Holiday Vandalism - No Longer a Prank

The Halloween season is often associated with pranks and minor vandalism. Throwing a pumpkin through a bay window, however, changes the terms and takes the incident from being a prank to being a criminal offense.

The Express-Times reports that on Saturday two homes had pumpkins thrown into the front bay windows - one broke, and a third had pumpkins smashed (Spring Street, Greenwood Street, and Forest Avenue). The damage was estimated to be about $1000 (read the article here).

Police are seeking information, you can call them at 610.759.9575.

It is easy as an adult with a family and home to see Halloween related vandalism and get upset without first remembering that your own childhood was not 100% pure and innocent.

My own holiday related incidents of yesteryear mostly involved a little bit of tic tacking and on Halloween night soaping the windows of the home that didn't hand out candy (I think this was a neighborhood tradition as it was always the same one house that the half dozen or so of us wound up stopping by for a few minutes).

Neither action is nice, but both are more on the side of harmless prank than they are criminal offense - and that isn't to defend what I did, but only to acknowledge kids sometimes do things they shouldn't and hopefully they eventually learn from it. I don't see this changing.

Last year we had holiday decorations stolen from the front of our home and previously a pumpkin or two have been smashed in the street. It is upsetting and aggravating, but not the worst thing in the world, though it is an escalation from the tic tacking.

What I wonder about is combination of the severity of these pranks and apparent lack of recognition of the consequences of these actions. What is worse or would be worse, is if the kids get caught and attempt to defend their actions as a harmless holiday prank, or their parents do.

What do you think?