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Health & Fitness

How to Limit a Child's Daily Intake of Candy after Halloween

My family has a great way to manage the daily intake of candy in the days following Halloween. It's called the sorting ceremony and it prevents tummy aches and refusals to eat healthy meals because of candy fullness.

I hear there are a few charity groups asking you for extra Halloween candy. I believe that they are mainly asking for the candy that you didn’t give away to trick or treaters. If you choose to do this, that’s fine.

I won’t because while I support trick or treating, I don’t believe in pushing gaining weight and cavities on other people when it comes to charitable donations. I’d rather do something that has more of a healthy slant. When I was PTA president at a Saratoga school, I did not push See's candy sales or cookie dough fund-raisers for this reason. Had the members voted for either, we would have done them though.

I have participated in letter writing campaigns for the troops. I got one back once and the soldier said he was very appreciative in getting a note and care package from me.

But how do you manage all of the candy that your child brings home after two solid hours of trick or treating? It’s hard to throw it away when he’s at school because he will remember every size, quantity and type of candy from the big Snickers bars to the mini Laffy Taffy’s.

Here’s what works for us. On Halloween night we have a candy sorting and bagging ceremony. We separate the candy into piles of around five pieces each. We then put each pile into a plastic sandwich bag. We put the bags in a cooler and hide them out of site, sometimes in my husband’s car because of his awesome willpower.

My son then has one bag per day for a few weeks.

The sorting ceremony is fun because you clearly see what is in the stash. This is also a good time for the child to pick a few reject pieces for mom and dad. I always get the Tootsie Rolls. My husband gets the Almond Joy bars.

This system has worked for the past 12 years and I recommend it if you are having trouble with a child who is eating too much candy at each sitting especially the day after Halloween.
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