Halloween is just around the corner, and if you have young kids, I’m sure you have been gearing up for it for quite some time now. You’ve had the “What do you want to be this year?” conversation numerous times as your kid has probably changed his/her mind more than once, and you’ve done a lot of shopping and preparing – getting the costume together, the decorations, and of course, lest we forget, the candy. Halloween is a fun holiday for kids, and one of a kind. What other holiday gives kids the license to get dressed up and pretend to be something/someone they are not and then go door-to-door asking for (and getting!) candy?!
For many parents who try their best to feed their kids healthy and nutritious foods, the sudden onslaught of high-sugar, high-fat, highly processed junk that is about to enter their house is a bit of a conundrum. After all, how can you deny your kids what they have been anticipating and dreaming about for so long? My advice is to use it as an opportunity to teach your child(ren) a lesson in moderation. It is equally as important as a parent to teach your children how to eat unhealthy foods as it is to teach them to eat healthy foods. Long ago, before we had such foods readily at hand, nature took care of that lesson for us. The not-so-healthy foods just weren’t as readily available and in such abundance as the healthy ones (and very many didn’t even exist yet, candy bars included). As a result, we ate unhealthy food much less because we only had the opportunity to do so every once in a while. Now, in our modern day industrialized society, we’ve got stores full of junk food and all we have to do is pick them up and pay for them. The opportunity to eat unhealthy foods is always there, and will always be there as your children enter adulthood and begin to make these types of decisions on their own. That’s why it’s so important to teach them the appropriate manner in which to treat themselves to these unhealthy foods.
Here’s what I suggest you do. At the end of Halloween night, let your kids eat as much candy as they want. After all, they are dying to dig in and gorge themselves and if you start the moderation train too early, it could backfire. Also, Halloween only comes once a year, and eating too much candy is part of the fun. It’s important to let your kids have that fun. Once they have eaten so much candy they are almost sick, you can begin the “eat in moderation” discussion. It’s best not to approach it as a lecture, but rather to lead your kids to the right conclusion with the right questions. Remember – you’ve let them eat so much candy they feel sick, which is an advantage to the discussion. You can start with the question, “How do you feel?” Or “Did you enjoy your candy?” Then, you can gently lead them into, “I bet you’re first couple of pieces tasted the best, right?” (Nod, nod, nod. Nodding your own head will help get them to nod theirs.) “Do you know why that is? Because too much candy is not good for your body. It doesn’t like it, so it gives off signals that make you stop enjoying it. You become more and more numb to the taste, and your stomach starts to feel sick. All that sugar causes your insides to swell up and become inflamed. After a couple of pieces, it’s like your body is screaming at you to please stop.” Etc., etc., you get the gist of it. Once you’re pretty sure you’ve got them hook, line and sinker, you can offer them the following two options:
Option A: Eat the rest of your candy in one or two more sittings like you did tonight.
Option B: Spread it out and make it last for a WHOLE MONTH OR MORE, eating only 1 – 2 pieces a day. (The best pieces, you can remind them.) Let them know that they can decide when to eat the candy each day. They will most likely respond well to having that type of control over it. You might want to tell them how you would choose to eat yours if you had the option. For instance, I would choose to eat the candy after dinner or after lunch, but never too early in the day, because anticipation is half the fun. I would concentrate solely on eating the candy – not eat it while reading or watching TV – so I could savor each bite. I would eat it slowly and methodically, taking tiny bites and chewing thoroughly, so I really got to enjoy the taste of all the flavors in the candy. When you’re telling them when and how you would choose to eat the candy, try to make it sound enticing and decadent and fun!.
If, after all that, your child still wants to gorge and eat all his/her candy over the next couple of days, you must let him/her do so. That way, they will learn the lesson of moderation the hard way, but they will learn it. At the end of the first candy gorge after Halloween night, when they are feeling full and gross and completely candied out for the second night in a row, you can ask them again if they want to spread out the remainder of the candy or if they want to continue on the gorge route. They may very well give spreading it out and moderation a try. If not, there is always next year! And at least you will have gotten rid of all that candy!