So this topic came up in my towns local Facebook group.

It seems many more people are leaving bowls of candy out for the trick or treaters. Whether this is due to being a single parent who will be taking their own kids out, families who want to spend the day together, or those who want to participate but cannot be outside handing out candy to every child and teen for whatever reason. The issue is someone left a bowl of candy out with a nice sign asking to please take one or two pieces of candy. However, the homeowner caught multiple teens, not even young children, but teenagers taking all candy or a majority of it leaving none of the other kids.

The ring doorbell caught the teen on video. This person uploaded the video (no identifying information as the kid was wearing a mask) saying they were disappointed this kid would disregard the sign and not leave any for the other kids throughout the night. Some people in the town agreed it was wrong and these kids shouldn't have taken all the candy because it wasn't fair. One person even had the buckets taken. Others stated they wished kids took all the candy because they had too much left over. And even more suggested this happens every year, kids will be kids, "no one is perfect" and people should expect all the candy and the buckets the candy was in to essentially be taken by a few kids. Many stated this has been happening for as long as time and if people don't like it they shouldn't leave a bowl out expecting the honor system to work because it never does. One person even said two parent households shouldn't have both parents go out for Halloween

Does this person have a right to be upset? Should we be teaching our children to obey the signs or have it be a free for all because no one is home to stop them? Do you consider taking all the candy stealing? Should one stop giving out candy altogether if they won't be home to physically hand it to the kids?

My personal take is children and teens alike should be respectful and take only what is offered... Which was one or two pieces. People don't have to give out candy. I made goodie bags this year. Over 100 of them and each bag had 10 pieces of candy. I left them out in a bowl with a sign saying please take one bag. This was my daughter's last Halloween as an only child and I didn't want to miss it. I caught countless teens on my ring doorbell taking 6-8 bags at a time. It was always the teens/older kids who took more than what was asked. The last kid who ultimately came to my house took a good majority of the candy but thankfully left my bucket. I then got to watch other kids come to my house and be disappointed there was no candy left. Because I wasn't home I wasn't able to shut the porch light off or move the bucket inside.