Halloween candy

Halloween candy (File photo by Ben Hogan / Chicago Tribune)

In a well-watched video, Jimmy Kimmel shows kids' reactions to the news that their parents have eaten all their Halloween candy. Kimmel claims he was surprised to see how really upset many kids were. Not I! Kids love their Halloween candy. I repeat, they LOVE it.

What an odd holiday is Halloween. On that one day of the year we encourage, if not accompany, our kids while they go out at night, knock on strangers' doors, talk to strangers, and beg for candy. Really?

Halloween has become quite a holiday in these United States. Stores start whetting kids' appetites as soon as the back-to-school sales are ripped off the shelves at Labor Day. Pumpkin patches sprout long before it's harvest time. Front yards and house fronts are decorated in bewitching ways weeks before the 31st. And dinner table talk is dominated by discussion of kids' and parents' costumes. Almost as pervasive as the takeover of red and green in December is the big deal that Halloween has become. But costumes, decorations, pumpkins and parties aside, Halloween candy is still at the top of kids' lists. In fact, the National Confectioners Association tells us that 93 percent of all kids go trick-or-treating.



1. Let the kids eat as much as they want, even all of it (and suffer the consequences), and brush their teeth on Halloween. Then be done with it. (This works particularly well with little ones.) You would be surprised to know that dentists favor this option, saying it is the frequency of the candy eating rather than the quantity that is damaging to teeth on Halloween, according to Dr. Paul Kelson, a dentist in Los Angeles.


3. Participate in a "buy back" program. There are local dentists in many cities who will pay by the pound for the candy. Some kids actually love money as much as candy.

4. There are dentists (and others) who will send the child's candy to the troops overseas who love candy and don't get to trick-or-treat.

5. Send the candy to Mommy or Daddy's office for the adults to enjoy. They love candy and they don't get to trick-or-treat.

6. Not that our kids need any more toys, but the "Switch Witch" takes the candy and leaves a toy while the child is sleeping.


8. "Disappearing" it isn't an honest option. Your child needs to know how and why you make the decisions you make.




3. Encourage the scientist. Mix different candies together and place them in muffin tins or loaf pans to be cooked (melted) in the oven. Let your child use his creativity on this one by making candy cookies, loaves, lumps... that will, likely, taste awful.

4. Encourage the nutritionist. Look at the ingredients of the different candies. After trying to pronounce them, Google them and find out what it is the child is putting in his body.


Any of these options keeps the "happy" in Halloween.