When Is a Kid Old Enough For a Haunted House?

One of the trickier parts of parenting is managing fear. There is a time and place to believe they can do a little more.

Photo by Charlie Wollborg on Unsplash

This past weekend, my wife and I were in Los Angeles for a wedding. Months back, I realized this wedding would fall during Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights, where you pay a lot of money to be pushed like cattle into a busy haunted houses. That might not sound like a good time to you, but that sounds like a dream to the both of us.

That’s when I read up on the lineup for Halloween Horror Nights and let out a brief sigh, because this year, there’s a Five Nights at Freddy’s house. My nine-year-old, who was so proud of herself two years ago for being brave enough to watch the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, was going to be pissed we’d be doing this without her.

It doesn’t matter if she can’t handle a haunted house.

Or could she…? That’s what I wanted to ask you about.