Halloween Candy policy

[Anonymous]

What is your Halloween candy policy? Does it change with age?

DS is 3.5yo and this is first year he "gets" Halloween. Between trick or treating, daycare Halloween party, daycare trip to nursing home to trick or treat, and neighborhood Halloween party--so much candy, cookies, cupcakes and sweets. I certainly don't want to limit to 1 piece of candy, but not sure if a free for all attitude is the way to go.

[Anonymous]

My kids (5 and 8) get to choose 2 or 3 pieces for dessert at night. They mostly get the tiny ones, so not a huge amount of candy.

[Anonymous]

Depends on your kid. My only rule for chocolates and sweets in general is that they are eaten after meals.

[Anonymous]

Switch Witch gets the lot. Kids get sth cool. They dress up and have fun. They are 6, 4 and 1.

[Anonymous]

At that age we let our DS have a couple pieces of candy that night. He pretty much forgot about it after one or two nights.

[Anonymous]

Depending on how much DC gets, you could always donate some of it. Here's a couple options:

https://www.operationgratitude.com/express-your-thanks/halloween-candy/

https://soldiersangels.org/TreatsForTroops.html


If you don't want DC to have all the candy, you could also offer other incentives (toys, balloons, books, money, etc.) to get rid of a certain amount of it or if it's a big incentive, just let them choose a few pieces to keep.

[Anonymous]

One for after school snack. Two for after dinner if they eat well and behave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At that age we let our DS have a couple pieces of candy that night. He pretty much forgot about it after one or two nights.

This will not be our kid!!

[Anonymous]

We put it in a bowl on the counter and the kids had a free for all the first night. They'd have some more the second day and then it tapered off. I never had to make a strict policy. We taught our kids to self-regulate food in general pretty well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At that age we let our DS have a couple pieces of candy that night. He pretty much forgot about it after one or two nights.

This will not be our kid!!

Yep, this was our kid for several years. We'd hide it away and she'd pretty much forget about it from ages 3-6/7.

However, she just turned 8 and has the memory of an elephant, and a sweet tooth to match. I think we'll hide the candy, give her a couple pieces at night for a few days, and then hope she forgets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We put it in a bowl on the counter and the kids had a free for all the first night. They'd have some more the second day and then it tapered off. I never had to make a strict policy. We taught our kids to self-regulate food in general pretty well.

How did you do that? I think people say this but they don’t really know what it is like to have a sugar addiction/food addiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We put it in a bowl on the counter and the kids had a free for all the first night. They'd have some more the second day and then it tapered off. I never had to make a strict policy. We taught our kids to self-regulate food in general pretty well.

How did you do that? I think people say this but they don’t really know what it is like to have a sugar addiction/food addiction.

It was just our lifestyle and modeled behaviors as they were growing up, I guess. Teaching moderation from an early age. Involving them from a young age in meal planning and cooking. I don't know what the magic answer is really. We've always had healthier diets, but we also aren't strict. It's true though, none of us has ever struggled with weight, but we aren't naturally skinny either. And we do love food and eating too. Most people aren't born with a food addiction. While genetics do come into play, it's majorly a learned behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We put it in a bowl on the counter and the kids had a free for all the first night. They'd have some more the second day and then it tapered off. I never had to make a strict policy. We taught our kids to self-regulate food in general pretty well.

How did you do that? I think people say this but they don’t really know what it is like to have a sugar addiction/food addiction.

It starts as toddlers and preschoolers. That’s when you have 100% control over what your kids eat (even though some parents like to blame others and make excuses saying that this isn’t the case — and yes, this will very often decide/limit your childcare options), and that’s when you train the palate to expect to eat “real” food rather than desserts with every meal, sugary snacks, etc.

Our kids happily eat things as snacks that other kids wouldn’t even eat (let alone think it’s a nice snack) because that’s how we raised them to snack.

Once you start allowing your kids a lot of sugar, their bodies develop an expectation for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We put it in a bowl on the counter and the kids had a free for all the first night. They'd have some more the second day and then it tapered off. I never had to make a strict policy. We taught our kids to self-regulate food in general pretty well.

How did you do that? I think people say this but they don’t really know what it is like to have a sugar addiction/food addiction.

It was just our lifestyle and modeled behaviors as they were growing up, I guess. Teaching moderation from an early age. Involving them from a young age in meal planning and cooking. I don't know what the magic answer is really. We've always had healthier diets, but we also aren't strict. It's true though, none of us has ever struggled with weight, but we aren't naturally skinny either. And we do love food and eating too. Most people aren't born with a food addiction. While genetics do come into play, it's majorly a learned behavior.

I'm the oldest. I was four or five, and at a party playing around while all the other kids were lined up for ice cream. A parent asked my mom why I wasn't joining them - she said I'd never had it, and had no idea what it was. But there was no stopping me after I caught my dad putting sugar on the cheerios -- I didn't know this was even possible! I grew up to be a terrible sugar fiend.

With my middle sibling, the cat was already out of the bag. He grew up with sweets as an option. And really, he could take it or (mostly) leave it. "Aha!" Mom thought, "It's the lure of the forbidden that drives the desire."

Or at least that's what she thought until the youngest was born and quickly was revealed to have an even worse sweet tooth than I did.

You pretty much get the child you get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We put it in a bowl on the counter and the kids had a free for all the first night. They'd have some more the second day and then it tapered off. I never had to make a strict policy. We taught our kids to self-regulate food in general pretty well.

How did you do that? I think people say this but they don’t really know what it is like to have a sugar addiction/food addiction.

It was just our lifestyle and modeled behaviors as they were growing up, I guess. Teaching moderation from an early age. Involving them from a young age in meal planning and cooking. I don't know what the magic answer is really. We've always had healthier diets, but we also aren't strict. It's true though, none of us has ever struggled with weight, but we aren't naturally skinny either. And we do love food and eating too. Most people aren't born with a food addiction. While genetics do come into play, it's majorly a learned behavior.

I feel you ought not be so smug. The latest science discusses how much genetics come into play. You may have kids who are not genetically predisposed to sugar addiction. Other kids might be differently pre-disposed. Good article below.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/110965186