Should You Let Your Child Regulate Their Halloween Candy?

Halloween is just around the corner. A lot of last minute details for parents to finish up before the big night. Making sure your kid’s costume is in tack, the pumpkins are carved and you’re stocked up for your neighborhood trick-or-treaters. But the underlying stress that occurs with most parents during this spooky time is the sugary candy your kids come home with ready to devour.

How much is too much Halloween candy for your kiddo? And should you allow your child to decide how much he or she should eat?

Emily Fonnesbeck a registered dietitian says yes, “The goal is to trust them to trust themselves. It’s very normal for them to eat more than necessary on Halloween night and maybe even the day after.”

As shocking as that sounds Fonnesbeck recommends that you allow your unicorn or Spiderman to indulge in the evening’s bucket of candy they bring home and into the day after. A mother herself she goes a step further and encourages parents to incorporate their children’s Halloween candy in their meals and snack times days following Halloween.

“Parents can use a flexible structure where they have set meal and snack times, and candy can be a part of those if the kids request it,” she says.

It’s almost time to make one of the biggest decisions of the year…what candy to hand out for Halloween! ?. Ive managed not to buy any yet, you know, that first batch that gets eaten BEFORE Halloween! ?. Everyone has their favorites – (KitKats, Skittles, Sweetarts, Twizzlers for me!) And their most hated – (mine- BitoHoney, those generic hard candies, or that one homemade popcorn ball ?) ~Fun fact: the number of trick or treaters fluctuates year to year here. One year we had tons, the next only 3. I underbought candy the year after only having a handful of kids – we were desperate so we handed out Top Ramen noodle packs and the kids thought it was hilarious and awesome. ?. ~The ritual of sorting through the candy after trick or treating was almost as fun as dressing up and going ~ so I hope you take your candy choices seriously~ ???. . . . #candy #halloween #halloweencandy #halloween2018 #halloweentime #halloweentreats #trickortreat #trickortreating #candies #october31 #fun #retro #nostalgia #nostalgic #halloweenvibes #halloweenfun #halloweenlover #besthalloweencandy #candyland #candychoices

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This kind of approach is noted as the Division of Responsibility in Feeding developed by nutritionist and author Ellyn Satter. The belief is that its part of a parent’s responsibility to put trust in their child and allow him or her to make his or her own food choices and how much.

Fonnesbeck states that micromanaging your kiddos bucket full of candy could backfire on you. She encourages the parents to have a ‘you decide’ yourself approach with food altogether. According to Fonnesbeck, your child needs to learn on his own good versus bad food choices even if an upset stomach is a consequence.

She also encourages to take a neutral approach when talking about food especially candy as certain vocabulary can give if too much power.

“If we make candy a big deal, it will be a big deal,” she says. “If we talk about it like any other food, it’s more likely that kids will be able to self-regulate their food choices to include a wide variety of foods instead of feeling preoccupied, worried or shameful for food choices.”

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