No, I would not. That's just asking for trouble. 

No. Once when my  kids were young we went to a Halloween "Carnival" a local group put on to raise money for a charity. There was a "gypsy fortune teller" there, and since the carnival was for kids I let my daughter go, expecting the fortune teller to provide some fun kid type fortune. Well, turns out she pulled out some cards and gave my 8 yr old daughter a reading predicting that she'd get divorced! My daughter went through adolescence saying she'd never ever ever get married.

What was going through that woman's mind I cannot tell. The woman had three young daughters of her own! I'm all for keeping Halloween as a reason to dress as a fairy princess or cave man and get a lot of candy.

What do you think about this séance for kids?  CANCEL IT. 

Do you think it is appropriate, or should the community planners have been a bit more cautious in their planning?  ABSOLUTELY NO! This is entirely inappropriate. I cannot offer any personal experiences of being a witness to a séance either for children nor for anyone else. However, I will give you one example of childhood traumas from supposed to be an "innocent" haunted house tour. I accompanied a young girl of nearly seven once. She was frightened from the beginning to the end of the tour. However, at the end of the tour, a ghoulish looking figure (a man it turned out), came at us with a "real" chain-saw. The saw was deafening, large, and very frightening. In fact, I suppressed a scream and instead yelled, also DEAFENINGLY, "TURN THAT OFF!" Jenny is now nearly 33. She still remembers the scene vividly. It traumatized her even though the man took off his mask and apologized. She never relates the fright to anything spiritual; fortunately, she is a strong Christian woman.  

Would you let your kids go? NO WAY!

@eshunt -  I went to a haunted house at my brother's school (he is 5) and man some of it scared me.  My mom later told me that some of the kids were too scared to eat breakfast (haunted house was in the cafe.)  The older kids were ok but man...why couldn't they just have age limits?  7 is pretty young for a scare like that!

@ccccourage@xanga - That is horrible!  I mean I would have done something like "you will get really good grades and become a doctor!"  Divorce though?  Seriously?

@plursheep@xanga - It is already on the Momaroo front page, as a matter of fact.

@sarahsmurfette@xanga - Right on.  Must have missed it lol.  Thanks 

@Pollypinks@xanga - wiccans* but yes.  I mean I came out as pagan when I was 15.  My mom, who is very Christian, is the first person I told (which was actually when I was 12.)  Since mom accepted me at 15, I told everyone.  Mom really helped me out.  Since she believed that some things were evil, I didn't do them in her house.  It was nice she allowed me to get my feet wet but did so in a way she felt was protecting me (like how you tell teens to wear condoms.)  In the end I'm glad she does understand me because I like helping the community but its usually churches that feed the hungry.  So I go out there and help clean up and make sure everyone is fed =]

No, I don't even think haunted houses are appropriate for primary school children, and this is way beyond the pale. Not cool. 

Plurs, I think there are some truly evil people in our world.  I think there are people in the occult who are driven by evil, impure things, and we don't want that influence in our lives or the lives of our children.  Having said that, I think there are real misconceptions about how many pagan people believe.  Not one person here would have to fear having their child in the same room as my Buddhist daughter.  These people are so pacifistic I wish Christians would learn how to be less violent and vitriolic towards others.  And we spend most of our time here discussing Christianity, well so, since the site is set up for that and most of us are Christians, but I've always had trouble with Christian churches who publish and hand out books to their members as to what Christian businesses are in the area, etc.  Kind of like,  I'm not going to love my Jewish neighbor and sully myself by giving him/her my business.  I've never liked that approach.  And how truly good at heart can we judge someone just by their label anyway? Christianity works for me, I know to whom I belong, but in order to show kindness and sharing, I need to tread the waters of others as well in the business world, as well as my neighbors.

Did not read. 

No. 

My friends and I used to do that all the time for shits and giggles. My mother would sometimes join in and purposely try to scare us. For the most part it's all in good fun. If I had children I'd let them do it.