On this Halloween day, we talk about what really makes parents scream, from head lice to forgotten homework to Caillou. Visit the Parenting House of Horrors... if you dare!

Today we reveal ourselves to be, on the whole, Scrooges when it comes to Halloween—at least the answering-the-door-for trick-or-treaters part. Not the eating candy part, though.

On Dancing with the Stars, Halloween Night gave the hair and makeup folks license to go even crazier than usual, and group dances meant a heroic performance from Kate Flannery as the sole female star on her team. Next week: Dance-Offs.

On The Good Place, we take a quick detour to the Bad Place as Michael and Jason rescue Janet from captivity, while Tahani undergoes an existential crisis regarding party hostessing. Next week: "A Chip Driver Mystery." Mentioned: The Good Place podcast.

On The West Wing, the episode of the week is technically called "The Cold" due to candidate Arnie Vinick's case of the sniffles. But it really should have been called "The Kiss" after the one that kicks off the episode (the one that fans have waited seven years for). Next week, we'll skip watching an episode in order to stay aligned with the West Wing Weekly podcast.

Buzzfeed posed a series of Would You Rather questions on parenting topics to Jimmy Fallon. This is right in our wheelhouse, so we challenged each other to some tricky "this or that" queries. Mentioned: This "ghost baby" viral post.

On this week's Roundabout Roundup: Catherine finally (finally, finally) got a new laptop: A Lenovo Yoga 730. Nicole recommends Blundstone boots for rainy weather (Terri also likes Bogs), and continuing the footwear theme, Terri shouts out Stegmann clogs.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for our fun in-and-out music, which you hear on every episode.

How much influence can, and should, and did, we have over our kids' social lives and choices? Like everything else in parenting, there's never an easy answer.

Should "fiver" birthday parties replace the old-fashioned kind, where kids get 20 gifts of wildly varying desirability, appropriateness, and cost? Two out of three of your podcast hosts say yes. Mentioned: A discussion of birthday parties on Bobby Bones's radio show.

This week's Dancing with the Stars mystery theme turned out to be "80s Tunes and Uncontrollable Sobbing," so that was fun. Our rooting interests are still hanging in there, so we'll be back for next week's Halloween Night.

On The Good Place, Terri's hunch was proven correct as a Bad Place spy was outed! Next week: "Employee of the Bearimy."

On The West Wing, we enjoyed a snappy procedural episode, even if it was about a looming nuclear disaster. Mentioned: "Atomic Tattoos" on 99% Invisible (on how ducking and covering might actually be a decent strategy). Next: "The Cold."

As this blog post from Swistle so rightly points out, there are some kid milestones that are accompanied by a huge sigh of parental relief. Of course, knowing us, you will not be surprised to learn that sometimes we're just sighing.

On this week's Roundabout Roundup: Nicole's checking out consumer site The Inventory. Catherine read Susan Orlean's The Library Book, and Terri's enjoying Sarah D. Bunting's new podcast, Quaid in Full (here's the GoFundMe if you'd like to support the project).

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for our fun in-and-out music, which you hear on every episode.