What do you about candy with young children on Halloween?
Do you try to minimize the candy or do you let them enjoy? (after all, it's Halloween!)
Do you do the Halloween Fairy / Great Pumpkin / Switch Witch thing, where candy disappears overnight (and gets replaced by a gift)?
Do you keep the number of houses your child trick or treats at to a minimum?
What did you plan to do this year, how did it play out, and what will you do next year?
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Here's what we tried:
We introduced the Switch Witch idea this year, because we guessed that our oldest, now 3 1/2 years, was unlikely to forget about the candy he'd collected, we didn't really want him to eat it all, but nor did we want be mean and just straight up tell him that ;) So a day or two before we told our kids a little story about the Switch Witch who flies through the night by the light of the moon, and collects the candy and leaves a gift. The kids went to maybe 12 houses. We let the kids eat 3-4 pieces or so each on Halloween night, then told them to set out their candy on the dining room table for the Switch Witch. The next day, there were 2 presents where the candy used to be, with a piece of candy on top of each one. They opened the gifts in the morning, seemed happy with the books they'd received, and then we read them for the first time tonight. No mention of candy all day.
Today, I'm mixed. I lied to the kids, and I'm not sure why. They seem fine, not especially excited (kinda tired), not at all bummed. Don't know if we'll do it again next year or not.
5 Answers
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I like the idea of the "Switch Witch", but just as I figured out the Tooth Fairy and the rest of the lot, I'd worry about longevity on this one! A friend of mine passed around this link, a Halloween Candy Buy Back program put on by local dentists. It sounds like a great idea that helps you tell the truth to your kids, gets them to do something good for other people and still get something in return.
http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/
I hope it's still around when it's time for me to deal with the candy situation of Halloween!
Wow, what a cool program! Thanks Erin :)
- andrea, Nov 2, 2010
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The tradition in our house growing up was that first, we dumped all our candy onto the floor when we got home. Second, we took out anything that wasn't wrapped, homemade or fruit. <wink> Then, we got to pick 5 pieces to eat that night. [Note - a roll of lifesavers counted as 1 piece.] My mom put the rest of the candy in the freezer and we got one piece in our lunch bags until it ran out. That was usually sometime in January. :-)
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For me the Great Pumpkin was a great discovery (as a parent). Yeah, it is a lie, just like the Tooth Fairy. My oldest totally gets what is going on, but prefers to play along.
> Don't know if we'll do it again next year or not.
Oh, they WILL remember!
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We have a candy jar, and any time the kids get candy (birthdays, holidays, whatever) they get to have a little and the rest goes in the candy jar. We'll typically give them each a small piece for desert, or a treat or whatever. They get so much candy (from school, even!) that we've never totally run out of candy in the jar. And it's been the rule since they were very little, so it's never been a problem. It hasn't even been a problem the one place I'd have expected it to be, when one of the kids gets candy and others don't: the candy goes into the jar and gets shared out without a problem.
I'm also not comfortable lying to the kids. My attitude is that telling them straight out what needs to happen is a way of not putting off difficult issues to later. Often they surprise me, and what I thought would be a problem is a total non-issue. When it does turn into an issue I figure I'm dealing with it before their expectations become so set that it becomes a more serious issue. So when they're going to get a shot at the doctor, we tell them ahead of time that it's going to hurt and they'll have to be brave (and that we'll hold them down if we have to, which we do), etc. When parents don't hide from difficult issues the kids are seeing the example that they don't have to hide from them either.
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My boys are visted each year by the Halloween Witch and the Halloween Goblins. If they leave their candy out back, the witches take it and leave presents. If they leave it out front in a bag, the greedy Goblins take it and leave fistfuls of change. Last two years they chose the Goblins. They pick 10-20 pieces of their favorites, and the rest GOES. These characters are very real for them, we tell stories about them, etc.
I don't have a problem lying, anymore than I do about the Tooth Fairy and Santa. I think there's a very fun element of fantasy and magic and wonder that the kids (and parents) get to develop and enjoy, that then carries over into a fondness for the holiday, enjoyment of fiction and movies and imaginary play. Last year when Jack asked me to confirm that magic wasn't real, I replied with a completely straight face that yes, magic wasn't real, except of course for Santa. He was fine with this answer.
Andy and Jack are 7, and they both still have no doubts about the tooth fairy, haloween goblins, or santa. I think I have at least this one more year, but not sure how long after that they will still believe.
These answers are all fantastic! Thank you so much!
- andrea, Nov 10, 2010