how are you handling halloween candy with your young child?

**linda_loo** · 10-31-2005, 01:14 AM

We are going TOT'ing tonight with our girls (2 & 3.5) and I'm sort of dreading dealing with the candy issue. Based on Saturday's little trip around a local plaza mall in costumes, I think there will be some argument. I thought I might be able to get away with just hiding their candy. But judging the speed with which their paws scooped up candy, and their emphatic "THANK YOU!", they clearly have figured out the joy of this season and know darn well that Halloween=candy. We're only going to 6-10 neighbors, that we know, so I'm not worried about the safety of the candy. I am really not happy with the idea of them wanting to snarf down all this candy... and to be honest, I'm sort of regretting even getting all gung-ho about TOT'ing. Before recently, neither of them cared very much about candy at all and never had more than a little bite here and there.

Now, we have candy monsters. Dressed as an angel and a witch.

Are you going to let your child eat any of their candy?
How often?

I'm thinking I'll let them have their first piece while TOT'ing (hoping it's one of those really super-mini ones), because really... what tastes better than that first one? I'm not going to let them take more than one piece at any stop. And also, I'm thinking that'll give them more time to process the sugar and they *might* sleep at night. Then, I think I'll freeze it and we'll eat it once a week.

**emschwar** · 10-31-2005, 05:05 AM

Well, Noah won't be eating candy this year, since he's only 18 months. Just an idea though - when my brother and I were little, we got to eat some on halloween night (5-10 pieces, maybe?) and the rest, we traded in for toys. It was a pretty good deal. We'd get enough candy to get our "fix", and then we got a toy we'd been wanting, which lasted a heck of a lot longer than the candy.

**LeighW** · 10-31-2005, 05:12 AM

Now that the costume anxiety is all over (she's wearing the ladybug

), I'm trying to figure out what to do about this.

She is going TOT at daycare today (in the building across the street), so I'll be interested to hear if her teacher allows her to eat any of it. The usual rule is no candy.

Tonight, I was also thinking about taking her to 5-8 houses. I think we'll let her eat 1-2 pieces when we get home. Then I'll put it away and tell her she can have one piece every day until it's gone. I'll give her a piece a day for a few days, and then secretly throw the rest away and tell her it's all gone.

We sort of did the same thing at Easter and it worked pretty well. We let her have a bit of chocolate every day and then one day (a few days later) it was gone.

I'd love to limit her to 1-2 pieces a week, but I don't see that happening. She'll walk in the door every afternoon from daycare and start demanding it. Fortunately, she seems satisfied with a little bit--at Easter one little chocolate egg per day was enough.

Good luck!

ETA: I like the trading-candy-for-toy idea, but I think my DD is too young (2.5). Plus, she's not going to have a mountain of it (I hope). I might try that when she is bigger and gets a whole bag full.

**Kellymb75** · 10-31-2005, 05:15 AM

I haven't even thought that far ahead yet. I'm sure DD will get more candy TOT'ing tonight then I'd like since daddy will likely be doing more walking with her then I will. We *know* just about everyone in our neighborhood and the neighborhood next to us so we'll hit a lot of houses. I think I'll be driving behind in the van because I don't want to miss it but don't think I could do all that walking right now (the kids move far too slow and I'd end up standing too long and I'm having back issues). I plan to totally hide the candy once DD goes to bed tonight but before that I know it's going to be a big old arguement with her and DH

about how much she should actually get.

**Renrel** · 10-31-2005, 06:14 AM

This year we are dealing by not ToTing. DS is 2 and has no idea what the holiday is about. I have managed to pretty much keep him off of candy so far. He has chocolet 2-3 times in his life and once chewed through the paper on a tooties pop I let him hold to keep him from pulling things off the shelves at a pottery painting place. To my memory that is it. Last year I was bummed we had no were to tot because I could have kept all the candy for me and DS would not have known the differnce.

Next year though I am guessing we will probably end up joining in the candy frenzy so I would be interested to hear how all of your plans work out. I am thinking about either having a one piece a day rule or letting him make sets of 2 or three and put them in bags which will then be passed out over time, maybe daily, may be as rewards for some kind of accomplishment, may be as a shabbot treat. I will also think about the toy trade in. I myself am a candy fiend so I have mixed feelings. I want my child to have better eatting habit then me (though I have not had cavity or weight problems so my motivation to make him different is not as high as it should be) and wanting to share one of my loves with him.

**Sarah** · 10-31-2005, 06:21 AM

We live in the city, so TOTing is more like a couple dozen houses, at least. We'll be doing several blocks. I plan to let her have her fill of candy tonight (within reason, no more than 5 or 6 pieces) , because some of th fun of halloween is eating a bunch of candy. Once a year it doesn't bother me. She's already planned to share her candy with me, dad, grandma and grandpa, and her aunts and uncle. Anything left after than will go away and she can have one piece after dinner every couple nights, which is our regular dessert attitude. I really doubt that this holiday will form bad eating habits- Sophie has excellent eating habits already, and a couple ights a year of candy or whatever won't effect that, imo.

**linda_loo** · 10-31-2005, 06:23 AM

I'm not thinking this, in and of itself, will develop bad eating habits... I'm thinking that the two of them ganging up on us will be a pain in the arse. Now that they both talk, it's been a whole different game here. Marissa woke up today, saying "tickorteet, candy, mommy, pwease?"

**Sarah** · 10-31-2005, 06:24 AM

oh, i know you didnt mean that. just saying.

**RileyMom** · 10-31-2005, 06:25 AM

Simple. I am going to eat it.

Seriously, we are going to probably 5-6 neighbors and I am going to have her take no more than a piece or two at each stop. At that rate, how much candy can there be, right? I am thinking a piece a day for a few days, and like Leigh throw the rest away. She really could probably care less about TOT'ing, but I am a geek though, and I have been looking forward to taking her TOT'ing for months. This is more for me than her, admittedly.

**jbemommy** · 10-31-2005, 06:41 AM

We get horrified looks from people when we tell them this, but we aren't taking her TOT'ing. She's only 20 months, so she doesn't know the difference. Our town has a pumpkin festival and costume parade for the kids, so we dressed her up for that. We wouldn't let her eat the candy anyway, so we'd end up eating it.