The Last of the Halloween Candy
Yesterday, I had a meeting with Caryn at NuVal. I headed into her office only to see her candy dish chock full of candy. “This is the last of my kids’ Halloween candy,” she exclaimed with glee.
I’m not quite sure how Caryn manages to sneak the candy out of the house, past her pre-teen daughter and first-grade son. It used to be so easy. When the kids were really little, I could easily dump most of their halloween stash into a big ziploc baggie the day after Halloween and bring it into work for my hungry colleagues faced with a 3 pm slump. No more. Not only do my kids seem to have a mental calculation of just exactly how many Nestle Crunch Bars and Twizzlers they got, but their loot has expanded as they’re grown and their Trick-or-Treat stamina has increased. We made it to a lot of houses this year, particularly since Halloween was on a beautiful, balmy Saturday night.
Check out my little Spider-Girl and her take!
Not surprisingly, candy does not score so well on the NuVal score. OK, that is an understatement. Candy scores abysmally low on the NuVal scale. It is hard to find any candy that scores above a 1 (remember, 100 is highest).
- Twizzlers 1
- Tootsie Roll 1
- AirHeads (one of my kids’ favorites) 1
- Heath Bar 1
- Kit Kat 2
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups 3
- Snickers 5
- Hershey’s Special Dark 6 (Woo hoo – I’m a dark chocolate fan!)
- Hershey’s Mr. Goodbar 7
So, slowly and deliberately, my kids ate their Halloween candy. My son has only 1 piece left. My daughter, who does not like chocolate, just has her chocolate left. I’ve read about different ways parents handle the tsunami of candy that enters the home on October 31. Some parents let their kids eat all they can on Halloween night and throw out the rest. Others let their children keep a certain percentage and require them to donate the rest. I must admit I did somehow manage to sneak out a portion of their candy. After that, I made them each a ziploc bag with their names on them, filled them with their candy and placed the bags on top of the refrigerator. I did not make a rule about candy-eating. I waited for them to ask when they wanted a piece. And they did – generally for “dessert” and I did require them to stop at one piece. I wanted them to learn how to live with “treats”. After all, they will grow up and live in this world where there are “treats” everywhere. I am known to say that we live in a big field with poor nutritional landmines everywhere. Think about it, we go from having Halloween candy in our offices right into the over-indulgent Holiday season. There’s a brief respite at New Year’s and then we’re right back at it with Superbowl Parties, Valentine’s Candy, Easter Candy, and all those Summer Cookouts. Before you know it, you’re back in the office staring at a big bowl of Halloween candy during your meeting. So, I believe in teaching my children how to live in that world, with some boundaries of course.
Question of the Day:
How do you keep on track with all the “treats” that surround us?
Yesterday’s Winner:
Congratulations to Carol, Commenter #4 on yesterday’s Trade-Up Tuesday. Carol has won a fabulous red colander, five boxes of Barilla Plus Pasta in various shapes, and a NuVal aluminum water bottle.
Thanks to all of you who shared your trade-up stories! Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by: Melissa 6 comments
Posted in: Halloween
