Idea to Help Kids Manage their Halloween Treats

laursey

Just an idea I'm trying out to deal with all the crap my kids brought home last night. MFP has opened my eyes to what I actually consume as well as the rest of my family. I'm really focussing on teaching my kids good habits as well as learning they can have treats occasionaly. So I told my kids that they could trade some of their candy and chips in for money to buy some toys or packages of fruit flavoured sugarless gum. We're having our first trade tonight. I'm hoping they'll enjoy being able to make their own choices. We've already had a recent victory just a few weeks ago. I gave them the option of McDonalds or Quiznos. They picked Quiznos! Hooray!


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dls06

Sounds like a great idea. Thanks for the post.:flowerforyou:

DietingMommy08

Sounds like a good idea.

Tho my son is only 3 and probably wouldnt give up his suckers for any amount of money in the world. Lol.

I give my son the choice of ONE piece of candy after dinner when he remembers that he has it and asks.

laursey

I think my daughter would give up the whole bag for a new My Little Pony : )

CharityEaton

Thanks for the idea. My daughter knows how hard I am working so she actually felt bad for eating so much candy last night. She woke up this morning and did jumping jacks in the kitchen. She is 6! I was proud of her but also a little sad that she is so worried about what she ate! She is a bit on the scrawny side anyway but she said, "mom, I don't want to be unhealthy."

Our actions do speak louder than our words. However, I have still eaten a piece of candy that she wanted to "share" with me just to show her that one or two pieces is not going to make her unhealthy!

My dad totally filled her and her sisters bags last night! YIKES!! I might need to rob a bank to trade for all that candy.

rockerbabyy

we gave our kids one piece after dinner last night. today im letting them have their baskets and told them they can eat as much as they want. they still have to eat meals so they have to keep that in mind, and every so often they have to take a break (hour or two). at the end of the day, anything thats left is no longer theirs.

killerqueen17

When I was a kid, my mom had total control over our candy-- we had to go through her to get any at all!! But it was okay because she wasn't a tyrant or anything... she just didn't want us to eat it all at once... lol!

We would usually have a couple pieces after school... couldn't have been more than 50-100 calories each day. The candy would last for months...!! She kept it in the fridge, so it wouldn't go bad, and we were pretty well-trained kids and didn't break into the candy bag behind her back or anything.

...it worked well for me, I was a very healthy kid!! :bigsmile:

dirtbikegirl5

We let them have one piece last night. The candy stays on top of the refrigerator every year and they pay attention to it in the beginning and then they forget about it. Like another poster, they have to go through Mommy and Daddy to get to it.

Mmmary212

I don't agree with spreading the candy eating over a period of time. I bought a big bag of candy (no trick or treating for my kids) and they smashed the entire thing last night...

Now it's gone. Out of sight, out of mind.

jacksonpt

Interesting idea. I often wonder about how to handle nutrition with my kids... their diets are almost as bad as mine, so we talk about what's healthy and what isn't (and why), but I don't want them to become obsessed with it, especially while they are still young (6 and 9).

ImNotStarving

A dental office near me pays kids $1 per pound of candy. I think that would work for my younger one (4) but my 12 year old son probably wouldn't want to give up all that candy for a buck or two LOL. Oh well, he's too old to be trick-or-treating any longer anyway

skylark94

That is an excellent idea! I need to try that with my own kids. I know my son has been angling for some new Legos.