Earlier today I shared on TLT’s Facebook page a short blog post from Salon’s XX Factor entitled, “What to Do With the Halloween Candy? Eat It.” by KJ Dell’Antonia. In in the post, the author suggests letting kids go wild with the candy, asking:
. . . what’s the absolute worst thing that will happen if you let the kid eat every single thing out of the bucket that he or she wanted, whenever she wanted it? Dare to find out.
So many TLT Facebook fans have commented on the post that I thought I’d share it here on The Lunch Tray to bring in the whole TLT community. Some representative comments that have come in so far:
last year my five year old ate the majority of his candy in one sitting. an hour later he threw it all up, but he didn’t touch any candy of his own free will for the following two months
I don’t see any point in letting a child eat until they throw up. Isn’t that one of the objectives of parenting, to teach children what normal limits are?
Restrict it and they will want it that much more. Don’t turn Halloween candy into the forbidden fruit. If you do, the kids will do everything in their power to get their hands on it. . . .
You can check out the rest of the comments here.
Dell’Antonia’s suggested approach is pretty much in line with my own mom’s, as discussed in the post I mentioned this morning. And I will say, as a child I never ate Halloween candy to the point of throwing up (or even close), nor am I terribly candy-obsessed as an adult.
So, what do you think?
[Hat tip to Andrea Georgsson for sending me the Salon link.]
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Lenee says
I LOVE what your mom said! Yay mom! 🙂
anthony says
well, i did eat halloween candy to the point of throwing up. although looking back on the particular violence of the ejection (i remember it coming out through my nose), i suspect that i suffered a stomach virus oddly coincidental with my return home with the evening’s spoils. in any event, i had no experiential aversion to snickers as a result and the MOMENT i could keep anything down i was back in the bag. that particular year i think it took me an unusually long 4 or 5 days to finish off my kill.
Holiday says
Full disclosure: I don’t have kids.
I guess I feel like, as with most things, you have to take into account the characteristics of the individual kid, parent, and family structure.
Halloween night, we got to hold onto our candy bags ourselves. After that, my mom had us stash our candy bags somewhere she could keep an eye on them during the day, like the top of the fridge, etc. She would let us take them out at a certain time of the day, usually sometime in the afternoon, and we had pretty much free reign with them for five or ten minutes, and then they would go back until the next day. I don’t remember gorging myself or making myself sick – mostly I remember playing with the candy, sorting it into types and flavors and sizes. My sister and I would set up elaborate trade offers, which I actually feel was a pretty good learning exercise. I think I was more of a saver – I wanted to make my candy last as long as possible, rather than eat as much as I could (or couldn’t!) in one sitting. Also, getting that candy for the day was contingent on us behaving ourselves – if we were little snots, we did NOT get treats.
Tari says
How did I miss your post on this last year?!? I had an Adele Davis-reading, vitamin-pushing 1970’s mom too, and I also was allowed to scarf down all the Halloween candy that I wanted. The rest of the year, not so much: getting a candy bar in the grocery store checkout line was almost as exciting as my birthday (and as rare). But she just left me alone on this one, and I think I turned out fine on the candy front. Thanks for reminding me I need to lighten up on my boys this year at Halloween!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Tari – Adele Davis! The memories are coming flooding back. We have to compare notes on our forward-thinking moms one of these days.
Dina says
When my newborn gets older I’m not going to let him eat to the point of throwing up. But I also debate whether or not I’m going to let him go trick or treating at all….only because it isn’t really safe anymore and all that candy is not good for him or his teeth. Or me!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Well, keeping them from trick or treating is a tall order . . . I say play it by ear. You may be OK with it by then and there are other ways to limit the candy if that’s your worry. But it sounds like you have many years to figure this out – congrats on your newborn! 🙂