My kids bring home bags of Halloween candy. I let them keep just 5 pieces each.

Editor's note: Do you let your kids keep all their Halloween candy? Do you have them choice a few they can keep? Share in the comments what your method is.

Every Halloween, I cognize exactly what's coming: two enthusiastic kids, costumes, a neighborhood full of candy, and by the end of the night, bags that apparently measure nearly as much as they do.

They appearance onward to trick-or-treating for months. Every twelvemonth it's the same: notwithstanding my annual petition that they delay until we get residence to commencement dining their haul, additional candy than I'd akin gets eaten during we're motionless walking about the neighborhood.

I'm a registered dietitian, but I'm additionally a mom. Halloween is expected to be fun, the benevolent of event that becomes a center younker memory. I desire my kids to awareness "normal" in the finest awareness of the word. I desire them to run from home to house, commerce candy, and bask the identical traditions as their allies without emotion akin they have distinct rules since their mom happens to be a dietitian.

At the identical time, I desire them to comprehend balance.

When we get home, they may all have a few additional pieces. Then we dump everything out, and they choose concerning five favorite pieces to preserve for later.

The remainder goes to the Candy Fairy.

My kids compose alphabet to the Candy Fairy

The Candy Fairy takes the additional candy and leaves a small toy in exchange. My kids equal compose her alphabet and put them in the mailbox. It turns getting rid of the excess into item fun alternatively of a punishment.

They motionless get the excitement of collecting candy and choosing the pieces they really love, during having several authority complete what stays. I'm not deciding which candy they're allowed to keep or telling them what they should like. They get to decide which pieces are value preservation and which ones they're prepared to provision up. I get to evade having a ridiculous amount of candy sitting in the home until Thanksgiving.

My female may be starting to outgrow the tradition now, at 9 years old, but my son likely has a few additional Candy Fairy years left. Eventually, though, I anticipation the tradition evolves alongside them.

Instead of sending the candy to a fairy, we can donate it to an organization they awareness fine concerning supporting. They'll motionless get that awareness of pride and reward, lone by then, the Candy Fairy volition fair be Mom, celebrating an act of kindness.

I desire them to motionless bask their candy

There's additionally a applicable logic this method plant for our family: our food surroundings matters. One expression I frequently use is, "In house, in mouth." When I say that, I average that food is harder to disregard whenever it's staring you in the visage all period you open the pantry.

Halloween creates a different benevolent of stress for parents. We don't desire to instruct our kids to fear candy, but we additionally don't desire pounds of treats sitting in the home for weeks on end.

For me, it merely isn't value that mental energy. I'm OK alongside having small Halloween candy about for a few days. Another family power awareness fine keeping it for a month, and several may barely be affected by it at all. There isn't a one-size-fits-all accurate deadline.

I don't accept promoting a fit association alongside food method pretending all food serves the identical purpose. My kids cognize candy doesn't nourish their bodies the way the foods we eat all day do. It's a treat, a "fun food." Halloween is an juncture to bask those treats. I desire my kids to bask their candy and not awareness blameworthy concerning it. What I don't desire is one night of ritual quietly stretching into a duration merely since we happened to collect too much.

To me, instruction balance method holding the two ideas at once: item can be fun without needing to be accessible in unlimited amounts. That's the center dirt I'm trying to instruct my kids. To me, food liberty includes structure. Boundaries merely create expectations clear.

The additional candy doesn't have to go in the trash

Families can appearance for local contribution programs. Soldiers' Angels runs Treats for Troops, which collects Halloween candy for assistance members, veterans, and armed forces communities. Some dental offices and community organizations may additionally assist as gathering sites, so it's value checking local options. Some families power freeze a few favorite chocolates or preserve candy for baking.

The item is not that there is one ideal way to grip it.

Our regulation is simple: Enjoy Halloween. Eat several candy. Pick a few pieces you really love. Then let the Candy Fairy, or a fine cause, grip the rest. For our family, that feels akin the correct balance.

My kids get to be kids, act akin everyone else, get enthusiastic concerning costumes, have fun alongside their friends, bask the candy on Halloween night, and study that food liberty and boundaries can be together.