Trick or treating anxiety. Am I the only one?

[Anonymous]

That doesn’t want my child to eat candy from strangers? This will be my child’s first time actually trick or treating (not just trunk or treating). I keep imagining him eating something that someone poisoned or ingesting a drug that someone accidentally gave him. Yes, I do have anxiety. Yes, I’m in therapy and on medication. I was feeling ok about it, but now that Halloween is so close I feel sick about it. Is it crazy to throw his candy in the trash and trade it for some I buy at the store?

[Anonymous]

Ok, this is not normal. And I grew up ToTing when people were actually doing things to the treats.

Please let your kid go out. Inspect the candy he gets. But please let him eat it! Let him give you some! It is a really fun night and if your kid gets a stomach ache, it's just because he ate too much junk.

[Anonymous]

Why not just trick or treat at the homes of people you know? Why are the people all strangers? Just visit people you know.

[Anonymous]

What does your therapist say?

[Anonymous]

I'm the 22:20 poster. I wanted to say that I've drilled into my kids that they do not eat candy until they get home, except for things they get from Mrs. X, Mr Y and Family Z. That way they know there are treats along the way, but can really hold off on gorging themselves. I do it because I have one kid who will eat himself sick if allowed, but it is also a safer approach.

[Anonymous]

Look this is not original but I’m going to repeat it anyways:

In this economy, nobody is giving your kid free drugs!

This is not something you need to worry about. Sure, throw out candy that’s come unwrapped—because it’s dirty (not because it’s full of free meth.)

[Anonymous]

Every year on Halloween, kids get run over by cars.

Recently, there have been alerts for deadly fentanyl pills that look like candy necklaces, and other variations. Only eat wrapped, brand-name candy.

But in recent memory, no kid has died of poisonous candy that was injected through the wrapper. There was no surge of kidnappings by strangers.

OP, your anxiety is making you lose all sense of proportion. You hold your kid's hand and keep a lookout for cars. You make sure to inspect the candy before he can eat it.

That's it. Go to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is crazy. Sorry, op, but that is not a normal reaction to Halloween. If it really bothers you, only go to the houses of neighbors you know. All candy should come in sealed packages. This is not a thing to worry about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look this is not original but I’m going to repeat it anyways:

In this economy, nobody is giving your kid free drugs!

This is not something you need to worry about. Sure, throw out candy that’s come unwrapped—because it’s dirty (not because it’s full of free meth.)

The drugs seized in ToT situations were distributed by mistake because they looked like candy. It wasn't intentional, because as you say, they'd want payment in exchange, normally...

[Anonymous]

No body is giving out drugs. No body is poisoning kids. What does your therapist say about this? I'm assuming you're working on ways to deal with your anxiety and this is a time you need to implement them. If you are really at the point that they anxiety is taking over, you need to discuss that with your therapist and find a different treatment plan.

[Anonymous]

Nope not at all normal and never something i would burden my child with a fear over!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does your therapist say?

She said while it’s not impossible, it’s highly, highly unlikely. She also made a good point— That there are many places where we *could”* be poisoned or have harmful things done to us (restaurants, coffee shops, schools, work, etc.), but that, generally, people don’t want to hurt others and everything is fine.

She thinks I’m paranoid because my own mother was so paranoid about Halloween candy. She would THOROUGHLY check each piece with a flashlight and was clearly anxious watching us kids eat it. I remember so much candy being thrown out because it looked “sketchy” or “tampered with”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope not at all normal and never something i would burden my child with a fear over!

I would never show him! I like to think I hide it very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does your therapist say?

She said while it’s not impossible, it’s highly, highly unlikely. She also made a good point— That there are many places where we *could”* be poisoned or have harmful things done to us (restaurants, coffee shops, schools, work, etc.), but that, generally, people don’t want to hurt others and everything is fine.

She thinks I’m paranoid because my own mother was so paranoid about Halloween candy. She would THOROUGHLY check each piece with a flashlight and was clearly anxious watching us kids eat it. I remember so much candy being thrown out because it looked “sketchy” or “tampered with”.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but break the cycle. You have severe anxiety because your mom had severe anxiety. Now you have a chance to not pass that on to your kid, take it. If that means that your spouse handles trick or treating and the candy, so be it. My mom had severe anxiety and I have anxiety. I've worked so so hard to make sure I don't pass it on to DS as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope not at all normal and never something i would burden my child with a fear over!

I would never show him! I like to think I hide it very well.

You don't. Because you are about to do the same thing to your kid that your mom did to you.