Are your kids equipped to handle it if they say "Trick or Treat!" and someone demands a trick?

From the time they're very little, kids learn that all they have to do on Halloween in order to procure a delicious piece of candy is walk up to someone's door, open their bag and say, "Trick or treat!"

Note the exclamation point there, because I think it's actually supposed to be a question mark. Yet no one ever says it that way. They say "trick or treat!" as a form of polite demand.

But I believe the way this whole thing started was that you were essentially giving the poor homeowner a choice: You either give me something good or else I'm going to retaliate by defacing your property or your person (or both).

I'm glad we've all decided to just go the "Treat" route because it saves time and confusion as well as potential bodily harm or vandalism.

But is there a single kid out there who would know what to do if confronted with a person who comes to the door and says, in response to the child's hearty "Trick or treat!", something like, "I'll take the trick?" Do kids prepare for this unlikely-yet-still-possible twist?

I know we didn't when I was young. We just assumed that everyone on whose door we knocked would give us candy. And with few exceptions (i.e., the old people who gave out pennies or Bible tracts), that's exactly the way it would go down every time.

All I'm saying is that if your child is trick-or-treating tomorrow night, you might want to clue them in on the fact that someone could potentially demand a trick rather than give out a treat. Rather than standing there dumbfounded, it would be awesome if your kid would, for example, respond by immediately pulling a can of spray paint out of their treat bag and asking, "Are you sure about that? Are you feeling lucky...punk?"

This would be the greatest thing ever. I will pay $100 for video evidence of any Halloween transaction like this. And it will be so worth it.