Any Advise on Trick-or-Treating W/ a Child That Does Not Eat Candy?

I went through it and most of it went out the door, but I kept the skittles and M&Ms. I use those as reinforcers for my son with autism. I let the other children pick out a few pieces that they wanted and they ate it over the 3 or 4 days after Halloween, but they do not eat much candy. My MIL will let them eat whatever they want, and even then they do not request candy.
Mel

Well, the way that I see it is that I don't think there's ANYTHING wrong with eating candy on Halloween! I feel that if you are going to take her trick-or-treating, not giving her any of the candy would just be mean. Limit what you give her that night, and for the rest of the candy, keep it hidden away. Give her a piece of candy as a reward for when she straightens up her toys or helps with chores around the house. A piece of candy every now and then is not harmful.

Hi, I'm a 32yr old mother of twin boys and I treat candy the same way you do. Last year I let them pick out 2 pieces to eat on Halloween and saved 2 other pieces for the following days. I brought the rest to work and they never really missed it. I also read in a magazine that one mom lets her daughter trade in her candy for prizes. Good Luck and Have a fun Halloween. J.

When I was a child, my sister and I would bring home our bags and our mother combine them, then sort the "bad" pieces out, then split everything into categories - chocolate, hard candy, gum, etc. Then the entire family would sit down and take turns chosing one piece from a specific category, taking turns, until all of the pieces had been chosen, and we'd then move on to the other categories. The idea was that we had to share, because there was no way we were going to eat ten pounds of candy.

You could do a few things...

1- take her only to friends and families houses, and ask them to give her some veggies or fruit, and spent the rest of the time walking around and letting her see all of the people in the costumes.

2 - take her to a few houses, then come home, sort them out, and remove the candy you most don't want for her to have. Then do as my parents did: explain to her that she should share, and allow everyone to pick, one-by-one, a piece of candy or fruit (add in some fruit and veggies to give her the choice of picking them over the candy).

3 - take her trick-or-treating, then sort out the candy and tell her you'll trade her a fruit that is out of season - say, some blueberries or strawberries - for her candy. If that doesn't work, then give her a few pieces, and take the rest to work. At her age, you'll easily be able to tell her that it's "all gone" or that "Daddy ate some, sharing is good, right?"

Hope these suggestions might help!

I do not know where you live but many churchs hold fall festivals instead of Halloween activities. These events do not center around trick or treating but often still allow the kids to dress up and have fun (in appropriate costumes). You might skip the trick or treating and head to a local church instead.

I would let her have a little of the candy as you have done at birthday parties and such. Although explain to her that it is not healthy for her to eat all this candy so you are going to take the rest to work. Maybe have her pick out a few things that she would really enjoy. I dont think it will hurt to have a little and be able to get the full effect of Halloween.

Hi M.,

I have a 9 yr old and things are a little different now with her being older, but when she was smaller, I would let her get candy for Halloween. That night I would let her have 1 or 2 pieces and then after she went to bed I would pull out a lot to take to work the next day. I left her some and would let her pick out a piece every now and then. I had already been talking to her about eating healthy, so I told her that candy wasn't healthy and that it wasn't for everyday.

I wish I could say that my daughter still loves her fruits and veggies. She does still eat a lot more than her friends, though. I still have rules about not eating a lot of candy, but I'm trying to let her have more control. Every year I try to ease up a little on the control, but it's hard.

It's obvious that you are a caring Mom - good for you! I love redheads, too!

Good luck!

PS. My daughter always forgets about the candy after a couple of weeks, and then I toss the rest.

My husband and I have been very careful about what our 2 1/2 year old son eats as well. For snacks, he might get goldfish, or cheese and crackers, but rarely, if ever, do we give him candy. Like you, we've let him have cake or ice cream on special occasions. (Our sitter, however, hasn't quite mastered saying "No" to him...)

We're especially strict about chocolate. Though he is not allergic to it, it makes him bounce off the walls and then crash and burn. When he crashes, we practically have to scrape him off the floor, mop up the tears, and then spend an hour soothing him back to his normal, cheerful self.

I've been facing the same dilemma now that he IS old enough to know what candy is and we ARE planning to take him trick-or-treating. He's excited about his costume (he's going to be a monkey) and he's excited about running around with the other kids.

I plan to allow him to take the candy (whatever they give him), then sort out a few pieces I won't mind him having over the next week or so, and either tossing the rest - or bringing it to work with me.

The fact that the candy is there in the house with us might be a useful tool in getting him to perform certain tasks that he would otherwise find distasteful - like finishing his green beans, or helping Mommy put all the books he pulled out back on his bookshelf. (Yes, I bribe my child when necessary! :)

Hope this helps!
J. S

Trade her a shiny nickel for each piece, you put the piece in the garbage, and she gets to put the nickel in her piggy bank.
Hope this works!

Hi,
My name is Kim, I have a 6 year old diabetic. I usually let all my kids got rick or treating (usually at oakcourt mall) then after they go to bed I hide it and when i have a chance I either give it away or throw it away!

so why trick or treat for candy? have all the fun of dressing up and go trick or treating for unicef. check out this site . . .

http://www.unicefusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=hkIXLdMRJtE&b=...

its a great way to introduce solid community service to your child.

Ive heard about tradeing the candy for a special toy or activity. My boys are 6 & 8 and what Ive been doing is letting them choose 1 piece of candy after dinner each night as their dessert. Of course they have to finnish their dinner first. After a couple of weeks they start to loose interest and I usually end up throwing away a lot of it or my husband and I eat it.

Hello Miss M.! Yes sweetie it will hurt her fun not to get to eat some of her candy, that is the fun of going "Trick or Treating" is knowing that you get to eat candy!!! You are a very good mother teaching her to eat things that are good for her, but don't take the fun out of getting to be a kid!!! Good luck sweetie and I hope you and your sweet lil girl "Have A Happy Halloween"!!!!! Your friend....Renea H.

I had a friend who would let his daughters go trick or treating, and then trade the candy for a prize. One year it was a special camera, another year a microscope. It was a great way to let them enjoy the festivities of Halloween like all the other kids, but not gobble down all the sugar he didn't want his girls eating. Plus, usually the toy chosen was educational! Then he would bring the candy to work, which made him very popular at our office!

When I was younger, I LOVED going trick-or-treating, yet I never really ate the candy. I wasn't big on it, so I gave it to my sisters or it went in the trash after months of sitting there. So if your daughter prefers fruits and veggies, maybe she won't mind giving the candy away. She can keep a few pieces, and then you could take her to a children's hospital and let her give the candy to the children. (I'm sure some area hospitals would love to receive the candy :) ).

The excitement in trick-or-treating is getting dressed up and being with all the other kids. She'll also learn a good lesson in doing good for others if she starts the tradition of "donating" her candy.

Good luck and have a great time!

I took advice too of all this responses but now I am thinking in something. This brings us a very good advice: We can not give candy to other kids whom are in our door ToT. I already buy some little toys (party favors) for those children this year.
=)

You might be surprised with her reaction to candy. My sons had absolutely no interest in it. Do not make it forbidden. Allow small amounts infrequently if she's interested.

What we did last year was let our son (who sounds like he has a similar candy-free background) take whatever was offered him. Since he had no clue what the stuff was, we gave him one piece when we got home and one piece a day for the next couple of days. He was so thrilled with the little bit he got and kind of forgot about the rest. Take it to the office and dig in!

M.,
I have to say that I agree with your views on candy. My son is only 14 months and won't be into Trick-or-Treating yet. However, My plan for the next few years is to let him keep a small amount of candy. (Very Small) and trade out the rest for a special toy or day out. I don't know how well this will work for us yet but I got the idea from families that I babysat for when I was younger. It worked very well for them so I have high hopes for it's success. Good luck with whatever you decide.
~A.

Hi M.!

My advice would be to have a special Halloween basket waiting for her at home filled with stuff you find acceptable. Upon return, tell her that the candy has to go to the poor kids (or whatever you want to fill in here) because they weren't able to go trick-or-treating and that you have a very special basket just for her. Then take the candy to work or whatever. Hope this helps!

How about telling her that she is going trick or treating for kids that cant go.(such as kids that are in hopitals) that might make it easier for her to give the candy up. take her to a near by clinic or the hospital and have her hand it out...

I'm the same way (to the point that I will be giving out minibags of pretzels for Halloween!). For my kids (3yo and 6yo) I treat Halloween (in a small way) like one of those special times you mentioned. I let them pick 2 or 3 small treats, then the rest gets "passed along" someway to someone else. Good luck with helping your daughter grow up with healthy habits!

M.

I understand completely what you're going through. My first word of advice is, do you live in or near Athens? Earth Fare in Five Points does Trick-or-Treat, healthy-style. If you don't, or you go house-to-house (like you will inevitably do in later years), allow a piece a night for a couple of nights, then throw th rest out. A lot of houses I visited last year in Five Points gave out popcorn, raisins, trail mix, and such. Or, if you know some neighbors, talk with them about what to give - you cna even give it to them to give to her, and only go there. She is still young enough to not understand, so don't worry about taking away the goodies this year. It's later that you'll have to be more creative. I tried the foot-down approach at first, and have learned that moderation is the key. Happy Halloween.

Hi M.,
I am dealing with this with my child this year also (she's 25 months). We don't allow junk food at our house either, just special occasions & grandparents houses. Everyone is amazed at how well she eats. She asks for green beans for breakfast sometimes!!
Anyway, my daughter also has allergies to nuts, milk & egg, so my situation is a little more severe, but I think I am going to go by a handful of neighbors houses this year & give them a goodie bag just for Raegan, so when we arrive at their house, they can put that goodie bag in her Halloween basket.
After she begins to catch on, I think I will change to having a Halloween Fairy. I will have her leave her candy outside her bedroom door, then during the night I will switch it for a surprise, something she will really love and be happy to give up her candy for.
Good Luck.

M.~

I'm like you---my 2 1/2 yr old doesn't eat candy. I don't want to get on a soapbox but IMHO 2 yr olds just don't need it.

We've never taken her trick or treating for that reason. Last year she helped me hand out candy to the kids who came to our door & she got to wear her costume. We had also worn costumes when my MOMS club went to visit the residents at a local nursing home so she got a non candy treat there (they gave the kids goldfish & pretzels).

This year our community is having a party for the kids so we'll see what kinds of treats are given. If it's candy we won't accept it (and will bring a treat for her that is a non-sweet) or we'll bring it home & DH can eat it (massive sweet tooth on that man!).

The bottom line is YOU are the parent & YOU control what goes into your child's mouth. I don't think 1 or 2 pieces will throw off all the good you've done thus far & who knows, that bag o' treats could wind up "disappearing" after the wee ones go to sleep!

Hey, M.. I am in a similar situation with my little one. I was talking to a coworker of mine about it and he said that his kids trick or treated for years without eating any of the candy. The had never really had candy and didn't actually know what it was that people were putting in their buckets. They just enjoyed dressing up and collecting the goodies. He said they were fine with it until they stopped ant grandmas house one halloween and she took a sucker out of the treat bag and put in in on of their nouths. Then, they were wise to what they had. But, it did work for a few years. So, maybe if your litttle one doesn't really know what she is getting, she won't miss it.

A.

Hello M.,

My mother was VERY careful about what we ate growing up. Once we got home from Trick or Treating, we would sit down and go through our candy. She would throw out any that looked suspicous and then allow us to pick out the candy we really wanted. I think the number was 15 to 20 pieces. She would give the rest to my father to take to work and my brother and I never thought anything about this practice. Maybe we were naive but it worked on both of us. Additionally, we were only allowed 1 piece of candy a day. Hopefully, this will help you. M.

Here is another idea. Let her keep a few pieces (5 or 10 or whatever) and have her trade the rest in for a special toy or outing that she wants. My kids like this idea.

When my kids bring candy home from a party, school or trick or treating, Easter etc. we put it in a basket and they can choose a piece for a treat from time to time after meals. I do "edit" the collection as I see fit, but this keeps the amount of candy they eat pretty small.
Hope that helps.
S.

I'm the same way with my son. No candy except on special occasions. So maybe when your little one gets all of her candy, let her pick out a few pieces that she wants and either save the rest for later or give the rest away/throw it out. I'm sure that what she will remember (if she remembers anything at all) will be the experience and how fun that was, not necessarily the candy, unless you make that the focus of going trick-or-treating. i hope this made sense to you and that it helps...Happy Halloween! oh, and Friday the 13th!

There are lots of local churches that hold "Fall Festivals" at this time of year. Instead of trick-or-treating, let her dress up for one of these events. She is so young she will not realize that it is not actual trick or treating. Most of the churches give away books, toys, balloons, ect. instead of candy.

Trick or treat for a food bank!

My daughter (2.5) and god-sons (3 and 6) collect food for our local food bank. We take a wagon around with us and trick or treat for food! They love this and the next day we take it to the food bank and they get "bragging rights" how they collected it all by themselves. You could also trick or treat for unicef or another charity.

There is no shame in helping others! I know alot of people will laugh at this and say no way, how embarrassing! It is great for the kids, a nice learning experience and they dont end up with all that candy!

My advice is unless your child has a medical reason for not being able to eat candy, allow her to have a little on halloween. If you don't you will end up with a child that was like myself and my sister who hoards sweets as they get older and can find it on their own. I know it sounds terrible, but it has been a proven fact that this happens more often than not. Plus with all of the wonderful nutritional as well as all natural candies out there, it would be better to help her decide the right kind of sweets to take in rather than the kinds that have all those nasty chemicals added to them. Plus if you give her a few peices at a time and then put the rest away in the freezer and them maybe give her a few peices at a time for a reward or something, it isn't so bad.
Just don't cut it out all together. I do this with my 10 yr old daughter who has severe ADHD and is hyper enough.

We also don't have any junk food in the house. Our son loved going ToT and received lots of candy last year. However, once we got home I gave him a couple of pieces and said that he'll get more the next day. Of course the candy was hidden in my purse to be taken to work by then. He didn't even mention it.

Yes. I think it would. You might look at it as any other b-day party that only come once a year. Of course, take most of the candy to work but let her have some. :-)

Let her trick or treat and trade her candy for her veggies and fruit??