AS A CONSCIENTIOUS PARENT, you do your best to encourage healthy eating habits in your children. Sure, you allow the occasional fast-food meal or high-calorie snack, but, on average, you do a pretty good job of policing the foods that your kids put in their mouths. Then along comes a holiday like Halloween! In just two short hours of trick-or-treating, your kids collect enough candy to fill a pillow case to overflowing—and to keep area dentists in business for many years to come.
But the presence of all that candy doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cede the nutritional high ground completely. Here are some practical tips for preventing frightful overindulgence this Halloween in spite of that avalanche of sugar-laden goodies.
Feed ‘em first
Before your little ghosts and goblins take to the streets in search of tasty treats, be sure to give them a healthy meal so they aren’t tempted to sample their sugary spoils before they even get home.
Seize the stash
A little overindulgence is part of the fun of Halloween, so you shouldn’t feel too guilty about letting your kids enjoy a good sampling of candy on Halloween night. After that, however, try to limit them to a predetermined number of pieces per day. If they happen to be good self-regulators when it comes to eating, you should be able to trust them to stick to this rule independently. On the other hand, if they tend to descend upon any type of snack food like a plague of locusts, it might be best to take control of the candy stash, put it somewhere out of reach, and ration out pieces.
A great way to ensure your kids don’t continually raid the candy stash is to apportion individual servings into plastic sandwich bags, which can then be set aside for school lunches or occasional snacks.
Implement the healthy-foods-first rule
Make it a rule that your kids must eat a healthy item—such as a piece of fruit or a cup of yogurt—before candy will be dispensed. Not only will this approach help them fill up faster without overindulging, but it will also reinforce the message that proper nutrition is important year round and that candy shouldn’t get in the way of healthy eating.
Pay cash for candy
Some kids respond well to a “cash-for-candy” program, in which parents exchange a certain portion of their child’s Halloween candy for a little spending money. With this approach, you avoid creating the impression that you’re taking something from your kids that is rightfully theirs while still limiting the amount of candy consumed.
Offer healthy alternatives to trick-or-treaters
Parents who are concerned about their kids’ candy consumption on Halloween should be willing to do unto others’ kids as they do unto their own by giving out healthier alternatives to candy. This doesn’t mean you have to hand out apples (a sure way to get “tricked”). But what about a bag of pretzels or popcorn? Or, you can opt to avoid food altogether and, instead, offer items like temporary tattoos, small games, or stickers.
Make sure other caregivers know the rules
Oftentimes, parents implement one set of rules when it comes to Halloween candy only to have a more indulgent caregiver change the rules. To avoid any potential misunderstandings, be sure to share your candy-consumption rules with your kids’ grandparents, babysitters, and other temporary caregivers.
Lead by example
Of course, if you want your kids to eat healthy at Halloween time, it’s important for you to set the example by eating candy in moderation, as well. Telling your children to watch how much they eat only to have them discover the candy wrapper “graveyard” you left behind after a night of gorging sends a very confusing message.
To make it easier on yourself, avoid buying bags of Halloween candy until the very last minute. Ever wonder why retailers put out all that Halloween candy so early? (Hint: it’s not for our convenience.) Savvy retailers know that people who buy their candy early on usually wipe it out well before Halloween and then have to come back for more so they have something to hand out to trick-or-treaters. Exercising a little self-control in the supermarket candy aisle will help you avoid this all-too-common pitfall. ✲
