Last week, my daughter came home from school with a multi-colored lollipop. I looked for an ingredient list, but the wrapper is of course too small. Yes, I’m definitely a label-reader, but I’m also big on not becoming an emotional slave to the habit. She hadn’t eaten a lollipop in a while, so I let her have it.
Within an hour, she was acting like a total basket case. And sadly, not in the crazy, hyper, but funny sort of way. Rather, it was the total emotional meltdown, cease any kind of rational thinking, and get downright nasty sort of way. I couldn’t help but wonder if there were some artificial dyes in that lollipop. Must have been.
No matter how much I try to limit their exposure to candy by not bringing it into our home myself, it seems my kids are always getting a “treat” from somewhere at least 2-3 times per week. Every once in a while, my girls will independently say, “I don’t want that Mommy, because it’s not healthy.” But usually, it’s an exercise in creativity to get them to give it up willingly so that the times they do have it really are limited to the occasional treat instead of every other day or so.
And now, it’s Halloween season. Sigh…
My cousin shared the idea of handing out mini bags of pretzels (but check the ingredient lists as these can be highly processed depending on the brand/recipe), and my friend Sarah wrote an excellent article for natural moms on ‘Kicking the Halloween Candy Crisis.’ Check it out.
Halloween candy article
Great article on artificial dyes
Just this morning I got these 2 ideas in an email from our school…find local dentists who will buy back candy:
http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/
Send extra candy to troops:
http://www.opgratitude.com/ideas.php
I think I will try one of these ideas this year. 6yo is all about getting more money to buy more legos these days, so maybe this will appeal 🙂
Fantastic, Jenny. Thanks! I’m going to email my dentist right now to see if he does this. Great idea. 🙂
I often think about how I will handle candy in our household when and if we have children someday God-willing. I strongly believe that treats should be healthy – if children always associate candy with a positive behavior, then that gets totally ingrained in their thinking even when they grow older. Lacey, I think it’s great that you’re a label-reader (I am too!) and that you are taking the time to teach your children what is/is not healthy. At the same time however, you are not acting like a tyrant and snatching away every piece of candy they ever receive – if you do, it might trigger a defensive response. I honestly don’t know the best solution to this candy dilemma…. I will check out the links posted in your post and the comment above to get some ideas… 🙂
Thanks, Heba, for the words of encouragement. 🙂
You hit on such an important point, too, about associating candy/treats with positive behavior. That can be such a struggle. Before becoming a parent, we have all these great ideas about child-rearing and discipline, and then we start to realize that this little personality is not quite what we planned for in our heads. When they start acting out, it can be so tempting to use “treats” as a quick-fix incentive. Been there, done that, still catch myself doing it sometimes, and working to break the already ingrained pattern. Sadly, it only takes a couple “bribes” to ingrain the concept in their little souls, and it undermines our efforts to foster a spirit of genuine caring, personal responsibility, and respect for right and wrong. It’s yet another example in life of how “quick-fixes” so often backfire. Not worth it in the end.
Great points. You are doing an awesome job! It’s so hard to be a good parent and remember all these little details… God strengthen you and your children! 🙂
As stated in the article you posted, giving out little mini-gifts instead of candy is not a bad option. Or how about baking healthy mini-cookies or something? That could be fun! 🙂
Aye, though I also agree with Sarah’s subtle, personal-opinion suggestion about the negative impacts of tiny, plastic, trinket toys. They’re not great for the environment at large, or our home. Ugh, I strongly dislike (I rarely, if ever, will use the word hate, but I almost want to here) the plastic trinket garbage all over the house. As quickly as possible after they enter the house, I sneak them away to the recycle bin or the goodwill box – and the kids never miss them. We’re personally more interested in having a fewer, more special toys around, than tons of toys that carry little value. Helps them with their imaginations too, in my opinion. 🙂
As much as I think the idea of baking healthy mini-cookies is a truly wonderful idea, I am sad to comment that I suspect the day of homemade goodies being accepted at Halloween is a thing of the past. Just too many issues surrounding that option. Though, I suppose if one lived in a well-connected neighborhood where people really knew one another well, it might fly. Sadly, such communities are endangered these days due to the rat race lifestyles and… But that’s a whole ‘nother post topic. 🙂
Good points… I agree with you. So how about a useful item for school (a pen, paper clips, erasers, etc)? That way these can go into the pencil case and not take up space and look messy around the house (?) As for the cookies – I used to go to a private Christian school and our teachers baked us cookies for Christmas, Halloween, and other random holidays. I always thought it was a really thoughtful and personal gesture… I guess it’s a bit different for passing them out to the neighbors though. Growing up, we never went trick-or-treating – so I can’t tell you anything based on personal experience, but I would imagine people would appreciate home-baked treats (?)
I like the school supplies idea – thanks! Though, I suppose the kids might not. My cousin in GA thought her house might get egged for handing out pretzels instead of chocolate… Ha! I’d hate to see the middle school wrath that pencils could incur. 😉 Fortunately, we don’t see many kids above elementary age trick-or-treating anymore, and this year we’re going to go to a “Trunk or Treat” at our church anyway.
ugh, I composed a whole long reply and my computer lost it 🙁
Here were the key points:
Could bake special homemade (with good ingredients) treats, label them with your name/address, and hand them out only to those kids whose families you know personally. Have store-bought candy for all the rest of the visitors.
Buy decent store-bought fair-trade dark chocolate. Definitely a nice “treat,” but without HFCS, artificial dyes, and all the other garbage ingredients. Would be more expensive for sure, but consider “putting our money where our mouths are” ??
Perhaps attach a little paper or label to whatever you’re handing out with the info on a local dentist who buys back candy? (ref my first reply above)
All great ideas, Jenny – thanks! Especially appreciate the point about “putting our money where our mouths are.” If this is a change we’d like to see happening on a wider level, we have to be willing to invest in spreading the ideas and values by example. And what I’m finding more and more is that if you’re living a ‘greener’ life, with all that it entails, you’re saving money in other areas that you can then apply to more expensive – but far better quality and therefore value – choices. And of course, many such choices are not actually that much more expensive than ‘conventional’ counterparts and/or there are ways to find deals on them.