By: Madeline Albertine
Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, and my family had several traditions that made October especially fun while I was growing up. Looking back on them now as someone who works on executive functioning skills every day, I realize just how much planning actually went into those traditions!
One of my favorite things to do was carve jack-o-lanterns with my parents and sister. As a kid, I was mostly focused on what face I wanted my pumpkin to have, but there were actually quite a few steps involved. We had to pick out our pumpkins, decide on our designs, cut off the tops, scoop out all of the pumpkin guts (arguably the worst part, in my opinion), draw the faces, carve them, and finally put them outside for everyone to see. Without realizing it, we were practicing executive functioning skills the entire time. Carving a pumpkin requires planning, sequencing, gathering the right materials, and following through with a multi-step task. You can’t carve the face before deciding what you want it to look like!
Our pumpkin decorating didn’t stop there. We also cut giant jack-o-lantern faces out of black felt the size of our windows at the front of the house. When the lights were on inside, our windows looked like huge glowing jack-o-lanterns from the street! This took even more planning because we had to decide what the faces would look like, make sure the felt would fit the windows, cut out our designs, and figure out how to hang them.
Outside of the decor, the most obvious Halloween tradition – costumes – also required executive functioning and planning ahead! My sister and I always picked out our costumes well in advance. Sometimes that meant choosing a costume that could be purchased, but other years we put costumes together ourselves. Those required a little more work. We had to decide what we wanted the finished costume to look like, make a list of everything we needed, figure out what we already had at home, and find the remaining pieces. Most importantly, we had to do all of this early enough that we weren’t scrambling on October 30th!
Make Halloween Part of the Practice
One of the things I love about looking back on these traditions is realizing that practicing executive functioning doesn’t always have to look like filling out a planner or organizing a backpack. Kids can work on planning, sequencing, time management, and problem-solving while doing things they’re genuinely excited about.
This Halloween, consider giving your kiddos a little more ownership over the festivities. Before carving pumpkins, have them gather the supplies and talk through the steps. If they want to create their own costume, have them make a list of what they need and what materials are already at home. If your family decorates, let them help figure out what needs to be done and in what order. They may need some help along the way (I certainly wasn’t carving a pumpkin by myself as a kid), but that is part of the process! This Halloween, embrace the fun and see what executive functioning skills your family can practice without even realizing it!