Trick or Treat?

In the nutrition world there have been many conversations of obesity and trick or treating. Does Halloween promote obesity among children? If your child is obese should you allow them to walk the streets of your neighborhood and beg for candy? How much candy should they eat once the bounty is collected? Should you give out healthy treats, nonedible treats, or candy? How do you, as a parent, avoid eating all the kids candy while their sweet little heads hit the pillow that night?
Halloween actually promotes its holiday accordingly in its tag line…it’s a treat! Promoting good eating habits is a daily thing. Understand that you can only truly control your children within the four walls of your house. As a responsible parent, attempting to control them in the outside world does not allow them to take the things that you teach them and allow them to apply it. Comparable to a teenager rebelling against their strict parents once they leave the nest, children will also do this with food.
First of all there is no such thing as an obese child, just risk for obesity. Their little bodies plump up and grow taller throughout their childhood. Studies do show that children who are overweight are at risk for being an obese adult. If your child has weight issues, or even if they don’t, as a parent you can promote a healthy weight by putting them in various activities such as sports. I put my daughter in soccer at 4 years old, she had no idea that she was exercising she was just trying to get the little ball in the goal (when she wasn’t sitting on the ground to “rest”). Eventually she began to understand the game and she played sports throughout high school.
As parents we need to take responsibility of our children’s habits and do everything we can to not promote body image issues. I’ve heard many parents slip and say “you should eat that because you need to lose weight”. Unfortunately, my friends with eating disorders can pin point it back to their mother, their dance teacher, their peers, or someone else they love or trust. The act of not allowing them to participate solely due to their weight, will probably backfire, and could become a weight issue memory as they mature.
The key to Halloween, as with everything, is moderation. Allow them to dress in their cute little costumes and parade around the neighborhood so that your neighbors know how lucky you are to have these beautiful children. Just don’t take them to ten neighborhoods or promote multiple nights of trick or treating when available. Children will remember the act of the evening, not that you stopped once you hit 20 houses. Think back on your childhood…do you remember? They will remember that they wore the Cinderella outfit that year, not that you drove to 6 different stores to buy it.
Once the candy is collected, go through it with you children and allow them to eat a set amount. Donate or throw away the candy that you would not normally eat. Practice what you preach and limit the amount that you should eat too. After a couple of weeks once the initial excitement has left, throw away the rest if it is too tempting to you (Unfortunately I just threw away last years batch last week after I found it hiding in the cabinet). The simple fact is Halloween candy is the perfect portion for your child and for you as long as you don’t eat the whole bag.
So when you try to decide if your children should trick or treat, make sure you think like a child but act like a parent. Halloween itself will not cause obesity….it just is a favorite childhood memory.