I have the utmost respect for people who have policies about their kids' Halloween candy. But as a general policy I like to have as few policies as possible. And this goes for Halloween candy too. What I do (in case you're wondering!) is just let my kids eat it. I eat some of it too, if they offer. They really look forward to coming home and just carrying their pillow case full of candy around with them as long as it lasts. They eat some candy every day until it is gone. Sometimes they eat a lot and they say, "Whoa. I am really full of candy." Then I say, '"Yep." Ben is proud to have rationed and hoarded his candy so it would last a whole year. I think this is actually a pretty great accomplishment--the stuff of legends, one might say. And we do! "Remember when Ben saved his Halloween candy clear 'til the next Halloween? That was awesome." The best I ever did was make my Easter candy last through the summer.
Some people throw away all of their kids' candy after taking them from party to party to collect it from nice people who bought it for them. That seems strange. I guess I don't mind if people just throw out all the candy I bought them for Halloween. But if that's how it's going to go down, it seems like we could eliminate some steps in the Trick or Treating process? Whatevs!
I've noticed that some people have an elaborate candy buy-back policy. There is nothing like teaching kids the value of a dollar. Why not let parents pay for the candy twice on top of the costumes and the decorations and the exertion of Trick or Treating itself? Kids deserve it. Actually, they don't, which is why I would never buy back my kids' Halloween candy. Of course, I'm notoriously cheap.
I know you would never ever judge me for my lack of policies but I feel it must be said that none of my kids have ever had a cavity. (In case you're wondering!) Bon Appetit. The Laffy Taffies last a long, long time.
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Amen! Between the candy Nazis and the people who hate the "pagan" holiday I have to ask- "Did anyone strip you of all the joy of Halloween as a kid? No? Oh, then why insist upon it for your kids?" People are getting more uptight by the minute.
ReplyDeleteI never had a policy until last year. My son ate so much candy he became painfully constipated. He never had a stomach ache from the sugar, but all that chocolate stopped up his plumbing pretty good. He was complaining about stomach pains and I brought him to the doctor because, well, you never know. An x-ray showed the effects of too much chocolate.
ReplyDeleteSo now I make sure he gets extra fiber in between chocolate bars. More brown rice, honey?
Great points!
ReplyDeleteMy only candy policy is to dump it all into a giant bowl so we can sit around and eat it together as a family. While we watch Phineas and Ferb. For Family Home Evening.
ReplyDeleteDon't judge me.
I'm with you on this one sistah. I have tried a lot of different things and in the end I decided to let them have fun and to quit being so strict.
ReplyDeleteWe had a "chocolate allergy" as children and my parents would take out all the chocolate from our stashes. If that doesn't strip out all the joy, I don't know what else will. We let our kids keep whatever fits in a quart size zip lock. They can stuff that bag pretty full. All the rest goes to my husband's work for others.
ReplyDeleteWhy do people have to complicate Halloween? It is a pretty simple concept. You dress up and you get lots of candy. The end.
ReplyDeleteI think the best part of Halloween is the low expectations on kids. You dress up and strangers give you bags and bags of candy. You don't have to wear nice clothes, or sit quietly at the dinner table, or go to church (unless halloween is on a Sunday.) Just FREE CANDY!!! We just let them eat it. And we eat a lot of it, because our kids are picky eaters, even when it comes to Candy.
ReplyDeleteWe used to be candy Nazis on Halloween, but now we figure we're Nazis about so much that Halloween gets a pass. Eat it all in one night, I don't care. As long as you give me a fun size Butterfinger. Oh, remember the sorting? Good candy from bad, candy bars from all the other boring crap? Halloween is the best.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog! You seriously crack me up, and make everyday life so much more fun.
ReplyDeleteThe people who create elaborate candy policies are the same ones who end up calling their college-aged kids' professors demanding to know what grade their son/daughter is getting. I wish there was a privacy policy like FERPA in place for kids' candy. Note to parents: trying to control every experience your child has is a HUGE bummer.
ReplyDeleteI'm supposed to wait for them to offer it to me? Oh, dang....who knew.... ;)
ReplyDeleteYou. Rock. Just sayin'....
I believe the salient moral here is to teach kids correct candy principles, and let them glutton themselves. A little imparted wisdom says do it right up to the point before you retch, and so be cognizant of your limits in that area. A perfect tutorial in the intricacies of cause and effect. And if they do end up having a Halloween hangover, then they've learned a very valuable life lesson. It's generally better to discover this with caramels instead of cannabis. And note that while nougat is not a food item per se, it's an important component in balancing one's various sugar forms. All in all, this can be an extremely instructive holiday if done unstructured.
ReplyDeleteI wonder where the whole "pay you for your candy" thing started? And the places that collect it and give kids money in return and then say they are sending it to the U.S. soldiers in Iraq? What, so the U.S.government will have all those dental bills to pay?? What kind of logic is that??
ReplyDeleteMy dad always took all the full-size candy bars - we just thought it was one of the rules!! (back in my trick-or-treating days, there weren't all that many full-size bars given away anyway!!)
This was a great post. I'm personally a Halloween scrooge. I hate the holiday and one year even paid my kids to skip it. I hoped they'd want to repeat the process the next year, but when all was said and done,they decided the costume and candy was worth more than I was willing to pay.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad it's over!
I love this post so, so, so much.
ReplyDeleteMy kids do have many cavities, but I prefer to blame them on my husband's bad genes. (But I also give him full credit for their voluptuous eyelashes.)
Finally~! A policy I can get behind.
ReplyDeleteMy kids have the opposite legendary tales yours do. We say, "Remember when Owen ate that entire bag full of candy in one day? That was awesome!" or "Remember when Hugh got all that candy and ate it all before the Nightmare Before Christmas was over? Amazing!" But each family has its own tales and traditions. Apples and Oranges. . . or should I say Skittles and Kit Kats! (you're welcome)
ReplyDeleteI SO LOVE this whole post. And furthermore, I find it persuasive and am considering adopting your non-policy. Because I get pretty sick of hearing "NOW can we have another piece??" all day long.
ReplyDeleteI like your policy, it's the same one I had as a child and if I ever have a child it will be mine as well. The most fun was after sorting the candy then trading with your friends to get stuff you liked for stuff you didn't. And I could never make my Halloween candy last more than a month, how do people do that?
ReplyDeleteI'm with you babe.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately my kids DO get cavities. Sigh.
I'm thrilled to find out that I am not the only person in the world who allows their kids to enjoy their halloween candy. The guilt was pretty heavy there for a while, thanks for being honest!
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteThere are so few things left that a kid can do with abandon. Even tree houses are having to meet building code for freak's sake. So whatever your rule - whatever you can eat in one day, one week, yours to hoard or share... we all need a little fun and freedom from the everyday rules.
ReplyDeleteNow - can we talk about how everyone deserves a Santa present. That's the one that as long as it's under a limit you don't have to rationalize or justify why you want / need it. So if it's a hat that you might wear rarely or some uber luxurious slippers when the Target effort will serve the purpose you get one shot to ask for it. And someone who loves you should get it for you. We all need to have a little magic in our lives and a little child in our souls.
If it makes you feel better, we DO have a candy policy (this year, they keep 15 each and then we take the rest and hand them out for homework snacks for the next few months) and my kids often have cavities. =)
ReplyDeleteThe best part about having a candy policy? (Not that I'm trying to win you over or anything). It makes swiping candy for yourself a bit easier.
We have only one Halloween policy at my house and it's called the "Mommy Tax."
ReplyDeleteI.love.you.so.much. This year I had to have a policy, though. I made them put it all in a big bowl, and my husband takes it in his car to work...so I can't eat it all day. Then they can have as much as they want before bed. My friends husband talked the kids into melting it all together into one big candybar. A "snickeloaf," if you will.
ReplyDeletePolicies are exhausting. So I don't even check for pins and razor blades. (Except with my teeth, in the almond joys.)
ReplyDeleteRusty Southwick is hilarious.
I let me kids pick out 5 of thier most favorite pieces. Then the rest goes into a "family" bowl that we all share from. I only do that so I don't have to steal from them, or wait for them to offer (because that would never happen).
ReplyDeleteI'm too lazy. Luckily, they seem to get sick of their candy after 3 days and leave their bags lying around, so hubs and I pull out all the "good" candy, sock it away, and it appears later in Christmas stockings or as a reward for extra clean room, a good homework week, potty training, etc..It lasts thru Valentines, then there's Easter, then the huge 4th of July parade here where every float throws out candy. I never have to buy it, seriously. One year, we even gave out parade candy to trick-or treaters. Sadly, we have thousands of dollars in dental bills because middle child is a sugar fiend with weak enamel (which was a shock to me since I had NO cavities til I was 15). Bummer.
ReplyDeletehah!
ReplyDeleteLove this. Growing up, we had a drawer in the kitchen - the candy drawer. We ate out of it but didn't go crazy. My friends would come over and think it was insane. I only had one cavity when I was 5 and got my second at the age of 33 or so.
ReplyDeleteAgree! Maybe I should have SOME policies in my life, like not letting my kid eat Halloween candy for breakfast, but I don't. If I eat it for breakfast, why can't she? Right?
ReplyDeleteI think letting them learn to save or binge on their candy is as valuable as any convoluted allowance/chore payment system. I used to make mine last til Christmas, then that lasted until the Valentine candy--not much in those days, but in our family there was a run of birthdays in late Feb/early March so a regular supply of cake to get us through to Easter, which, along with end of year parties at school and trading in bottles at the 7-11 & buying candy with the proceeds would last until not long before Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI got an allowance for years,but I think I learned more about budgeting and planning by dealing with the boom & bust of the candy cycle.
opps, didnlt mean to post that yet!
ReplyDeletethe bottles for candy was work! nobodies parents had enough for their own kids, so you had to get a red wagon and walk around asking at houses without kids if they had soda bottles to return. Please. Thank You! and then haul the whole load several blocks to the 7-11. In the summer, you had to WORK for candy, so I guess we appreciated Halloween even more.
sure, sooner or later, each of us had a year that we binged. if you got sick, mom took your bag away for a week, if there were any left. I guess that was the only restriction.
that and not letting us over collect. I envied kids whose parents drove them around to other neighborhoods.
Whew! I was beginning to think something was wrong with me that it had never even crossed my mind to have a policy for Halloween candy. It's all anyone is talking about this year. I think it's just another fad (like natural child birth, putting one's children in a fancy daycare, and being a vegetarian) created to make women feel like bad mothers.
ReplyDeleteI do things the same way. This applies to Christmas stocking and Easter basket candy as well. The only thing I don't allow is gum. Partly because I think my 4 and 5 year olds are too young and partly because I find it revolting. I also steal all twix bars, milk duds and heath bars.
ReplyDeleteI heard that dentists say it's better to just get the candy over with in a few days than to let it linger for longer. So this makes me feel very smug and validated. And now I want a twix...
Coming in WAY late but AMEN!! I am with you on that!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! You said what I was thinking.
ReplyDeleteMy "deregulated candy policy" was guilty for ten extra pounds on my big fat ass last year. Consequently, my butt is lobbying for new legislation in 2011
ReplyDelete