Handling Halloween

[velvetpage]

How does your family handle Halloween?

Specifically - what do you do about the candy? Do you pool it for family use? Dole it out a few pieces at a time? Let kids keep it in their rooms, to be eaten at their discretion? Let kids decide when to eat it, and accept the consequences themselves, or let them decide with some limits - for instance, no candy before lunchtime? Do you allow kids to have separate stashes of candy that their siblings aren't allowed to have, and if so, how do you handle accusations of theft?

This isn't a big issue for us yet - we're still at the dole-it-out stage, and she doesn't notice if I eat some of her candy. :) But it will start to become an issue, and I want to be prepared when it does.

Comments

[neebs.livejournal.com]

My sister and I used to get Halloween night to eat only our candy (there was probably a limit on the number of pieces) and then it all got dumped into one big pile along with the leftover candy that didn't get handed out at our door, which was kept in the kitchen.

The reason this worked is because we usually went together so we had all the same stuff anyway and my mom always bought a bag of each of our favorites (which didn't overlap, helpfully) and those were the last bags to be opened to give out. So the leftover candy was stuff we liked, which is always better than tootsie rolls. (Which I HATE and always made up half of my stash!!) I think we had a limit of X pieces a day, but I don't remember.

We always used to dump it out with my dad and he would go through and make sure everything looked ok, which looking back on it was just his way of getting some of his favorites. (He would say things like "Oh, this doesn't look like a good piece, let's put it aside.") This only worked while we were in elementary school. ;)

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

We dump all the treat bags into a bowl in the kitchen, and we all share. It's never been an issue, necasue it's just what we have always done. They each take turns picking a treat after dinner - there has never been a fight over who gets what as far as I can remember.

[anenomemama.livejournal.com]

We limit the number of houses our kids visit. Lark is only 4, so this hasn't been a big deal yet. In general, I have less concern about a once-a-year candy overkill than I would about, say, my kids eating sugared cereal every day.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I just don't want them developing my unhealthy relationship with sweets, which was fostered by the hoarding my parents allowed at Halloween.

[anenomemama.livejournal.com]

I remember kids when I was growing up who were allowed to keep their candy indefinitely (and who were allowed to accumulate much, much more than we ever were!) It always struck me as strange, even then. I applaud your efforts in thinking this through!!

[hendrikboom.livejournal.com]

We're permissive n thins Each keeps his own, eats it at will. If they pig out, well, to the extent it is a problem, it's ovre soon. If not, well, they get to have it for longer. In any case, the immediate consequences of pigging out or not are clear to them after the fact if not before, and so it is an opportunity for learning.

However, there is a rule: if they leave it lying around in plain view in a public place (like the living room), it's fair game for everyone in the house. That helps keep things neat. And if they don't keep it put away in their own rooms, the dog has a habit of getting to it.

Exception for chocolate: Since chocolate is toxic to dogs, it is a restricted substance here: it *always* has to be kept securely locked away (secure against dogs, that is).

[hendrikboom.livejournal.com]

On occasion there have been exceptions -- such when one of them can't go trick-or-treating or something. I forget what we did then, but we may have taxed the others in a kind of income-redistribution, and we may have provided some of the leftovers that we hadn't given away to trick-or-treaters.

And they usually conduct a trading session on Nov 1 when they trade things they don't like for things they do -- learning negotiating skills in the process.

By the way, from almost before they can count we've given them an allowance. In the earliest years they tended to spend it on candy, making excruciatingly difficult decisions on how to spend their 5 or ten cents. The allowance was always enough to buy *something* meaningful to them. But never enough to buy everything. I remember seemingly endless change-making sessions in which they traded a nickle for five pennies with me, and then back again. It got tedious sometimes, but they did start to learn about money and counting that way. But I wish the stores would all post prices that *included* sales tax -- it makes it so so much harder for a four-year-old to understand prices when they have to add 15%.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

My two oldest are really good at self regulating, so I kind of let them at it.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

Hi - we met at jaecat's tea *waves* I popped over and saw this - hope you don't mind a comment :-)

We usually have some limits - nothing before lunch, only so many pieces per day. They keep it in their room and really I haven't have any issues with it getting snuck by either themselves or anyone else. There is trading during the couple of days afterward. Extra candy left from us giving out is sent off immediately to Dad's office so it's only their actual "haul" candy around. Their intake is definitely up for a little bit but twice a year (Halloween, Easter) I figure its no big. They eat plenty of healthy stuff all the time.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I don't mind! Welcome! And thanks for your input!

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

Thanks! and no problem, I usually have 2 cents kicking around ;-) Would you mind if I friended you? You are welcome to likewise, as you choose :-)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Sure! *friended*

[girlydoll.livejournal.com]

While growing up we were able to keep it and eat it at will. At home I get the boys to dump it in the middle of the room, I take out suckers and the gross candy or anything that is open and toss it in a bag and throw it away (suckers are banned at my house)

Chips get taken out and put in a special box for lunch snacks, along with bear paws or granola bars, anything snack like that could make the treck to school.

Chocolate and any other treats except for gum go in a bowl and the kids can help themselves in moderation. We ususally buy some of the big bags of chocolate after Halloween as it is EXTREAMLY cheap, so the kids really don't care.

Gum goes with me to work with some left in the house, but generally I don't let them chew much gum either. Connors better at not swallowing it now but still, I dunno.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Why are suckers banned?

[girlydoll.livejournal.com]

I personally do not like suckers because I almost always end up with a sticky stick stuck somewhere. I also worry about them shoving them to far down their throats and gagging, they don't do it often, but Gabriel did it ONCE and that was all it took for me to be very worried for the rest of their lives. I also find or at least think of Suckers to be a pure sugar blob on the end of a stick, I know they are probably the same amount of bad as a chocolate bar or chips, but I dunno, to me it seems worse. The kids know this though and really don't care as they don't like suckers as much as the other stuff either.

With the exception of Jolly Rancher suckers, those I can eat all day long,,, OHHH YUM!

[kianir.livejournal.com]

Hey there, Tigerwolfvix using Kia's journal again...
I THINK that my parents regulated for us till I was about 7 and could comprehend things like Too much candy=tummy ache/less dinner...
But, I was thge youngest, so I'm guessing...

[blue-comet.livejournal.com]

We were allowed to keep our candy to ourselves. My brother would hoard it, and never eat all of it. I would eat all of it within a week. I never tried to take his when mine ran out.

We weren't supposed to eat any after we had brushed our teeth at bedtime. Mom would get us to select a handful of items to put in our lunch bags... we couldn't bring mountains of candy to school with us.

[summerfields.livejournal.com]

I distinctly recall dumping my loot on the dining room table only to have Piet and Krista take their share....and mom taking out all those candies that pull out your teeth or have razorblades and what not. :)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

My sister has openly admitted that she used to steal our candy before eating her own. I don't want my kids stealing from each other, or eating themselves sick, or developing the hoarding tendency that I have left over from childhood, so I'm thinking now about how to avoid it. So far, I like the idea of pooling it and allowing some each day after school and some after supper until it's gone. And pillowcases will never be used as treat bags in my house.

[nottheterritory.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't remember how it was done when I was a child - of course I was an only child, so it was alot less complicated. I think I was allowed some limited Halloween night 'binging' but after that, it was one a day or some similar drip type deal.

Certainly we have dealt with past large candy infusions for the Boo by doling it out in individual pieces, one a day - but reading this thread, I am questioning that a little. It's hard to know if the message she's getting is "don't feel you need to eat it all now, there'll still be some tomorrow" or "don't bother disciplining yourself, mummy and daddy will do it for you".

Of course we're desperate to try and not make candy a big deal either, so she won't get to the point where she ascribes artificial value to candy over healthy foods because healthy foods are plentiful and junk is rare (cause that's sure not true in the real world!), but at the same time, she really will skip everything but the french fries in a meal if we're not careful - I don't want to give the fries the lure of the forbidden but I sure wish she'd eat some protein... ahhhh parenthood...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

At three and a half, parents have to be fairly involved because she still lives very much in the moment - how she'll feel later has less of an impact. I've started explaining to Elizabeth that eating too much candy will make her feel yucky, so she can only eat a bit at a time, and never before lunch. Over the next few years, we'll start encouraging her to self-regulate a bit, but I don't think I'm going to let her keep it in her bedroom for a very long time yet.

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

My sister and I usually amassed a little over a shopping bag each (in the height of trick-or-treating, I can't believe it was already so long ago). It was kept in a cupboard in the kitchen, as food wasn't allowed anywhere else in the house. It's an old farm house, and Mom didn't want to encourage mice to explore the house.

We were allowed a bunch of candy Hallowe'en night (after it was all inspected), and then could pick a few pieces each evening and on Saturday mornings. I ate myself sick a couple of times, and did learn that large amounts of candy are not my friend.
We learned to ration it out, as the stuff my mom got wasn't the same as the exotic Hallowe'en candy (some of it came from my neighbour, who did his candy shopping in the U.S.), but it was no big deal if the candy ran out, there'd be other treats.

We made it last, we didn't steal from each other's candy (I always had an excellent idea exactly what I had left anyway), and it was stored in plain sight, so no sneaking late night candy or anything like that. We'd get to pick the snacks for our lunches from the stash, which was a fun way to get us involved in thinking about preparing a lunch for the next day.

These rules all applied to us as older kids (probably at least 8), so I'd have to ask my mom what she did with us when we were smaller. Definitely more restrictions, I'm sure :)

[melstra.livejournal.com]

You already have plenty of great comments, but Max is asleep so I'll add my story. My siblings were so much older that I didn't have to worry about hoarding/stealing. They had long stopped t-or-t'ing before I was old enough to go.

I used a grocery bag for trick-or-treating and probably ended up with upwards of 30-40 pieces when all was said and done. I loved bringing it home and dumping it on the living room carpet. My parents cast a glance at it to see if anything was dangerous, and then it was mine. I spent a long time organizing it (4 reeses pb cups, 8 tootsie rolls, 3 snickers...etc.). I don't really remember, but I think I was allowed 4-5 pieces that night. After that, it went in a cupboard in the kitchen that I had access to. To be honest, even though I'm now a very overweight adult...I just don't remember hoarding it or having to have it parcelled out to me. If there WERE rules...they didn't make much impression on me, and certainly didn't affect my current hoarding tendency one way or another. It was just Halloween. I do remember trying to keep my easter bunny as long as possible--eating a bite per day.

Btw, in my humble opinion, there's nothing wrong with a little hoarding. Though I didn't have any siblings' candy to worry about back then, I think I would feel gyped if the candy were all pooled together. I liked knowing what was mine and deciding what to eat-- Halloween was a very rare time when mom and dad didn't have ownership of something food-based. It was my own little "treasure" and I really enjoyed that.

Good luck instilling good candy habits. No idea what we'll do with Max, but we've got a good long while yet.