How We Handled Halloween Candy With Our Kids
As we were gearing up for Halloween this year, my 13-year-old made an announcement.
“Mom, I have a new Halloween rule this year,” he declared. “You aren’t allowed to throw away my candy after two days. Okay?”
Needless to say, it appears that he is tired of cherry-picking his Halloween loot, knowing that he will lose the rest to the healthy impulses of his doctor mom.
Over the years, we’ve had several ways of managing the crazy confectionary excess that comes with the season. To be clear, I don’t mind overindulging in Halloween candy for a couple of days - I love peanut butter cups as much as the next girl! But between the parties, the school parades, and the trick-or-treating, it gets out of control.
It was a lot easier when they were little! Two days after Halloween we would leave out the rest of the candy to the Halloween Fairy. She took all of the candy and left an awesome toy, like a stuffed animal, a new Play-Doh set, or a race car. And for a few years, it worked.
After that, we had a buy-back program. The kids would sort their candy and assess some kind of value to it. Peanut butter cups could be sold back for 25 cents each. Small lollipops got 10 cents. Full size candy bars sold for a dollar. The kids deposited the money into their bank accounts and even wrote their balances down in their little deposit books! Everyone wins!
But now that my kids are teenagers, I have less control over, well, just about everything. But the fact remains that I am their parent. I know they don’t need an entire pillowcase full of candy to eat every day. I mean, I still pay the dentist bills and still have to nag them about brushing their teeth!
Last year, their middle school collected candy and donated it, which made my kids more aware of issues around the community. They learned about the local children’s hospital, and that there are families who travel there to stay close to their sick children awaiting surgery or treatments. The families and the siblings who weren’t home for Halloween got treated to the candy and it really was appreciated.
This year, I will follow my son’s “rule” to not throw away his candy. But instead, I will ask him to pick a charity to donate it to, such as a local hospital, the troops or first responders, so that he can take a moment to realize that everyone deserves a little sweetness in life, and how we can always do more to spread it around.