site at www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08047.html. She also suggests looking for costume labels that say “flame resistant.” Costumes should fit well and not drag on the ground to guard against trips and falls.
“But, costumes shouldn’t be too tight so you can put warm clothes underneath because you know children want to wear their costumes on the outside, but it’s just too cold over here so you want to have warm clothing underneath,” she said.
If children wear masks, ensure it fits securely, provides adequate ventilation and has eye holes large enough for them to see properly.
Warn children not to eat any treats until an adult has examined them carefully for evidence of tampering. Mrs. Hastings agrees that its pretty safe trick-or-treating for candy on base housing, but she still says, “You should check all candy – look for loose wrappers and be wary of homemade (candy) from people you do not know.”
McKenna said her mother takes a lot of her trick-or-treating candy.
“It’s not because we’ve had problems with suspect candy,” said Mrs. Hastings. “It’s because I don’t want her to eat that much sugar.”
